1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.
2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!—The words from King David in Psalm 8:1-9
Looking for stability in your life? I’m not surprised. It seems that more and more these days life has a chaotic quality to it.
I can’t remember any time in my life when the discourse seems as rancorous and downright nasty as it does now. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s the world of business, or entertainment, or politics, or the church. A spirit of nastiness seems to prevail almost everywhere.
I used to think that McDonald’s was the one place where you could always get a smile. But the particular McDonald’s that I visit most frequently has remodeled and instituted a very confusing drive-thru.
One lane alongside the building breaks into two lines for ordering. The problem is that some people sit poised where the line of cars divides waiting to see which ordering station will move along faster. Because they don’t deliberately queue up, they tend to slow down the ordering process. Add to that, some people come breezing in to the parking lot, drive past all those in line, and jump in to the outside ordering station while another customer hangs back as described above.
Tempers flare. Horns honk. Just yesterday one irate customer stormed out of her car and proceeded to pound on the roof of the car that had sped past her car to grab that outside ordering spot while she had hung back waiting to see which line would move faster.
Looking back over the life of King David, from the time he was a shepherd boy until the day of his death, I can see that he had a lot chaos in his life. Of course, he caused one of the more significant times of chaos—his affair with Bathsheba. But, for most of the rest of his life, David was on the receiving end of chaos caused by others. Is it any wonder that King David turned his gaze heavenward.
The Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post is one of the more familiar Davidic Psalms. In this Psalm, David praises God for His stability. Alas, that’s exactly what we need in our chaotic world: the stability of a God who loves us.
I don’t know what you’re going to do to cope with the chaos in your life, but I’m going to take King David’s advice and consider the heavens.
Will you pray with me?
Thank You, God, for loving us. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our Savior. Thank You for sending us Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us.
Precious Father, we bow before you in humility and gratitude. We have considered the heavens. We have clearly seen the work of Your hands. We know that You love us with Your everlasting love. Our hearts well up and overflow with gratitude for all that You are and all that You have done for us.
We thank You, Precious Father, that, especially in the midst of the chaos of this life, You are the One who controls every aspect of our lives. We choose to rest in Your mercy and grace. And, we thank You for hearing our prayer in and through the precious Name of Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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