I like the way David starts out this Psalm.
1To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. (ESV)
How majestic in Israel? Yes, and also everywhere! I’m reminded of New Testament days, when Jesus established His kingdom upon this earth and His name was spread far and wide. Now, He is known and worshiped throughout the earth. Gentiles have been included in God’s plan since the beginning.
Psalm 8:2 reminds me of my Bible study. Kids run wild, making noise, knocking things over, even (gasp!) walking right up to Tim and sitting on his lap while he’s teaching! The nerve! But Jesus thinks quite highly of little children, as we see in Matthew 11:25, Matthew 21:16, Luke 10:21, and Matthew 19:14. We need to remember that God has chosen the weak things of this world to bring down the strong (I Corinthians 1:27). He did this when he chose lowly, uneducated fisherman to become the foundation upon which Christianity was built.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. (ESV)
The rest of this Psalm makes me wonder why God has shown us favor. Why did He create us? We don’t treat Him well. Why did He bestow honor and glory upon us? Why did He give us dominion over the earth when He knew we’d be irresponsible keepers? (Did you recycle today?) It’s incomprehensible to me why God bothered with us at all.
4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? (ESV)
But not only did He bother with us, He gave us everything. He gave us the ultimate gift – life – while sacrificing His own.
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet . . . (ESV)
It’s so normal to complain, to be ungrateful, and to think that life isn’t fair. But when you think of God’s gift, all that goes down the drain. And when you compare God’s generosity to our regular rejection of Him, the argument of “A fair God wouldn’t send people to Hell,” looks quite petty. He’s given us dominion. He’s given us honor. He’s given glory. He’s given us life, here, and, if we choose to accept it, with Him forever.
9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Your questions are often what I have asked as well. Why does God show us favor? My only conclusion is that He truly loves us. I know He has said it over and over, but it still seems incomprehensible. Yet, what we truly love we tend to treat favorably. It is no different with God. How blessed we are to be the objects of His love!