“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth.” Psalm 8:1
That passage sustains me.
I grew up hearing my parents refer to it as the “double O” Psalm. Not only does the number of the Psalm – 8 – look like stacked “o’s,” the scripture starts out with an “O” and an “our.”
O Lord, has that “double O” pulled me through many a tough situation! It has become my mantra. I await the results of a medical test and allow the passage to run through my brain over and over again. I swerve and just miss hitting another car on the highway; the phrase becomes my prayer of gratitude. I lie in bed at night worrying about issues of the day – and of tomorrow. The beginning of Psalm 8 calms my restless mind.
I have repeated the first line so many times I have paid little attention to the other 8 verses. I recently took a closer look at the rest of Psalm 8. Wow!
When I consider your heavens,
The work of your fingers,
The moon and the stars,
Which you have set in place,
What is man that you art mindful of him?
Who is Anna Billingsley that you even know I exist, much less are aware of the number of hairs on my head?
I am the Lord’s creation. I am part of God’s grand plan. Yes, he has a lot on his plate, but God is mindful of me – little ‘ole me with all my foibles and faults. He sits beside me in fearful situations, he holds my hand as I navigate rocky terrain, he quells my rapidly beating heart when stress overtakes me.
He gives me sustenance in the form of scripture.
God brought me into the world. He created me for a purpose and has molded me and guided me ever since. Even when I fail to remember him, God – with the vast universe he oversees – never wavers in his mindfulness of me.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth!