O Yahweh, my Adonai, how excellent, how majestic, how splendid, how glorious, how noble, how chief, how mighty, how beautiful is your name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory, thy splendor, thy vigor, thy majesty, thy divinity above the heavens. O Lord (Yahweh), the self-existent, covenant God of His people, my Lord (Adonai) the all-powerful Master, Sovereign Ruler, Authoritative Ruler.
To most of us in the 21st century a name is just a name we call someone, but to the ancient Hebrew a name most often meant so much more. A name symbolized something, meant something. We see God changing people’s names to mean something greater i.e., Abram to Abraham, Sari to Sarah, Jacob to Israel etc.
In Psalm 8.1, our memory verse this week, such is surely the case, but it is missed in the English Translations we use. The word LORD is really two different names for God. YHWH, the covenant name of God and Adonai signifying his Sovereign Lordship and Master. The Psalmist in this short Psalm shows God is Supreme in His creation, in His concern for man and His Rule for men.
Have you noticed where God placed man in HIS order — “a littler lower than God” and it was God who crowned man with “glory and majesty” (Vs 5). The Psalm is not about man, it is about God, but in looking at the excellence of God, we as man must realize yes God made us, not as insignificant beings, but in His own image and likeness (Gen 1.26-27). He gave us (mankind) dominion over all the earth. Our Savior Jesus Christ has been given dominion over all things (Col 1.15-18).
We truly have the opportunity to serve and worship a Great God, our creator. He wants us to love Him, knowing full well how much he loves us. “O LORD our LORD, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens” (Psalm 8.1)?