When I decided I would write one blog on my biggest takeaway from the late Coach Bill McCartney’s Promise Keepers event, I didn’t know I’d be forecasting it in yesterday’s blog. Note what Chad Brown said about unity:

Obviously he is a great football coach. But the ability to unite people may have been his greatest gift. The football, the X’s and O’s, were great. It was the way he was a uniting force. Mac was able to get us all going in the same direction, kids who had come from different parts of the country with different backgrounds…Teammates became brothers. And he built that. – former CU All-American linebacker Chad Brown, as reported in the Denver Post, emphasis mine

My big takeaway from Promise Keepers was unity in diversity. I’ll never forget being in that stadium with 50,000 other men, men of all kinds: different skin colors, all ages, some charismatic, some not, different socio-economic levels. It was a Revelation 7 experience:

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7.9, 10, NKJV)

We Christian men tend to segregate ourselves by our theology and our church identification. I’ll never forget at an early Promise Keeper’s event talking with a fellow in the lunch line. He physically increased his distance when he learned what church I attended. We were both from Colorado Springs, and he perceived that his church was more conservative than mine. Coach Mac would NOT have approved!

One Promise Keeper’s event featured two well-known preachers in the Saturday morning session: one was Chuck Swindoll, conservative Bible teacher, who later became president of Dallas Theological Seminary – a seminary known for being anti-charismatic. (I wrote a blog about this issue almost three years ago.) The other speaker was Jack Hayford, well-known charismatic preacher, author of more than 600 hymns and choruses including “Majesty, Worship His Majesty.”

Get it? Mac brought these two men together, one charismatic, the other anti-charismatic. They both lived in Southern California at the time, and they spoke one after the other. In each sermon, each referred to the other several times as “my friend Jack”…”my friend Chuck.” And the one who spoke on the power of the Holy Spirit was Chuck!

Unity in diversity. That’s what a football is about, and it’s what the Christian community should be about. Mac lived it, Promise Keepers demonstrated it, and I remember it vividly 30+ years later.

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. (John 17.20 – 23, NKJV)

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Ephesians 4.1 – 6, NKJV)

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!…For there the LORD commanded the blessing— Life forevermore. (Psalm 133.1, 3, NKJV)

We lost another brother…Bill McCartney, “Coach Mac” of the University of Colorado, 1982 – 1994, passed away Friday night, January 10, 2025, at the age of 84.

Here’s a succinct summary of his coaching prowess for which he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013:

In 1982, McCartney took over a Colorado program that was coming off three straight losing seasons with a combined record of 7-26. After three more struggling seasons, McCartney turned things around to go to bowl games in nine out of 10 seasons starting in 1985, when he switched over to a wishbone offense…

After getting off to an uninspiring 1-1-1 start in 1990, Colorado won its next nine games to earn a No. 1 ranking and a rematch with the Fighting Irish. This time the Buffaloes prevailed 10-9 and grabbed a share of the national title atop the AP poll.  – ESPN, January 11, 2025

ESPN managed to write a long article without mentioning his founding Promise Keepers, the national men’s movement, which began in the early 1990s. While I’m not a big event guy, as I’ve written before, I was with my sons for several Promise Keepers events, beginning with the first large conference at Folsom Field in Boulder, about 25,000 men (half-capacity). It was followed by two others, I think, where Folsom Field was filled with about 50,000 men, then at Mile High Stadium in Denver with 70,000+ men. Tomorrow I’ll share my primary takeaway from these events.

Back to Coach Mac, he was known not only for winning games but also for building men.

Alfred “Big Al” Williams, who went to the NFL after playing for Coach Mac wrote:

A hall of fame coach but somehow a better man and human being…Love you Coach!…His legacy is firmly built on love, character, integrity, hope, and faith. I will always thank God for blessing me with the opportunity to have him in my life. Thank you Coach for loving on all of us.

As a young player, you didn’t always understand his methods or his philosophy in life as a coach. As an adult, you quickly realize he was on to something. He was the only coach I ever played for that would sacrifice winning to make you a better person…It was always so much bigger than football with Coach. His impact was so profound. It is not uncommon for guys who dealt with him after negative situations to come back later and admit that he saved their life. – Vance Joseph, former CU quarterback and current Denver Broncos defensive coordinator

Obviously he is a great football coach. But the ability to unite people may have been his greatest gift. The football, the X’s and O’s, were great. It was the way he was a uniting force. Mac was able to get us all going in the same direction, kids who had come from different parts of the country with different backgrounds…Teammates became brothers. And he built that. Everything he told me on my recruiting trip came true. He said we would win a national championship, win conference championships, and that I would fall in love with the state of Colorado and marry a girl I met on campus. A lot of recruiters say things on your visit. He batted 1,000. – former CU All-American linebacker Chad Brown, as reported in the Denver Post

And his Christian influence was there:

I did not necessarily agree with his view of the world. I wasn’t attending church in Boulder. Like a lot of students, I was losing my religion. But McCartney was interesting. There was something about Coach Mac that made you want to be near him, to hear him. – Troy Renck, student reporter 1989 – 2003, now with the Denver Post.

God has people everywhere, and I am thankful.

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5.13 – 16, NKJV)

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. (1 Corinthians 9.24, NKJV)

Like Psalms 9 and 10 with a common theme of God’s care of the poor, Psalms 11 and 12 seem to have a common theme: evil. “The world’s going to hell in a handbasket!”

For look! The wicked bend their bow, They make ready their arrow on the string, That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do? (Psalm 11.2, 3, NKJV)

Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak. (Psalm 12.1, 2, NKJV)

What can the righteous do? Psalm 12 offers one solution:

The words of the LORD are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times. (Psalm 12.6, NKJV)

In contrast to the idle, flattering, and “double-hearted” speech of most people, God’s words are pure. “Like silver tried in a furnace of earth…” Reading the Bible is not all we should be doing, but it’s certainly foundational. Ignoring God’s Word is like trying to take a long hike up a mountain without eating first!

That’s the metaphor that came to mind because as I draft this blog, I’m in a mountain cabin in Estes Park, Colorado. June needed a change of scenery after being cooped up for a month after her injury. This is my view out the window:

And this is the sunrise glow on Mt Ypsilon when I was walking the dog.

Back to the metaphor: I wouldn’t want to tackle either the small mountain or the big one without fuel. If we think life is tough in a world that’s against what Christians stand for, best we keep our hearts and minds centered on God’s Word.

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4.4, NKJV)

Some guys are bigger than the rest of us…

The same day that John Ed Mathison wrote a blog about Auburn basketball player Dylan Cardwell (left photo, detail to follow), my friend Jamie Heath (with the beard) posted his own picture of Dylan. To clarify, Jamie isn’t “short” – probably my size or a little taller.

Here’s some of what John Ed wrote on January 8:

Dylan Cardwell is a 6’11” basketball player at Auburn. He has developed into a valuable asset on that team which at the start of 2025 holds the number 2 spot as the best college teams in America.

Dylan played two years of high school basketball in Evans, Georgia and then went to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. When he returned to Georgia his senior year, he was ineligible to play because of his transfer. When asked about his disappointment, he said, “My faith is being tested and I’ve grown a lot while weathering this storm…I must remember that this is God’s plan for me, and His plans are far greater than mine.”

Cardwell recognized more than ever that God was directing his life. He truly trusted in God in leading his decision of where to go to college. He connected with a Christian man who told him about Auburn. A former defensive football coach at Auburn is his uncle, Rodney Garner. He visited and felt that Auburn had a sense of family and a Christian community. He came to Auburn.

…The thing I like about him most is that he knows that he has a role to play, and he plays his role. He is not there to be the leading scorer, etc. He knows that he is going to be a rim protector, block shoots, play excellent defense, and get to the basket and rebound and dunk the ball. He is also the glue that makes Auburn a team.

…His social media following has grown to more than 26,000 followers. He started posting Bible verses and stories of faith. His platform grew bigger for making a positive witness. He went with the basketball team to Israel during the summer. Several players professed their faith in Christ and wanted to be baptized. Cardwell was first baptized himself and then assisted in baptizing some of the other players.

He is very active in several campus ministries. He teaches a Bible study. He is a leader in academics, athletics, and collegiate activities. He is like a magnet to college students. He is referred to as “Mr. Auburn.”

He is a strong Christian whose witness goes far beyond the basketball court. I love his attitude. He says, “I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but God is clearly moving.”

John Ed closes with:

What is your role on God’s team?

The Apostle Paul lists some sample roles:

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

• for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit,
• to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,
• to another faith by the same Spirit,
• to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
• to another the working of miracles,
• to another prophecy,
• to another discerning of spirits,
• to another different kinds of tongues,
• to another the interpretation of tongues.

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12.4 – 11, NKJV, bulleted for clarity)

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:

• if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;
• or ministry, let us use it in our ministering;
• he who teaches, in teaching;
• he who exhorts, in exhortation;
• he who gives, with liberality;
• he who leads, with diligence;
• he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12.3 – 8, NKJV, bulleted for clarity)

As we move through the Psalms we come to 9 and 10, which have something in common. Psalm 9 starts out talking about the wicked. For example,

You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. (Psalm 9.5, NKJV)

What did these nations do to be called “wicked.” I was surprised:

The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten; The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. (Psalm 9.17, 18, NKJV)

The wicked forget God, AND they oppress the poor. This theme is carried into Psalm 10:

The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised…He sits in the lurking places of the villages; In the secret places he murders the innocent; His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless. He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den; He lies in wait to catch the poor; He catches the poor when he draws him into his net. (Psalm 10.2, 8, 9, NKJV)

Most of the psalm is a prayer, and the psalm ends with this promise:

The LORD is King forever and ever; The nations have perished out of His land. LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more. (Psalm 10.16 – 18, NKJV)

God has a heart for the poor. Do I?

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19.9, 10, NKJV)

For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, “You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.” (Deuteronomy 15.11, NKJV)

And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4.17 – 21, NKJV)

As I wrote on January 5, I don’t always know who reads these blogs, and I know even less about what their effect is so it was a joy to receive this message from Barb, a long-time blog reader about January 4’s blog on anger. I have edited out some of the gorier details and changed the name of her friend:

Jane has had a very difficult life, from family molestation in childhood…to an abusive husband from whom she ran, to seeing horrible injuries while as a nurse…Jane is on oxygen and a walker, is diabetic, has a lot of heart damage from several heart attacks, and has a bad knee from a couple of botched knee replacement surgeries…Most recently she suffered 3 attacks while living in the horrible…assisted living facility.

Wow. That’s enough to make anyone angry! Barb continues:

Jane seemed to be keeping her faith until Saturday afternoon when she began to spew such anger and even plans to kill her attackers.  It was horrible and clearly an attack of Satan.  Nothing I could say could calm her or turn her eyes back to God.

Then your blog arrived in my email, and it was perfectly focused on Jane’s need.  I printed it and handed it to her, not knowing how she would react.  She didn’t say anything but took it to her room.  By Sunday morning, she was very repentant, praying, rebuking Satan.

Wow again. I wrote to Barb:

Thank you, Barb. That’s quite a story. I’m glad God used his word in my blog to make a difference. Jane’s letting go of her anger hasn’t changed her situation nor punished her attackers, but it has saved her. As [Navigator] Skip Gray used to say,

Harboring bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other guy to die.

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. (Hebrews 12.14 – 16, NKJV)

Be angry and do not sin… (Psalm 4.4, Ephesians 4.26, ESV))

My intent in yesterday’s Ewellogy on Jimmy Carter was to point out the fallacy of conflating our politics with our theology. Just because some Christians didn’t like his politics is no grounds for declaring he’s not a Christian. I’m not alone. Russell Moore, editor-in-chief at Christianity Today wrote a long article: Jimmy Carter at the Judgment Seat. It’s worth the read in its entirety. He concludes:

The sort of world that defines one’s politics as the whole of one’s identity is bad for a country, bad for a person. But the sort of world that defines one’s gospel by such things is infinitely worse.

If Jesus is right about the gospel, Jimmy Carter is in heaven. – Russell Moore

I wholeheartedly agree. Not only was Jimmy Carter’s hope of eternal salvation based solely on Jesus Christ dying for his sins, he lived out the gospel’s mandate to take care of the poor as few of us do. (See Matthew 25.31 – 46.) Hence Russell Moore’s conclusion, “If Jesus is right about the gospel, Jimmy Carter is in heaven.”

Moving on, I found Jimmy Carter’s state funeral in the National Cathedral inspiring. A grandson read Romans 8.1 – 18, 38, 39 which opens:

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8.1 – 4, NKJV)

Great words to be read to an international television audience!

I was particularly moved by a eulogy written by former president Gerald Ford and read by his son Stephen Ford. Ford and Carter bonded on the flight back to the US after Anwar Sadat’s funeral in 1981 and remained close friends. In a phone conversation, each agreed to do a eulogy at the other’s funeral! Jimmy Carter delivered his eulogy in person when Ford passed in 2006.

In Ford’s written eulogy of Carter, he observed, “Jimmy Carter reminded us that Christ had been a carpenter. He worked around the world building houses and eradicating diseases.” Ford closed with:

I’m looking forward to our reunion. We have a lot to catch up on. Welcome home, old friend. – Gerald Ford’s eulogy of Jimmy Carter

Here are excerpts from another grandson’s eulogy (from my notes):

They were regular folks. He lived four years in the governor’s mansion and four years in the White House. The other 92 years, they lived in their home in Plains. It looked like any other house.

There was no difference between his public face and private one. That’s my definition of integrity.

He lived out Micah 6.8

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? [This verse was also quoted by President Biden in his eulogy.]

The Carter Center has 3300 employees, but only 200 in the US. They are around the world making a difference.

The grandson talked about Guinea worm disease. He said something like:

It’s a disease of poverty. It has existed from the beginning of time…until Jimmy Carter. At one time there were 3.3 million cases. Today there are 14. It wasn’t eradicated by medicine but by people talking to one another about clean water… Not pity but partnership.

Another grandson read Matthew 5.1 – 16.

All in all a fitting ceremony for a great man.

Well done, good and faithful servant…Enter into the joy of your lord. (Matthew 25.21, NKJV)

Today is the official national day of mourning for former president Jimmy Carter, I think, the most outspoken Christian president we’ve had. And because he was a Democrat, there are fellow believers who don’t recognize that. A friend of mine was pastoring in rural Pennsylvania in the late 1970s, early 1980s. When Ronald Reagan was elected, one of his parishioners said, “Finally! A Christian in the White House.” You mean Jimmy Carter doesn’t count?

Reflect with me on a life well lived.

From left: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin

President Carter served as our commander in chief for four years, but he served as the beloved, unassuming Sunday school teacher at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia for 40. And his humble devotion leaves us little doubt which of those two important roles he prized the most. – Senator Mitch McConnell, R, KY.

President Carter taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice and service. – Former President Barak Obama

President Carter always upheld the dignity and worth of everyone, even black people in the segregated South:

Growing up a racial integrationist in the Deep South, he was a theologically conservative Christian with a liberal political platform...Carter’s childhood set him up to challenge categories. By many measures, Plains, Georgia, was a typical Southern town during the Great Depression. The area was not prosperous, and Carter grew up in a home without running water, electricity, or insulation...Not long into a promising career in the US Navy as an nuclear submarine engineer, Carter defied his young wife’s wishes and his superiors’ aspirations for him. He returned to Plains as a peanut farmer...He courageously served on the Sumter County Board of Education as the civil rights movement ramped up, working to equalize and integrate the public schools...In fact, Carter was put under immense pressure to join the White Citizens’ Council in the wake of the Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision in 1955. A group of men implored Carter at his warehouse, telling him that every white male adult in the community had joined except him. Despite the threat of a boycott against his business, an angry Carter took a $5 out of his pocket and said, “I’ll take this and flush it down the toilet, but I am not going to join the White Citizens’ Council.” – David R. Schwartz, Died: President Jimmy Carter, Politician, Peanut Farmer, and Christian, Christianity Today, December 29, 2024

As President, he lived his faith out:

Carter seemed like a model of moral rectitude compared to the foul-mouthed Lyndon B. Johnson and the corrupt Richard Nixon. – David R. Schwartz

Carter possessed a sincere Christian faith that shaped his foreign policy. As just one example, in 1979, during a private meeting with South Korean leader Park Chung Hee, Carter took time to share the gospel with the befuddled military dictator. This earned him a scolding editorial from The New York Times but speaks to Carter’s genuine piety. He similarly spoke of his faith to Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping while urging the communist nation to allow Bibles, open churches, and welcome missionaries. – William Inboden, World Magazine, December 31, 2024

He was President of the United States, but his biggest impact was his 44 years of service AFTER he was president.

His post-presidential career has needed very little rehabilitation. Carter, described by biographer Randall Balmer as a “restless man, consumed by a kind of frenetic benevolence,” has been a strong supporter of Habitat for Humanity, which grew out of Koinonia Farm. The Carter Center, which he founded shortly after leaving office, has sought to confront human rights violations, eradicate disease, and reconcile warring parties in Haiti, Guyana, Ethiopia, Korea, and Serbia. His efforts won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. – David R. Schwartz

He was not just a “strong supporter” of Habitat for Humanity, he helped put it on the map. After he was president, he was actively involved, building 4,300 houses. This article from CBS News is worth the read in its entirety. He built his last Habitat house in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2019. He was 95 years old at the time.

A genuine common man, he always lived in his modest home, resisted the temptation to exploit his office for personal gain, and taught an adult Sunday school class at his local Baptist church into his final years. A friend of mine tells a touching story of visiting the Carters a few years ago at their church, followed by a simple lunch at the Carter home, where the former president made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for his guest. – William Inboden

As I wrote about Tony Campolo, I don’t have to agree with everything Jimmy Carter said and did to recognize him as a Christian brother who not only “cared” about the poor, he actually did something. A man who lived his faith in Jesus out.

Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then the righteous will answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25.34 – 40, ESV)

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)

We continue with our reading program. If you started on Monday, December 30, you might have read Psalm 8 today, parts of it are well known. It opens:

O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! (Psalm 8.1, NKJV)

It continues…

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? (Psalm 8.3, 4, NKJV)

If you want to sing it, try “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” on this paraphrase:

1 Lord, our Lord, majestic is Your name throughout the whole wide earth;
You display and set Your splendor o’er the heav’ns which show Your worth.
2 From the mouths of infant children, You establish strength and praise;
Make the enemy and vengeful cease before Your wondrous ways.

3 When I see Your glorious heavens, moon and stars which You ordain;
4 What is man that You regard him, son of man with care maintain?
5 Yet You made him slightly lower than the angels high above;
Crowning him with glory, honor, just beneath the God of love.

6 You made him to rule creation, put all things beneath his feet—
7/8 Sheep and oxen, beasts and cattle, birds of heav’n and fish of sea;
All that swim within the pathways of the sea declare Your worth.
9 Lord, our Lord, majestic is Your name throughout the whole wide earth.

The writer of the Hebrews uses this passage to point to Jesus:

For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying:

“What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”

For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2.5 – 9, NKJV)

So Psalm 8 appears to have several layers of meaning. God did put creation under Adam in Genesis 1 and 2. And God has put all things under Jesus:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2.5 – 11, NKJV)

As we’ve just started our 2025 reading plan, beginning with Book 1 of the Psalms, here’s a timely word, courtesy of NavPress.

Here are ten reasons why it’s good to sing from the Psalms when you are alone before the Lord:

1. It’s good because the Bible says it’s “good to sing praises to our God” (Psalm 147:1).
2. It’s good because it helps you to “sing to Him a new song,” which the Bible commands in verses such as Psalm 33:3 (see also Psalm 96:1; 98:1; 149:1).
3. It’s good because the Bible says to sing “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16).
4. It’s good because it nourishes your soul as only the words God inspired for us to sing can do.
5. It’s good because it expresses to the Lord what’s in your heart in a divinely appointed way.
6. It’s good because singing God’s Word reinforces His truth in your heart and mind.
7. It’s good because along with your mind it involves your body and soul, making for a more whole-person worship of God.
8. It’s good because you learn to express yourself biblically.
9. It’s good because it’s enlivening to your soul to sing words that are “living and powerful” (Hebrews 4:12).
10. It’s good because you unite with what the people of God throughout the world have sung for thousands of years.

It really is “good to sing praises to our God.” Enjoy the goodness.

But, Bob, I don’t know the tunes! Fret not: https://psalms.seedbed.com/

For example, here’s the beginning of today’s psalm, Psalm 7, which can be sung to the tune of “God of Our Fathers.”

1 O Lord, my God, in You I refuge take;
Save me from those who would pursue my life.
2 Like a strong lion they would tear and shake,
Leaving no help in all my painful strife. (https://psalms.seedbed.com/psalm-7/)

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. (Psalm 100.1, 2, NKJV)