Scripture
Your majesty is praised as high as the heavens, from the mouths of babes and infants at the breast, You have established a bulwark against Your adversaries.
~Psalm 8:1-2, REB
Quote
The greatest of God is seen in the vastness of the universe and in His power to use weakness to overcome evil.
~Steven J. Lawson
As I was reading Psalm 8, in the REB, a few days ago; I came across this awesome verse…Out of mouth and babes and infants you have established praise. In Jesus commentary in Matthew 21, He uses the Greek word katartizō which means to make fit, to complete or to perfect. The AV may be the best translation, “Out of the mouths of babes and infants, You have perfected praise.” As I tried to understand this verse more clearly, I began seeing facets that I had not seen before.
First of all, in the battle between good and evil, God uses praise. Normally we do not think of praise being a part of warfare but we must remember, we are talking about a spiritual war and praise is a huge factor. If we go back to 2 Chronicles 20, we see a story where Jehoshaphat, king of Judah sends his choir before his army. When they got to the battle field, the enemy lay dead on the ground. All the army had to do was collect the spoils. This is why many military experts teach soldiers to sing or chant as they march: it is a huge moral booster. I am convinced, we will not see revival in America until we perfect PRAISE. If we would get the PRAISE right, victory would come.
As for as perfected praise: Children, even infants do better than we adults. Small children have not learned to be duplicitous; they have not learned to act or to pretend. Their tender hearts are open and honest. You cannot say this about adults. Our praise is adulterated, impure, half-hearted and sometimes none existent. In other words, we can learn from children.
The main point, says Steven L. Lawson is that God uses weakness to defeat the mighty. The cross would be an excellent example. The followers of Jesus was upset and mystified because Jesus made Himself so weak that He could be bound, incarcerated and executed but in hindsight, we see clearly what God was doing. God uses weakness. He uses small things and small people.
No one understood this verse more than the late great Clyde Staples Lewis. In the Chronicles of Narnia, little Lucy [the age of Chloe] stands against the entire Tamberlane army: the child is armed with a tiny dagger but she stands boldly in defiance of evil. Lucy wins the battle. Actually, she watches as Aslan destroys the entire army. God uses small things and weak things to confound the wise and to bring honor and glory to Himself. Weak people cannot boast, we can only point to Him. Eugene Peterson paraphrase of the first beattitude is…“You are blessed when you are at the end of your rope. With less of you, there is more of God.”
We need to continue to left up our President: we need to pray for him daily. I sure would not want to trade places. I think I had rather deal with Iran than with the democrats. Bro. Harold Comer said last night that he believes Satan has unleashed every demon in hell. I have lived 70 years and I have never seen anything like what is going on right now.
I want to thank Belinda and the entire GRACE POINT ministry Team: they did a wonderful job and I believed they loved every minute of it. Hats off to Dale Windsor and Mickey Childers, they listened to my little talk while the women pretended to be cleaning up the kitchen. Truth be known, I don’t blame them. It’s been a long day and I am tired. I’m going to the house to take abuse from my spouse. {JK}