Psalm 7-8
Psalm 7
In You Do I Take Refuge
A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.
1O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
2lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,
rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.
3O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
4if I have repaid my friend with evil
or plundered my enemy without cause,
5let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
and let him trample my life to the ground
and lay my glory in the dust.Selah
6 Arise, O Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
7Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
over it return on high.
8The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
9Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous—
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God!
10My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
11God is a righteous judge,
and a God who feels indignation every day.
12If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and readied his bow;
13he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.
14Behold, the wicked man conceives evil
and is pregnant with mischief
and gives birth to lies.
15He makes a pit, digging it out,
and falls into the hole that he has made.
16His mischief returns upon his own head,
and on his own skull his violence descends.
17I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
Psalm 8
How Majestic Is Your Name
To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.
1O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
3When I look at 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,
and the son of man that you care for him?
5Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
“What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4)
Have you ever visited a place so majestic that it took your breath away? I recently went on my honeymoon to Idaho and while there I hiked a trail that led me to a beautiful lake nestled in between mountains with a perfect view of Grand Teton. After a strenuous hike, the mountains open up and give you a little taste of the lake. The hike continues down rock scramble and eventually opens up wide with a perfectly nestled view of Grand Teton. I was in complete awe. After finding the best spot (we were the first people there!) we both sat down and fell into silence - simply taking in the view in front of us. It was so quiet and peaceful that it made me feel as though I would cry. The beauty before me was such a gift and a testament to a gracious and heavenly Father who cares for His people.
In Psalm 8, David is pondering the vastness of God’s power and majesty. He is amazed that a God who is capable of creating all these amazing things, also created mankind - you and me.
Think of a time when you witnessed something so beautiful that it left you in awe. When was the last time you sat for a few minutes and thought about the vastness of God and what He has created? How can you make time for that today?
