I love this song for children (of all ages) by the Getty’s. Perfect for our Psalm this week. I want you to consider the stars some night this week and report back. Go out, lie on your back, and ask yourself the question that was the turning point for young Tim Keller at summer camp: Is the Maker of all this someone I should ask to be my servant?
Also, a friend I deeply respect, Warren Pfhol, founder, along with his wife Brenda, of David’s Refuge. In memory of their son David, they have provided a way for caregivers to have a respite. (See https://www.davidsrefuge.org). Warren journals his prayers using scripture, imagining God speaking directly to him.
I asked him to send me his prayer for Psalm 8 as a model for you and he graciously obliged. At first, I thought it a bit long and might overwhelm you, and then he graciously shortened it.
I’ll show you his prayer for Psalm 8 as a model on Monday, and then it will be your turn before we plunge into Keller’s sermon: Maker of Heaven and Earth.
Here is the link to Keller’s sermon and the corresponding transcript. I finally bought his transcripts from Logos so I could make it easier for you, with stopping points. (You’ll see.)
https://gospelinlife.com/sermon/maker-of-heaven-and-earth/
MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH Transcript of Psalm 8 To Know the Living God
Sunday: God Hunt
1. Listen carefully to the lyrics of the Gettys’ song. Choose a phrase that is meaningful to you and explain why.
2. How have you experienced the “mindfulness” (Psalm 8:4) of God to you this week?
Monday: Meditating on and Praying Psalm 8
Read Warren’s prayer. He imagines God speaking to him.
Dear Warren… (Psalm 8)
v. 1. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory
in the heavens.
Warren, when you think of me, what thoughts fill your mind? Do words like majesty, perfection, or timeless overwhelm you? I want you to remember that I am the one whose name is so sacred my chosen people refused to utter it. I am the Alpha and the Omega, ruler of all creation. Open your eyes and see the world I have created. Look at the heavens and see my glory.
v. 2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
Warren, isn’t it amazing how the simple and innocent faith of a little child humbles and silences those who believe themselves mighty? How foolish are my enemies! As children sing of my greatness, their voices unwittingly silence opposition. Warren, join these children in song, proclaiming, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!”
v. 3, 4. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
Warren, perhaps you don’t realize how cherished you are to me. Not a day passes without you on my mind. Though at times you may feel insignificant against the vastness of the universe, remember this: you are a masterpiece, outshining the moon and stars.
v. 5. You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.
Warren you were created to reflect my very image, a task not even my servant angels Gabriel and Michael could do. I have crowned you with glory and honor. Oh, how I sighed with delight when I created you, saying, “Oh that is very good!”
v. 6-8. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
Warren, I have placed my creation in your hands, please care for it. I’ve bestowed upon you dominion, power, and stewardship over all I have created. Please take this responsibility seriously: from the great whales of the Antarctic to the deer of Wisconsin’s forests.
v. 9. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Warren, I yearn to hear you praise my holy name, YHWH. To bow before the Great I Am, to fall silent in reverence, acknowledging that I alone am God, deserving of your praise and adoration. Will you call upon my name and declare, “Oh LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth”? Let Psalm 8 be your tribute to me.
3. Do the same for yourself here, either imagining, as Warren did that God is speaking to you, or by praying each verse back. Write the verse out, as Warren did, to help you meditate. (You can wait to the end if you prefer to study first, but don’t skip this!)
Tuesday: The Wonderful Thing David Saw Part I.
Read or listen to Tuesday’s section up to when he begins to talk about Jonathan Edwards.
4. Read Psalm 19:4. Why are people without excuse for believing in God?
5. Why does Keller say people feel the need to write books refuting that there is an intelligent Designer?
6. What does David see beyond just the reality of God?
7. What does this psalm tell us about God and us?
Remember to report on your thoughts after lying under the stars and contemplating.
Wednesday: The Wonderful Thing David Saw Part II.
8. What stands out and why from this section:
9. According to Jonathan Edwards, how is Christianity different than the world religions in explaining how the world was created?
10. When you meditate on “by his fingers” what do you learn about our Creator?
11. What did Edwards learn about God from the spider?
This is a tangent but for lovers of Narnia, a most interesting book recommended by scholars I so respect is “Planet Narnia” (The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis) by Michael Ward out of Patrick Henry College. He makes what I think is an indisputable case for Lewis being inspired by the heavens, and the myths they inspired, for being a basis for the Narnia books. For example, in The Lion and the Witch and the Wardrobe, Jupiter is the inspiration for the side of Aslan we see in this chronicle. The largest of the known planets inspired the myth about King Jupiter, the greatest of the kings. He was a bright and jovial King, bringing warmth (as Aslan chased away winter) and joy (as Aslan took Susan and Lucy for a wild romp). Ward cracked the secret Lewis code, though Lewis always denied, with a smile, that there was one. You can find Ward’s lectures about it on You-Tube.
12. God created two great books to reveal Himself to mankind: creation and His Word. Find one aspect of creation and explain how it shines light on God’s Word. We have already seen this in Psalm 1 and here in Psalm 8. But choose something other than a tree planted by the water, or the chaff, or the stars.
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Thursday: The Frightening Thing David Saw
13. What question does the Psalmist ask in verses 3 and 4? How did Warren, when he prayed it, interpret it?
When I consider the work of your hands…What is man that you are mindful of him?
Warren, perhaps you don’t realize how cherished you are to me. Not a day passes without you on my mind. Though at times you may feel insignificant against the vastness of the universe, remember this: you are a masterpiece, outshining the moon and stars.
I am like Warren; I don’t think I fully understand how cherished I am by Him.
Me, a masterpiece. In my Father’s eyes, I am a masterpiece.
14. Keller sees it as a rhetorical question. Atheists have answered that as we are so small in comparison we are insignificant. What did you learn from this section about that? How do we know we are significant to God? And how do you personally know this?
Although I may be a speck in comparison to the vastness of God’s creation, He was mindful of me. And when the world says, you are only significant if…. I do not have to listen to its voice. My God said I am significant to Him, and I am His masterpiece.
15. What stood out to you from this section? Why?
The short movie, Breath, was startling. How sad if one would think that they are just a piece of trash. Discarded matter. Refuse. Insignificant. But not to our Father who created us.
Friday: What David Learned
16. How do verses 5-8 recapitulate Genesis 1-2?
Man was made in the image of God. He put His image on us. In verses 5-8, the psalmist reflected on how God crowned man with honor and glory-character traits that are His.
17. What is Keller’s point about the story of the doctor and the question the female resident asked?
The dignity of man does not depend on scientific evidence but in the fact that God created all including this patient in particular in His image. Every person is to be treated with dignity and respect.
18. Why do we know every individual no matter their age, gender, race, religion, or ability is of great value and has dignity?
God created them in His image.
19. What does the Psalmist mean when he says God visited us — and how is this echoed in Zechariah’s song? (Give reference)
I so love the meaning of visited here! To visit someone means you care enough to go out and find them, to move. Jesus cared enough to come down and find us/me!
Luke 1, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.”
20. If you haven’t prayed Psalm 8, do it here. Don’t skip this!
Saturday:
21. What is your take-a-way and why?
Tim Keller’s take on Psalm 8:2 and how Jesus came as a baby, not as a warrior general riding on a horse with his soldiers behind him and taking over (but He will! When He comes again!) He came down and visited us as a helpless baby, born in the lowliest place and died a death on the cross. He chooses the weak and the lowly to bring about His kingdom.
I was taken by that too, Bing! I especially have been pondering that he spoke of Israel, itself, being the “…weakest, smallest, baddest nation out there…” in the wake of what is happening in the world today. Deuteronomy 7.