The Impact Of One Psalm
May 2009 – Grace & Truth Magazine
The Impact Of One Psalm
What do an American president, an astronaut and an oceanographer have in common?
After meditating on Psalm 8, President Abraham Lincoln is reported to have said, “I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.” Lincoln knew the whole Bible well, and often quoted it from memory in both public and private comments. But according to White House nurse Rebecca Pomroy his favorite book was Psalms. He told her, “The Psalms are the best, for I find in them something for every day of the week.”
When Apollo 11 was returning from its successful mission to the moon in 1969, Nobel Prize physicist Owen Chamberlain said, “This shows that mankind can be in charge of his own destiny.” Astronaut “Buzz” Aldrin, who actually walked on the moon, gave that mission a biblical perspective by quoting Psalm 8:3-4: “When I consider Your heavens, the works of Your fingers, the moon and stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him?” He understood Who controlled the universe and what our place was in it. Today, no one remembers Chamberlain’s words. Everyone remembers Aldrin’s.
In the 1850s, Matthew Maury, a United States Navy officer was so struck by the phrase “the paths of the seas” (Ps. 8:8) that he launched an extensive study and mapping of the many currents or “rivers” that flow in the oceans. He wrote the first book on oceanography and became known as “the pathfinder of the seas” and the “father of modern ocean navigation.” His discovery not only revolutionized ocean navigation, but also greatly improved ocean fishing as Psalm 8:8 also refers to “the fish ... all that swim the paths of the seas.”
These are but three examples of how God’s Word impacts the lives of those who read it. I hope this month’s Worship and Feature articles lead you to a deeper appreciation of our Lord.
By Larry Ondrejack