Reflections for Youth - Psalm 8

I was one of those kids that spend endless hours in the summer looking for jars.  I would raid the kitchen, dig around under the sink, and rummage through the cupboards to find any kind of container with a lid  I could poke holes in.  Catching lightning bugs was important work.  Now that I am older, I still love them - but instead of collecting them I would rather sit in the yard and watch them light up the sky.  

The other night I was outside in the dark with our puppy looking up at the stars. I noticed that she was sitting down by my feet watching something, too. Lightning bugs. Fireflies.  They were lighting up the trees and she was fascinated.

While I was out there  - I was thinking about one of our scriptures today—which is Psalm 8.

If you open your Bible to the middle—you will probably find Psalms in the Old Testament.  It’s the longest book in the Bible—it has 150 chapters—or Psalms.  The Psalms are songs or prayers to God. Many of them are attributed to David but we don’t know exactly for sure who wrote them.

Sometimes we sing them as a joyful praise to God. Sometimes we read them as prayers when everything is going wrong and we are sad. Psalm 8 is one that we might sing or read to praise God

Out in my yard the other night, I thought about how David was a shepherd and how he would have been out in the field at night with his sheep or goats looking up at the stars. Maybe the moon was bright enough for him to see that the sheep were safe.  And maybe it was while looking up at the stars- or watching fireflies that Psalm 8 was written.  (Read it below). 

So here is what I am thinking about this week: 

Looking up at the sky reminds me of how so very small I am.  I am reminded how amazing it is that God is responsible for this mysterious universe and massive bundles of fire that travel at thousands of miles per hour.  And God created me. And you.  God knows me and loves me just as all the things he created.  Looking up at the sky gives me hope.  

What gives you hope?

Looking up at the stars is also humbling. It reminds me that maybe we are called to do something that matters and to serve creative God at which we marvel. 

What do you think about when you look at the sky? 

Psalm 8 (NRSV version) Divine Majesty and Human Dignity

To the leader: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

1 O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.
2     Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
    to silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;
4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
    mortals[a] that you care for them?

5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God,[b]
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under their feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!