Psalm 8: 1-4

Text
O thou Presence, our guide, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, which hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, as the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, What is humanity that thou are mindful of them? And the child of humanity, that thou visitest?

Text Notes

• The KJV1611 differentiates two different Hebrew words in the first verse by capitalizing one of them, YHWH. In the Psalms for Meditation, the K-JIV distinguishes the two by using "Presence" and "guide".
• Likewise, the older phrase "son of man" is here "child of humanity".

Reflection
Babes and sucklings are one of the best witnesses to the glory of this connecting Presence in creation. In the presence of an infant, even a robust one (!), I feel stillness. The Psalmist's use of anthropological language, as in "thy fingers", brings intimacy to the sense of divine love and power in creation and within my soul.