Singing Psalm 8 your enemies are silenced on earth
“From infants’ and from children’s lips You ordered praise to silence all Your enemies, The wicked to confound.” ~ Psalm 8:2
When you start to feel overwhelmed, singing Psalm 8 your eyes are pried off of self and on to what God has done, and your enemies are silenced.
When the Lord gives you opportunities to influence others, you might be tempted to see your influence as something to be proud about as the disciples were found bickering over which of them was the greatest. Singing Psalm 8 your enemies are silenced as it clues you in that you are a small fish in a big pond even if you are a big fish in a small one.
Your enemies are silenced when you resist talking about yourself more than is necessary so that your testimony gives God maximum glory. Your enemies want you brought down low and know the quickest way to accomplish that is to get you to exalt yourself rather than God. Your enemies are silenced when you exalt God and humble yourself.
When you do what God has prepared in advance for you to do, let not your lips praise you or your works. Your enemies are silenced when whether or not others esteem you, ignore you, or hate you, you want only God’s esteem. Your enemies are silenced when you cannot be flattered, bought, or bribed. Daniel told King Belshazzar that he could keep his gifts for himself or give them to others. You live on the earth before an audience of one.
“All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned — every one —to his own way;And the Lord has laid on him The iniquity of us all.” ~ Isaiah 53:6
Since God is first mindful of you, you respond by being mindful of him. He designed you, determined for you to live, and redeemed you in Christ so that you can be with him and love him and others. You love because he first loved you.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” ~ Philippians 4:4-9
Proclaiming his glory as you look around you and marvel every moment at the wonder of his gifts including your faith in him, your ability to manage, make, and move, your enemies are silenced.
“Yet You created him to be Just less than one divine;You gave him honor as a crown, And made his glory shine.” ~ Psalm 8:5
Singing Psalm 8 your enemies are silenced in the heavenly places
“When I regard the heav’ns You made, Your fingers’ work I trace;I see the moon and shining stars Which You have set in place.” ~ Psalm 8:3
With the mind-boggling ever expanding universe containing stars within galaxies too many to be numbered that the triune God has made, that he thinks of you and me, puts us in charge of even a tiny part of it, it is honoring, and in a way that is unfathomable.
Interestingly enough, God set it up so that we would see this with our eyes, but not until it is dark. You need faith to believe there is light when the darkness is so thick that you can feel it. Yet on a clear night you can look up and see thousands of stars, each one representing billions more. This is your God in whom you place your faith who made these “also” as if they were only dribbles compared to him and nothing to get too excited about in comparison!
God has also made a universe within each image-bearer that contains uncountable microorganisms that help each human being process food and draw nourishment from it.
These make the grains of sand seem countable in comparison.
The one who made all of this—that he would break into our history and become one of us so that he could save us—shows us kindness and love that this world does not understand. With the Holy Spirit guiding you as you sing Psalm 8, you understand. What king becomes a peasant, and then dies for the peasants who rail against him, so that the peasants could become like the king — humble, servant kings? As you resist the pull to establish your own earthly kingdom where you are front and center, your enemies are silenced.
It’s frightening and unsafe when you place yourself outside of trusting the creator of all things. Nothing gives you more peace than when you trust God who made, sustains, and directs all things. Singing Psalm 8, you know your trust in him is not a gamble, a crap shoot, or a 50/50 probability. The Lord is solid, a rock on which your soul can 100% plant its feet. Your enemies are silenced as you exalt King Jesus, the King of kings.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” ~ Ephesians 6:12
Shouting praises as you gaze up to admire God for how great, good, and worthy of your total trust he is, your enemies are silenced.
Singing Psalm 8 your enemies are silenced in your heart
Singing Psalm 8 your enemies are silenced by the utter foolishness of trusting in man over God no matter what trouble you find yourself in, whether physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, or financial. God has you in that trouble for his purposes, and God will get you out.
“As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’ And he cried out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord, let me recover my sight.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.” ~ Luke 18:35-43
Jesus will not silence you when you cry out to him for help. Rather, he inquires to hear your specific request and grants it or something even better because he is merciful and gives you faith to believe he would and the willingness to wait for it.
Your enemies are silenced, the enemies in your heart that say, “What’s the use asking for help. Who are you that God should pay you any mind?”
Why are these thoughts such ferocious, cruel enemies?
Because this thinking leaves you no choice but to rely on yourself and other people. Trying to live like a Christian on your own strength or on the strength of other finite creatures is the shortest way to chaos, disordered thoughts, anxiety, and depression.
Why?
Because you were made to depend on God alone. He supplies your every breath, your every thought, your ability to move. You are extinguished when he takes your breath. You are only here for a short time. Yet he promises to give you eternal life in Christ. Only in Christ does a person live on in pleasure forever once that last breath is taken away. Your enemies are silenced when you come to Jesus and find the yoke easy and the burden light. Going it alone is not only not easy, it’s not possible. You say to yourself, so stop trying to make everything make sense, will you? Why would God say, “Be still and know that I am God” if he expects me to do everything without him? As these questions expose the lies you tell yourself, your enemies are silenced within your heart. The address where your body is might be different from the address where your soul must make its home. Come to Jesus, rest in him. He makes sense. Nothing else will apart from him. And one day, your body and soul will be perfectly united and at home with him.
Singing Psalm 8, you marvel that God cares for the frail and weak. That is who he is—caring— and he became frail and weak for your sake and for mine. He is preeminent yet completely unlike prominent people who wouldn’t give a glance or a thought to those who couldn’t benefit them in any way.
Your enemies are silenced when you, too, cry out:
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Sure, the blind man wanted to receive his sight. And Jesus gave the gift of sight to him! I wonder though if he soon found, like you and I do, that we must end our love affair with one aspect of sight. It takes so long to give up the notion that God loves you only when you see things go your way. He is teaching you that suffering is the vehicle he uses to get you where you want and need to go. And you do suffer when you see things go contrary to the way you think they should go. He had given the blind man an even greater gift than the gift of sight. Jesus gave the blind man the gift of faith to believe that Jesus could help him. You get to shift your point of view by taking a new look, through the eyes of faith, at suffering from God’s perspective:
“Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
“Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” ~ Isaiah 53:10-11
Your faith rides to hope in the train of suffering. You so much want to be patient. He puts you in situations that will bring that about from the inside out. Do you want to be a kind person? Watch how he puts needy people in your path to bring that about, again from the inside out. Don’t be afraid to ride that train. God’s Word records many who rode those same train cars, each one safely and joyfully arriving at their destination. Your faithful conductor is using it to bring you home.
“And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.
“And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from this time forth and forevermore.” ~ Isaiah 59:20-21
The way that Jesus accomplished saving your soul was through suffering. His own suffering.
When your heart is to help someone else, you help them through suffering. Your own suffering. Except in your case, Jesus is carrying you through it. Jesus went through it alone for you, becoming as if he were a criminal so that you and me, criminals in God’s tribunal, could be kings.
You made him a ruler of the works Created by your hand;You placed all things beneath his feet To be in his command:
All sheep and oxen, birds and fish, All beasts both wild and tame.O LORD, our Lord, in all the earth How glorious is Your name!” ~ Psalm 8:6-9
As you do your very best to take dominion over the tasks and responsibilities that he has given you, you realize that he has dominion over all things on land, in the sea, and in the air. Your enemies are silenced when you worship him with awe and wonder moment-by-moment as you go about day and night. Your eyes are fixed on him, no longer on yourself or on others. He has transported your soul to an address where your body does not yet live. He gives you eyes of faith in him alone because you see how worthy he is and that he promises to be with you, not to leave you even for a second. You know he is good for every promise he has ever made. And so you wait for the fulfillment of each one. All have been fulfilled at the cross and resurrection of Christ. Your enemies are silenced when you remember that it is in the ecosystem of suffering and resurrection power alone, where your soul makes its home, fearing only the one who loves you and that you love with all that you are, that anxiety and depression grow wings and lift.
“O LORD, our Lord, in all the earth How glorious is Your name!For You have set above the heav’ns Your glory and Your fame.” ~ Psalm 8:1
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:3-7
God, the Father, sent Jesus, God, the Son, who humbled himself to become a son of man.
“And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to him.’ And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.” ~ Mark 9:7-8
The Shunammite woman waited to speak to the man of faith in God because she trusted in God and did not divulge her request to one who looked to himself. Your enemies are silenced when you do likewise.
A woman of the city (Luke 7) didn’t care who saw her loving Jesus at the dinner party. Without a word, washing his feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, kissing and anointing them, she worshiped him with all that she had. Notice she didn’t go around the room doing this to everyone. Only Jesus. You can hardly wait for your turn when you will hear not a sound of rebuttal. Suffering is over; its purpose fulfilled. Your enemies are silenced forever.
“I ask myself, ‘What then is man? That you should give him thought—The son of man, that you to him Such gracious care have brought?” ~ Psalm 8:4
July 28 – September 15, 2023
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