Out of the Mouths of Children

"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger."

Ask me today how much I love home school! This is fantastic! During "opening exercises" today, my 7 year old son had his left arm around my neck and his right arm lifted in the air toward heaven. His head was thrown back and his eyes closed, with a huge grin on his face, and he was belting out, "Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing! Power and Majesty, praise to the King!" I'm telling you, it does NOT get ANY better than this!

I wish I could tell you that we have always had family devotions and that this is a regular occurrence, but the truth is that we have prayed daily at mealtime and bedtime, and occasionally in a crisis or at a point of need. Once in a while, we have a praise fest, where we put on the tunes and dance around the house. But we have never done it on a regular basis, and now, 5 mornings a week, we shall be joining our hearts, hands, and voices to sing praise to the King of kings and Lord of lords! This is going to be one of the best experiences I have ever had!

Today's passage from Psalm 8 has always been one of my favorites. The song begins, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" Sandi Patti popularized that verse in the early '80's with her fantastic song, and millions of people still sing it regularly in worship services all around the world. One of my favorite memories of years in the Philippines was a gorgeous celebration in dance at the Happy Church in Ozamiz City. That verse is very well known.

And later, the Psalmist carries on with, "When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor." Beautiful oratories and powerful sermons have been preached on that passage, highlighting the high esteem the Lord has toward us. My dad preaches a sermon on that passage that I think I could still give verbatim.

But what about that little passage in-between? "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger." Why is it so neglected? I once heard a teaching about it that even today in Middle Eastern cultures, it is common to put children out on the front-lines of rebel activity, "singing praise," so that terrorists can send over bombs while legitimate nations refuse to attack innocent civilians. I guess that's true, but I don't really think that's what the Lord had in mind when he dictated this passage.

I think this little verse holds a key to releasing the power of God in our homes and communities. Stay with me a minute while I work this out...

In Deuteronomy 6:4-8, we are instructed:
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

Throughout the history of Judaism and Christianity, parents have known that it is our responsibility to teach our children the Word of God. We understand that precepts and principles for Godly living are found here, and that helping our children learn to discern truth and goodness is our responsibility, not something we can leave to anyone else, not even the priest or pastor or Sunday school teacher. It is our responsibility to teach them.

Earlier, in Deuteronomy 6:2, Moses tells us that we do this "so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands..." To "fear the Lord" is not to be afraid of the Lord. It is to hold Him in high esteem, to honor, worship, and stand in awe. It is to follow, obey, emulate, to love what He loves and hate what He hates. To "fear the Lord" is to choose to live in a way that honors Him, every moment of every day.

But did you catch that one word? To fear the Lord also means to worship Him! Following rules and regulations is not always fun, and can become rigid, cold, hard existing, not the abundant, joyful, overflowing living that He really intends for us. In Deuternomy 6:18-19, he goes on to say, "Do what is right and good in the Lord's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said."

"That it may go well with you...thrusting out all your enemies..." Those words speak of truly inhabiting the promises of God for our lives, and promises are not fulfilled just in the not-doings and must-do's of life. Promises are fulfilled when the enemy is banished and we experience the freedom that comes from uninterrupted fellowship with the Father.

No, we can't have that all the time as long as we are in this world, but we can have marvelous glimpses of what is Yet To Come, even while we are still in the Not Quite There Yet. We don't have to miss the fulness that IS available just because we are not dwelling in it fully yet!

James 4:7-8 says, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you." Yes, we come near by keeping His commands, but we FEEL near when we worship Him. And miracle of all miracles, when we worship Him, the devil runs off like a whipped dog, tail between his legs, yelping in defeat and frustration.

In our house, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the stresses of plain old living. Busy schedules, responsibilities and chores, fulfilling expectations, dealing with crises, fatigue and frustration, crankiness and anger. Sometimes it seems like we just invite the devil right in and give him a seat in the living room. We snip and bite at one another, letting the love-stealing, joy-killing, peace-destroying enemy sit there and rub his hands together in satisfied accomplishment. We know that is not what the Lord intended for our household, but it is so easy to just slide down that slippery slope of negativity until we are mired in Satan's slop.

The Psalmist said, "You have ordained praise from the lips of children...to silence the foe." It's that straight-forward and simple. When we teach our children to praise God, not just follow His rules, the enemy cannot stand to be around! In fact, he is not permitted to be in the Presence, so he must flee! And when we draw near to God, He draws near to us, flooding our lives with His abundant sufficiency.

I sensed that this morning when that tiny arm was wrapped around my neck. There just wasn't an empty seat in the house for a foe! The was no room in our hearts for the avenger! Through the sweet, off-key proclamation of praise from two little-boy voices, all that is not of God fled from the house and we were filled with His sweetness.

Yes, I'm going to like home school. God is in the house!