How to Memorize Psalm 8:3-4
Psalm 8:3-4 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
These verses are good ones to memorize. They help put God in His proper place in your heart. High and lifted up, but also show the great love that God has for you.
The first step to memorizing a verse is to want to. You need to see the great truth of the verse and believe that it will be a help to you and others to have it memorized. So it is good to first look at the context around the verses you are trying to learn and get ahold of the big overall thought. So we will do that first, and then give other tips to memorizing it.
Psalm 8:1 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
Psalm 8 starts with a declaration of God’s high position. He has set His glory above the heavens. He is higher than everything else. His glory is unique. His glory is above everything else. He has no equal.
Isaiah said, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
We cannot see with our eyes what the Lord let Isaiah see, but we need to see Him High and lifted up with our hearts. The New Testament tells us that our Lord has a name that is above every name, and at that name every knee should bow and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
He set his own glory above everything. He did not need help from anyone or permission from anyone. He has all power, and all authority. His glory is set above everything because He put His glory that high.
Psalm 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
He has chosen to use the powerless. Here He uses the illustration of babies. And ones that are still nursing. They are small, they are helpless, they can achieve almost nothing on their own.
The picture here is almost hyperbole. An overstatement for emphasis. A comparison between the greatness of God and the lowness of man runs throughout Psalm 8.
The obvious thought being expressed here is that it is not the babe’s power, it is not their strength. It is God’s strength. And He chooses to use the small and the weak.
1st Cor. 1:25-29
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
Why has God ordained strength to babes? Because when things are accomplished that way. He gets all the glory. That is where all glory belongs.
Psalm 8:3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
The heavens are His. He created them. Here the vast immense, complicated, entirety of the universe is said to be the work of His fingers. The idea being expressed it how easy it was for Him to create it.
I can pound a nail into wood, but not with my fingers. I need my hand, wrist, arm, and shoulder to do that small thing. It takes a lot of effort. Fingers have very little power, light things are pushed with fingers. Keys on a keyboard, the touch screen on your phone. They can exert a small amount of force. God is so powerful that it took very little effort for Him to create everything.
Psalm 33:6 says By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
Psalm 8:3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
Everything exists simply because He ordained it so. He spoke and it was. That is how big He is.
Psalm 8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
God is greater and higher and bigger than we can ever describe. We cannot even begin to scratch the surface on it. And man is nothing in comparison. And yet God is mindful of man. How mindful? Very. So much so that God visitest man. From the beginning we see God seeking man after the fall. He sought out Adam and Eve.
God called Moses, and Abraham, and Issac, and Jacob. He used man after man to reach out to people. Elijah, Elishia, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Peter, John, Paul.
It is a common theme thru the entire Bible and it has never stopped. It is still going on today. God is still actively reaching out to men.
And of course the greatest example. Jesus leaving the glory of heaven and becoming man.
Phil. 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
God loves man so much that he became man and died for man. The creator dying for His creation. The just for the unjust.
Psalm 8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Why give make man a little lower than the angels and give man some glory and honor? Love.
Psalm 8:6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
Why would the Almighty give man dominion over the works of His hands? Love.
Psalm 8:7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
Psalm 8:8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
Why do that for man? Wretched, sinful, rebellious man. Love.
Psalm 8:9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Psalm 8 ends as it started. A declaration of how excellent He is. He is above all.
And yet God is very mindful of man.
Man is infinitely small compared to God. He has all power and everything is His. He created all that is. Compared to His greatness we are nothing. Why would He who is so great even bother with little old us?
I can answer that with one word. Love! Undeserved, unearned, and so often unwanted Love. Love that is unconditional and freely given. Praise God for His wonderful life changing Love.
About these verses Spurgeon said, “this is the love of God to man, for God is love. Oh, the depth of the riches of the bounty and goodness of God! How is his love wonderful, and his grace past finding out! How do you find and feel your hearts affected upon the report of these things? Do you not see matter of admiration and cause of wonder?” I agree with Spurgeon. We should be in awe and humbled by this truth.
The Almighty who owns and created the universe and it exists simply because He ordained it. He is mindful of small man, so much so that He visitest man.
Once you have a hold of the main truth of the verse and context, then it is time to look at memorizing the verse.
1st look for patterns.
Psalm 8:3-4 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
Thy heavens thy fingers
That is a pattern. Thy heavens plural and thy fingers plural The pattern helps you remember that both are plural. Is it finger or fingers. The pattern helps you remember.
Thy heavens thy fingers.
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
There is also a pattern in verse 4. That thou repeated twice with him at the end. That thou him, that thou him.
That thou art mindful of him
That thou visitest him.
Not only is there pattern of words, but pattern of thought. He is mindful so He visitest.
The est ending can sometimes help. The est means second person.
There are 3 ways to talk about a person. I Me. That is first person. If is say them, those people over there. That is third person. If I point at you and say you. That is second person. I am talking about you personally. Not someone else far removed from you.
In the KJV the est ending forms the second person singular present and past indicative tense of verbs
What that means to us in simple terms is when you see est. That means that truth is for you. Personally. Not them over there. Not only for someone else.
The subject here is man as in mankind. But God did not want there to be any confusion that someone might think well that is for them, someone else as in third person. So the verb is in the second person.
That thou visitest him. That fits with God so love the world. That whosoever. Everyone individually.
Psalm 8:3-4 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
1) So you know the big thought.
2) Notice any patterns of words
3) It is helpful not to try to memorize the entire thing at once. Start with sections.
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers.
4) Repeat that same small piece many times.
5) Several times during the same day.
6) Your mind tends to lose some things overnight. So the next morning reinforce that small section. And then start adding the next section.
The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained
7) Put it in how you want it to come out.
What I mean by that is the speed and rate that you put it into your memory is the speed and rate that it will want to come out.
Memorize it super-fast and it will want to come out super-fast when you tell it to someone else.
I saw a man stand in church and quote the entire book of Philippians and he had us read along. The problem was that he put into his memory at a fast rate and so that is how it came out. So fast we could not keep up. He was quoting it faster than we could read it.
There is a rhythm to much of the word of God. If you use that rhythm to memorize it. Repeat it over and over using the same rhythm that will greatly help in recalling it from memory.
Even body movements can help. I had a hard time remembering the word crooked in Philippians, until I started moving my hand in a crooked motion.
The Bible we hold in our hand is the very word of God. Nothing is more worthy of memorizing.
And I have found that having some of it memorized is very profitable for your personal walk with the Lord.
That is why it is not surprising to me that The Bible we hold in our hand was made to be the most memoizable book ever written.