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INTRODUCTION
We live in a lovely part of the world for looking up at the sky and looking at the moon and stars
etc. But what do you really see as you look into the sky. Some people look and see the beauty and pattern of the stars and the brightness of the moon. But if you are a Christian you should notice those
things but you should also go on to praise God who made the moon and stars exactly as they are. When you think about these things, and read a little around the subject we discover, that although there are
billions of stars in our galaxy, we can only really see about 3,000 of them.
Although as we look at the stars they look like little dots, some of them are huge and gigantic. Others are
much smaller, about the size of the planet earth. These stars that we can see are miles and miles from us. The closest star to us is the sun, which is an incredible 92.9 million miles away from us.
Now I am not here to give you a science lesson, but I have given you those facts because to think of these
things should lead us further than just being amazed by it all, but it should lead to us to understand something of the greatness of God who created all these things and also it should help us to understand
something of the smallness of mankind in comparison to the whole universe. This is certainly what the Psalmist thought about when he considered these things (vs. 3-4)
1. ADORATION (vs. 1-2)
This is the response of someone who looks into the sky and has his mind blown by what he sees
there. How else can you respond but to say, "How majestic is your name in all the earth." God who is the great
creator of this universe, and the great sustainer of it, is also Lord, or Governor of His people. This God who created this universe is the God that you can get to know in a personal way. He can be your
lord. In having this God as your Lord, then you also join with all of God's people throughout the world in being able to call God our Lord.
By knowing him as our Lord we can sing his praise, we can sing, "how excellent is his name in all the earth." Throughout this world today there will be millions upon millions of Christians in different
countries and cultures singing about God's name being majestic in all the earth.
I want to pause for a moment and ask do you know the Lord as your lord? Perhaps you may ask how can I a
mere human being know the God who created this universe and who planted the sun 92.9 million miles from earth. The truth is of ourselves we can't, but God did something to make it possible for us to
know God. He revealed something of His nature and character to us, through His Word but more importantly through His Son Jesus Christ.
Jesus who is God, the second person of the Godhead came to earth to bridge the gap between God and
us. The gap is not just that we are mere human beings with weaknesses and frailty, whereas the God of this universe is all-powerful and perfect. The problem is greater than that, for we are also sinful and
that sin is so offensive to God that He cannot have anything to do with us, while we remain in a sinful condition.
So we can say that the gap is made wider by our sin. But Jesus came to bridge that gap and he did that
not only by taking on the body of a man and thus identifying with mere human beings, but He also choose to die in our place, so that our sin could be forgiven and so that we could know God as our Lord.
To know God as your Lord you must ask him, you must seek his forgiveness on the basis of what
Jesus has done, and if you do that you will be able to say with millions of Christians throughout this globe "O Lord our
Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth."
Yet not everyone says "O Lord my lord" there are those who oppose this God and speak out against Him (v 2). They refuse to praise this God and yet they are silenced
when they listen to little children bringing their praise to God. This verse was quoted by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 21:16 as a fulfilment of the truth stated here. In that passage it was the religious
establishment who opposed Jesus yet the children recognised something of who Jesus was and therefore sang praise to him, and Jesus' enemies were silenced on this occasion.
When it comes to the things of God we must be like little children (Matthew 18:3), who find trust much
easier than adults do. They humble themselves and accept the truth, in a way that we who are adults refuse to do. In fact the opposite is the case with us. We rebel, and refuse to submit to the
authority of others and certainly we refuse to accept God's authority over our life. Yet are we not silenced when we hear children sing praise to God.
2. CONSIDERATION (v 3-4)
When the Psalmist looks into the heavens, he does not see evolution, but he sees God's
handiwork. Notice the personal pronoun, it is God who made the moon and stars and space with all its wonders. It was created by God and ought to lead us to the conclusion that God is powerful, and His name is
majestic in all the earth. But the heaven leads the psalmist to wonder. He ponders why this Creator God, with such immense power and awesomeness should even think of mankind, never mind actually care for
him. Yet this is what God does (v 4).
3. BUT WHY DOES GOD THINK OF AND CARE FOR MANKIND? (vs. 5-8)
God cares for mankind because He placed man in a unique relationship with Himself (vs.5-8). When God made
man he made him in the image of God. Therefore we were made in the scale of importance a little lower than God, made in His image and therefore displaying glory and honour because of the place God has given us
in this world.
I want you to notice that the Psalmist doesn't say a little higher than the creatures of the world, as
if we are just a little better than the animal kingdom, but He made us a little lower than God Himself. Therefore our goal in life is to become more like God not more like the animals. But what sin does in
our world is to turn God's purpose upside down, so that we think as if we were just a little higher than the animal kingdom. Sin pulls us down, so that men and women can act like animals.
Conversion does the very opposite, it sets us the right way up, it sets us on a path of being more God like,
so that we think and act differently, we begin to think and act in a God like manner. That's why the writer to the Hebrews in chapter two applies this verse to Jesus Christ. In His human nature Jesus Christ
was all that God intended mankind to be, but sin has come into our world and dragged us down. Mankind today does not even start to fulfil their true place in this universe until we have our sin dealt with, and
have come into a relationship with God. That's why Christian's thinking and behaviour is so different; Christians should be nice people to be around because they have started to show something of the
God like qualities in their life that was God's intention in the first place.
This is why evolution is so degrading to the human race. For what evolution says is that we are just a
little higher than the animals, in fact we once were animals. If you call someone an animal today it is a derogatory remark, one in which you are likely to be punched, but that is in fact what those who believe
in evolution are saying. Is it no wonder that many people in this world lack self-esteem? But God says we are far superior to the animal kingdom, in fact we are closer in image to God than to the animal
kingdom.
Once we grasped this truth we will begin to see how far we have fallen because of sin. It will surely
also show us how great God's love is that even though we have fallen so far, He still sent His Son into this world to show us what God intended man to be and to rescue us from the bondage so that we can start to
be what God intends us to be. This truth gives man the dignity and honour that is his by right, because of the place God has designated for mankind in His universe.
It is because of man's designated place mankind is to rule over everything that God has made. We rule
not because we are so intelligent and brilliant that we want to show off our brilliance, but because God has placed us as stewards of His universe (vs. 6-8). We are to manage His earth.
That means of course that we are to rule and not let ourselves be ruled by things that are not supposed to
rule. If you have a pet, well you are to rule that pet not let that pet rule you. You don't see a dog taking a man for a walk on a lead; do you? No its owner is to take charge of that dog of course we
are not to abuse our position in this world; we are ultimately accountable to God for our management.
We must look after our environment and world, without ever letting our environment rule over us. This
is what many of the environmental campaigner's do. They think that they have to look after whales, rats or whatever because they are our brothers and sisters in this world. Therefore you must never kill any
animal for any reason, for in doing so you are not looking after this world. Thinking like this brings man down to the level of the animal kingdom.
In the Old Testament God commanded that a lamb was to be taken and killed and presented as a
sacrificial sin offering to God. Was that not being cruel? If you take the view that we are a little higher than the animal kingdom then the answer would be yes. But when you believe that we were made
a little lower than God and were made for a relationship with God, taking an animal and killing it as a sin offering made
to God is saying that my relationship with God is what I was made for and I am demonstrating my rule, and using this animal for the benefit of my soul.
There are some campaigners who want to save our whales, or trees or whatever, yet are not as concerned never
mind more concerned for saving our babies from abortion or saving our souls from hell. Once we view mankind a little higher than our environments instead of a little lower than God our Creator, we get all these
things out of perspective. Christians ought to be concerned with saving the whale etc, but not at the expense of saving our babies or our souls.
Finally once we grasp who we are, then we will want to fulfil our potential, and we can only do that by
coming into a saving relationship with God Our Lord through His Son Jesus Christ. Once we do this then we will want to praise and glorify our Lord, and this is exactly what the Psalmist does in v 9 as he brings
this Psalm to a conclusion. This is what we are going to do now by singing our closing hymn of Praise to our God who is also our Lord, and whose name is majestic in all the earth.
Amen
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