Mensa Otabil - O Lord, Our Lord (10/30/2025)
This week we are looking at Psalm 8, the eighth psalm, and we’re going to work through it from today until the end of the week. We start with verse number one, Psalm 8, verse 1: «O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.» Psalm 8 is a celebratory psalm; it is a psalm that is joyful, extolling God and honoring Him. It is the first psalm, in the series from Psalm 1 up to now, where we find notes of joy and gladness. This is the first psalm that expresses joy because, from the beginning of the psalms, especially from Psalm 3 to Psalm 7, they are full of lamentations, pleas, and anguish. Then, in Psalm 8, we hear joyful sounds.
Now, we are not very certain when the psalm was written. It is noted as a psalm of David, but many scholars believe that David wrote Psalm 8 after his battle with Goliath. After he had fought Goliath and won that battle, he sat back and wondered at what God had done for him, and that is when Psalm 8 was written. If that is so, then it helps us to understand the psalm a little better. David begins the psalm on an intimate as well as a corporate note: «O Lord, our Lord!» He declares God as the Lord, as the Sovereign, and then God is our Lord-not only in a personal sense but also for the nation of Israel, for the community, for everybody who worships the Lord. That’s how he starts: «O Lord, our Lord!» This is similar to how Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer: «Our Father.» It is not just about your personal relationship with God but also knowing that other people share the same relationship with Him.
After David declares his relationship with God, «O Lord, our Lord,» he goes on to make two statements about the Lord. He says, «How excellent is Your name in all the earth!» He extols the name of the Lord, and it’s appropriate that if this psalm was written after Goliath, then the name of the Lord was what gave him victory because he said, «I come to you in the name of the Lord, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.» Thus, he declares that the name of the Lord is above all other names, including the gods of the Philistines, and is exalted above everything that is created on this planet. It transcends the waters, the land, the people, and the giants, as well as the giant situations that we face. We too must declare, «How excellent is Your name in all the earth!» The name of the Lord is greater than your problem, greater than your burden, greater than your pain, and greater than your anxiety.
«O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name! Your name excels; Your name goes beyond every other name.» That is the first thing David says. Then he says, «You have set Your glory above the heavens.» The theme of the heavens introduced in verse one will continue throughout the psalm. The heavens here refer to the observable universe, to what he can see. Remember, in David’s time, they didn’t have telescopes; they could only observe what the naked eye could see. Yet, he could sense that there was something huge out there. He asserts that as vast as the heavens and the skies are, whatever planets may exist, God’s glory is beyond that.
So, David, in a sense, is saying that even the heavens and creation cannot contain God’s glory. What does that mean? It means that God’s glory exceeds His creation. Why? Because He is the Creator. «O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.» The name of the Lord is our strength; the name of the Lord gives us victory. The name of the Lord is beyond all of creation, and the glory of the Lord excels everything that has been created. May you walk in the power of the name of the Lord, and may the glory of God be manifested in your life throughout this week. In Jesus' name.
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, Your glory fills all of creation. I declare that Your name excels all thrones, dominions, and powers. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»