Out of the Mouths of Babes...
June 2, 2007
Psalm 8:1-2
1.O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
2.From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise [NIV note: or strength] because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
This has always been one of my favourite passages in the psalms, because it is in one way so counter-intuitive, and because it shines a bright light on the great importance of things that may not seem to be all that significant in our day-to-day thought.
These two verses show us in a nutshell who God is, and how he works. First, his name is majestic in all the earth. It is kingly, worthy of praise and adoration. The LORD our God is king! And his glory has been set 'above the heavens' - it is beyond creation and all created things. The glory of God is incomparable to anything in creation (although it is 'clearly seen' in creation, as Romans 5:12 tells us).
So God is transcendent. He is majestic and glorious. And... what? We go from the glory of YHWH to children and infants? It's a strange juxtaposition - from something incomprehensible to something so... small! But yet, here we have it - God has ordained strength because of his enemies from the lips of children and infants - out of the mouths of babes! From the simple songs sung by little kids, God works an incredible feat. He ordains praise from our little ones to silence the foe and the avenger, to shut up those who do not fear God and who hate him.
Our children are on the front lines in the battle against the evil one, and God uses their enthusiastic singing of psalms and hymns to defeat his enemies. So when McKinley, my five-year old son, comes home from kindergarten having learned the words to 'Holy, Holy, Holy,' he is being trained for battle, and through his lips, through his simple faith, Satan is being defeated. What an amazing thought! It certainly makes even these seemingly small events in a child's life seem all the more important. And it adds a whole new level of importance to training our children in the way Moses taught the people in Deut. 6:6 and 7: 'These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.'
1.O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
2.From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise [NIV note: or strength] because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
This has always been one of my favourite passages in the psalms, because it is in one way so counter-intuitive, and because it shines a bright light on the great importance of things that may not seem to be all that significant in our day-to-day thought.
These two verses show us in a nutshell who God is, and how he works. First, his name is majestic in all the earth. It is kingly, worthy of praise and adoration. The LORD our God is king! And his glory has been set 'above the heavens' - it is beyond creation and all created things. The glory of God is incomparable to anything in creation (although it is 'clearly seen' in creation, as Romans 5:12 tells us).
So God is transcendent. He is majestic and glorious. And... what? We go from the glory of YHWH to children and infants? It's a strange juxtaposition - from something incomprehensible to something so... small! But yet, here we have it - God has ordained strength because of his enemies from the lips of children and infants - out of the mouths of babes! From the simple songs sung by little kids, God works an incredible feat. He ordains praise from our little ones to silence the foe and the avenger, to shut up those who do not fear God and who hate him.
Our children are on the front lines in the battle against the evil one, and God uses their enthusiastic singing of psalms and hymns to defeat his enemies. So when McKinley, my five-year old son, comes home from kindergarten having learned the words to 'Holy, Holy, Holy,' he is being trained for battle, and through his lips, through his simple faith, Satan is being defeated. What an amazing thought! It certainly makes even these seemingly small events in a child's life seem all the more important. And it adds a whole new level of importance to training our children in the way Moses taught the people in Deut. 6:6 and 7: 'These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.'