“O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! who hast set Thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength…” (Psa. 8:1-2).

After praising God’s excellence on the earth, King David looked up to extol God’s greatness and stated that God’s glory is higher and exceeds that of the heavens. The Lord God is greater than everything He has made.

Verse 2 takes us from the highest heavens down to some of the smallest beings on earth: “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength.” “Babes and sucklings” refer to young children. God’s power and glory are seen in the massive heavens (Psa. 19:1) as well as in small children.

As David marveled at the heavens, he equally marveled at the wisdom that often comes out of the mouths of children. Children find it easy to acknowledge God and to honor Him as the Creator. God’s transcendent glory and greatness can be grasped and expressed by a child. Children have a way of capturing spiritual truth in ways that amaze and can even offer correction to adults.

Dr. Edward Bedore, one of my spiritual mentors who is now with the Lord, often told me that a child can read Genesis 1-11 and understand it better than many theologians. Children take things literally, and they take them to heart. We need this kind of mindset when we read the Bible, and we should respond to it with child-like faith (Luke 18:17).

After healing the blind and the lame that came to the Lord in the temple (Matt. 21:14), children that were present in the temple began crying out and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” Son of David is a Messianic title which declares that Christ is the King of Israel. The praise of these children made the chief priests and scribes “sore displeased” (21:15). Quoting Psalm 8:2, the Lord responded, “Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise?” (Matt. 21:16). Those children had an open heart and more understanding as to the Person and identity of Jesus Christ than the learned priests and scribes in Israel.

We tend to think only of children learning from adults but sometimes, adults can and should learn from children. Psalm 8:2 reinforces the fact that “…God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Cor. 1:27).

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