Mon., 8/7/17 Devotion (Ps. 8:1)

Today's encouragement comes from Psalm 8:1, where David wrote this:

"O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens!"

No matter how dark and dreary things may be, or seem to be here below—God's glory, like the sun, is always shining above, never shrouded over with clouds of sin or misery. But, this truth would be of little comfort for us, in this life, if the Lord's name was not made to be "excellent" in "all the earth."

How can this be? God's name is excellent here, even in the midst of much sin, because Jesus has come here. He has, in His cross and resurrection, bridged the gap between heaven and earth, and has "united" them for the benefit of His faithful church.

[Puritan quote of the day: "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion! Can we be God's servants and not His soldiers? Is not Christ's church on earth truly mili-tant?” —Isaac Ambrose, in, "The Christian Warrior"]