The Most Excellent Name in All the World

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens.

Psalms 8:1-9

I can’t read Psalm 8 without thinking of an old Church of Christ song called “O Lord, Our Lord.” My denominational heritage gave me many wonderful gifts, but perhaps the best gift of all is an appreciation for music and hymns.

This was one of my favorite hymns from my years singing in the Church of Christ. Unlike many hymns that develop elaborate arguments over multiple verses, “O Lord, Our Lord” has beautifully simple and repetitious lyrics.

The hymn is inspired by Psalm 8:1. In the middle of that same Psalm, the Psalmist asks God, “What are mortals that you care about them?” It is a humble question and one that we don’t hear much in our culture. Even Christians today talk about Jesus as if he is our best friend or our coffee pal or a hard vinyl action figure.

I’m not trying to discredit the desire to make God more approachable. God is our friend, but God is also God. Singing this hymn as a kid, repeating this phrase over and over with the whole congregation singing a capella together, taught me something about the sovereignty of God.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet riffed on the same Psalm in one of his famous speeches. He tells a friend, “What a piece of work is a man … in action how like an angel!” But Hamlet, with all its complexity, couldn’t teach me what that simple hymn did.

At the end, all my work, all my days, all my relationships only have meaning because they bring glory to God.

And so we do the work that God gives us to do. The psalmist talks about caring for the flocks and herds, hunting the wild animals, and fishing in the seas. Today, we still care for the world in our daily work, glorifying God in the emails we write, in the phone calls we make, in budget decisions, in yard work, at the kitchen sink and the washing machine. Not many of us work with livestock any more. But the work we do still reflects the glory of God whose name fills the earth.

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION:

Do you have a favorite hymn or praise song? What has this song taught you about the nature of God? Do you have a favorite speech by a character from a play or a television show or a movie? How does this speech glorify God?

PRAYER:

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. Your name fills the earth. Your glory fills the heavens. Help me not be so focused on myself that I forget the purpose of my life is to bring glory to your name. Amen.

READ THE PASSAGE IN CONTEXT:

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

Your glory is higher than the heavens.
You have taught children and infants
to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies
and all who oppose you.
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?

Yet you made them only a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority—
the flocks and the herds
and all the wild animals,
the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
and everything that swims the ocean currents.

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

Psalm 8