O LORD, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth,

Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength

Because of Your adversaries,

To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

—Psalm 8:1-2

Christmas is easily one of my favorite times of year. I love the lights. The decorations give me the warm fuzzies. I love the annual hunt for the perfect gift to let your loved ones know how much they mean to you. And of course, the time spent with family, reflecting on the birth of Christ, is always a highlight of my year. 

For the last few weeks, my pastor has been preaching a series through some of the psalms leading up to Thanksgiving. There’s no doubt that the Psalms have plenty to say about giving thanks to God, and these sermons went a long way toward helping the church prepare our hearts for Thanksgiving. As we’ve progressed through the series, though, I’ve wondered if the Psalms have anything to say about Christmas and how we can prepare to celebrate this holiday.

Thus, this Christmas series was born! Over the next four weeks, we’re going to look at different psalms and see what they can teach us about celebrating Christmas.

Why Psalm 8 Is the Perfect Christmas Meditation

This week, we’re starting off with Psalm 8. 

Over the past few months, I’ve been writing a book with my co-author about the power of the spiritual disciplines. Surprise! More info coming soon! The project itself has been a practice in discipline, but as a result, something stuck out to me like a flashing neon sign when I read this psalm. This entire psalm is one long Christmas meditation.

How Psalm 8 Points to the Birth of Christ

The reference to Christmas comes in verse two. David writes, “From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength because of Your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease.” Now, I’m not arguing that this is the only layer of meaning to this verse,  but I do think it’s worth noting that this verse is almost a blueprint of God’s plan to save humanity.

We know that Christ, who came to earth as a baby, is the Word of God through whom all things came into being. And we know that Christ came to defeat our enemy and adversary and make a way for us to be with God for eternity.

I don’t know if this is just the result of God speaking through an unsuspecting David or if David was given prophetic insight into how God would save the world, but it’s not the only time that he wrote a psalm prophesying about the Messiah. (Another example would be the beginning of Psalm 22, as well as some of the oddly specific details later in the psalm.) So it’s not a stretch to draw the connection between the babes referred to in the psalm and the one Son of God who established God’s strength on earth.

What David Teaches Us About Adoring God

As for the rest of the psalm, in every verse, David meditates on who God is, what He has made, and how good He has been to us. David writes about how God established the moon and stars. He wonders at the fact that God even takes the time to think about us, much less care for us. Verse after verse, David reflects on who God is in a tone of absolute adoration.

At one point or another, David writes about God’s majesty, power, creativity, splendor, sovereignty, care, generosity, and kindness. And I think the example David sets for us is exactly where we should start this Christmas season.

Come and Adore Him: Moving From Hymn to Habit

This psalm brings to mind the popular Christmas hymn, “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” The chorus says it all: “O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. Christ, the Lord.”

Adoration, as David demonstrates and the hymn alludes to, is an intentional act of focusing on and wondering at how good someone is. From my own experience, I have to admit that I’ve not made this a priority at Christmastime. Certainly, I’ve reflected during candlelight Christmas Eve services or as the Christmas story was read before opening presents, but I’ve not made it a habit or priority to set aside time to meditate on the goodness of the God who left Heaven to save me.

So as we approach Christmas this year, let’s make this our first step. In our quiet times, let’s come and adore Him. When we’re at home working on those mindless chores we’d rather not be doing, let’s come and adore Him. When we wake up and before we go to bed, let’s come and adore Him just like David did.