ODJ: Lessons from the Young

July 7, 2016 

READ: Psalm 8:1-9  

You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you (v.2).

On the way home from football practice last week, my 12 year old son busily jotted his thoughts onto a notepad he had brought with him. When he finished, he handed it to me and said, “This is what I [created].”

He had drawn a basic timeline of God’s creation and had written a brief summary of the gospel message. My son wrote, “Christ is crucified, but rose the third day. He paid for our sin. Then Christ ascends to heaven and tells us to be His disciples and that He will be with us till the end of the age. [God] did this so He could have a relationship with us.”

To seek the understanding of people coming from different belief systems, my son added, “Question for [those who deny God as their Creator]. How did you create yourself and why?”

Psalm 8:1-2 states, “O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.”

Time and again, when my son (or anyone who has received salvation in Jesus) testifies of God’s strength, my most relentless foes—worry, fear, despair and hopelessness—are silenced. Doubts that oppose the truth of God’s goodness, fear that opposes the truth that He is our faithful provider (Philippians 4:19) and despair that goes against the limitless hope Christ offers (Romans 15:13) all lose their voice when we place our confidence in God’s strength.

When a child tells of God’s strength and majesty, we should listen and thank God for what the child has grasped by faith and for what God has done. May we, with the young, proclaim, “O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!” (Psalm 8:9).

—Roxanne Robbins

365-day plan: Luke 7:36-8:3