Fall 2018, 40 Days of Prayer, Day 7
“O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! 2 From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength Because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease. 3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, 7 All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, 8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!” Psalm 8:1-9
This Psalm is a psalm of praise. Verses 1-2 seek to establish the sovereignty of God over the creation. He is majestic, powerful, and strong. He is the Creator of all things on earth. Theses verse set the stage for the rest of the Psalm. Yet, we cannot over look how amazing the Creator is. Daily we often walk through God’s creation without giving the creation a second thought. The trees, the grass, the birds of the air, even our own children, we sometimes take for granted that they are all present because they were created by the sovereign will of God. It is easy to take these things for granted because we get lost in the daily sprint we call life. What if we just took a second and look around us and thank God for the gifts that He has so richly bestowed upon us? We have the opportunity all around us to recognize the majesty of God the power that He brings to full light each and every day. He is the Creator God!! I am reminded of Acts 19 when Demetrius the silversmith, a worshiper of Artemis, is angry with Paul because Paul is declaring, “gods made with hands are not gods”. We as humans have the ability to create things but we must recognize and understand that we are ourselves have been created. He created everything out of nothing. As creative of some humans can be, God is the ultimate creator.
Verses 3 – 4 start out by directing our attention to the heavens. When I was a little boy I lived with my grandfather and grandmother. Every night I would look out the window and I would see my grandfather standing in the driveway looking at the stars. Being curious I asked him what he was looking at and he said the stars and the vastness of God’s creation. He told me that it amazed him that God created all of that but that He also loved him so much that He sent His Son to pay the price for his sins. Till the day that he died my grandfather continually marveled that the God that created so much still cared for a simple man like himself. This has stuck with me for over 25years. When I read Psalm 8 in preparation of writing this devotional, I found myself revisiting that conversation. The Creator of the universe loves and cares for us so intently that He sent His Son so that we may be restored to Him. No matter how small or insignificant we may feel at times remember that the God of the universe loves and cares for you beyond our comprehension.
Prayer Focus
God, we confess that You are the sovereign ruler over the creation. You have made us and all things for Your glory. Not only this, but we confess that You care for each one of us. You have declared Your love for us in this psalm. You have shown Your love for us in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You for Your Sovereign and gracious care for me, Amen.
From Sermon on Justification by Faith by John Wesley
"To him that does not work, but believes on him that justified the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." Romans 4:5.
1. But what is it to be "justified?" What is "justification?" It is not the being made actually just and righteous. This is called "sanctification;" which is, in some degree, the immediate fruit of justification, but, nevertheless, is a distinct gift of God, and of a totally different nature. The one implies what God does for us through his Son; the other, what he works in us by his Spirit. So that, although some rare instances may be found, wherein the term "justified" or "justification" is used in so wide a sense as to include "sanctification" also; yet, in general use, they are sufficiently distinguished from each other, both by St. Paul and the other inspired writers. 2. Neither is that far-fetched conceit, that justification is the clearing us from accusation, particularly that of Satan, easily provable from any clear text of holy writ. In the whole scriptural account of this matter, as above laid down, neither that accuser nor his accusation appears to be at all taken in. It cannot indeed be denied, that he is the "accuser" of men, emphatically so called. But it does in nowise appear, that the great Apostle has any reference to this, more or less, in all he has written touching justification, either to the Romans or the Galatians. 3. It is also far easier to take for granted, than to prove from any clear scripture testimony, that justification is the clearing us from the accusation brought against us by the law: At least if this forced, unnatural way of speaking mean either more or less than this, that, whereas we have transgressed the law of God, and thereby deserved the damnation of hell, God does not inflict on those who are justified the punishment which they had deserved. 4. Least of all does justification imply, that God is deceived in those whom he justifies; that he thinks them to be what, in fact, they are not; that he accounts them to be otherwise than they are. It does by no means imply, that God judges concerning us contrary to the real nature of things; that he esteems us better than we really are, or believes us righteous when we are unrighteous. Surely no. The judgment of the all-wise God is always according to truth. Neither can it ever consist with his unerring wisdom, to think that I am innocent, to judge that I am righteous or holy, because another is so. He can no more, in this manner, confound me with Christ, than with David or Abraham. Let any man to whom God has given understanding, weigh this without prejudice; and he cannot but perceive, that such a notion of justification is neither reconcilable to reason nor Scripture.