Psalm 8

A great psalm. In the Top Ten, if you will. It strikes home for me just in considering the "Who am I?" question. David begins by addressing "O LORD, our Lord," which translates two different Hebrew words for God. The first, yahweh is often anglicized into Jehovah. This is more of a proper name. The second, adonai, has the meaning of "one who is positionally above". So in essence, David is calling out to God by calling Him "our Lord" or "the One we follow" -- the One whose name is so majestic in all the earth. He is the One who has set out His glory in the heavens. Boice speaks of a young David lying with the sheep in the pasture at night, gazing out at the starry sky and pondering the enormous greatness of God. Those of us blessed to live outside the range of city lights can testify to the awesomeness of seeing a purple background on a clear night with hundreds of thousands of tiny lights dotting the sky. It's a real reminder that God is here. "O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands hath made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout the universe displayed."

David goes on to say that when he thinks about a night like that it makes him wonder why He even cares about anyone on this earth. We are so small. I have that same feeling. Individually, especially we mean nothing. But to God, we are important.

In verse 5, the "heavenly beings" is generally considered to be angels at first glance, but the Hebrew word here is elohim, the same plural word for God used in Genesis 1. Still the writer of Hebrews uses this passage interpreted to mean angels. Either way, we are obviously below God and the angels, but above the animals which we have been given charge over. We are special among God's created beings -- our dominion over the rest of the earth being the evidence.

Angels - spirit, but no body
Man - spirit and body
Animals - body, but no spirit