Psalm 8:2
Praising children
And so we come to one of the most extraordinary verses in the whole Bible! It has to be written down in the text so we can see it! Verse 2, “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”
This incredible statement is like a stew pot bubbling with richness and flavour. While the arrogant adults of this world are pursuing their latest theories to denounce God, their children are singing His praise! While educated men and women proudly proclaim, “There is no God”, their little infants are gurgling with joy in His presence. I pushed my two year old grandson backwards and forwards on a swing at a village park recently. It was a marathon effort because he didn’t want it to stop, even after nearly an hour had passed. For most of that time he sang at the top of his voice and he sang his own language – a language of uninhibited joy. Behind him stood an educated old grandad with tears in his eyes wishing he could be an innocent child again. That is why Jesus was so eager to press His disciples to understand that unless they became like little children they would never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:1-5. Listen to His prayer, found in Matthew 11:25. “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.” Later in Matthew 21:15 we read that the children were shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”It went down well with the chief priests and the teachers of the law!
Verse 2 takes us a gigantic step further in our meditations because the word praise here literally means strength in the Hebrew text. This strength is a stronghold against the enemy. The Satan witnesses our children singing their innocent songs to their heavenly Father and there is nothing he can do to stop them. The whole world, across every continent, regardless of religion, must be ringing with the praise of children and somehow, in God’s wisdom, they are out of the devil’s reach – he cannot touch them. Such praise is so powerful that in itself it is a stronghold. The foe and the avenger stand by helpless and believe me the Satan is an avenger; he has been cast out of heaven, his attempts to ruin the earth are circumvented, his control over mankind is never complete and his plans are too often thwarted. He will do all that he can to avenge and mankind is his battle ground. And then there is the church, the body of Christ which, despite his best efforts, seems to prosper and has not been silenced. In his arrogance he never gives up but oh, he has vengeance in mind at all times. That is why the principle of praise is not just for children and infants, it applies too to believing adults, praise is our stronghold, it keeps us from evil. It silences the enemy for in praise we acknowledge a higher power that the Satan cannot overcome. Demons cannot invade the space of a praising Christian. Ask Paul and Silas who were singing songs of praise during an earthquake in Philippi; the quake was probably a demonic attempt to kill them but instead they glorified God. How guiling it is for the enemy, he is unable to produce life and has no control over the babies that are born into this world, obviously he would like to interfere in this process but it’s “hands off.” While these little children cry for attention and gurgle with the infant joy that is their language of praise, there is nothing the enemy can do. He is silenced - until they start to learn his language and be fed his lies.
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