Psalm 8: From the Mouth of Babies and Infants
David Bahn-Reflections Podcast
Psalm 8O LORD, our LORD,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.9 O LORD, our LORD,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Black Crowned Night Heron [Artistic Treatment] | Dearborn, MI | August 2022
Jesus says that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. He also said that with God all things are possible. That means there is hope for you and me. We are all so rich by the world’s standards. But all it takes is faith. Through faith in Jesus we are saved. How hard is that?
My favorite Martin Luther film has Jesus teaching his students in the Wittenberg university. He is teaching them that we are saved by faith, not by works. One of the students asks, “It’s all by faith? No works?” When Luther says yes, the student mumbles under his breath, “It can’t be that easy.” Luther says, “You think faith is easy?”
Faith isn’t just difficult. It is impossible apart from the influence and power of the Holy Spirit. In fact, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). So comes the issue of faith in an infant. And how can it be that from the mouth of infants and babies God has ordained praise?
On a purely human level, in my opinion, it is easier for a baby to believe than it is for an adult to believe. We adults have had the secret decoder rings promised on the cereal box turn out to be far less cool than we thought. We’ve learned to read the fine print. The commercials don’t fool us. We are the wiser ones. Little children, on the other hand have yet to learn these hard lessons. They’ll believe anything.
Except faith is not just belief. It is also trust, and love. And that move in the heart is a miracle of the Holy Spirit that moves us to praise him. When God’s Holy Spirit comes to us, and does his work, people are set free. Sins are forgiven. Joy is born. Peace prevails. Praise ensues.
Who alone does this good work in us? Only God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – in whose name we are baptized. And in that moment, God puts his name on us. We are his. O LORD, our LORD, how majestic is your name in all the earth! We and babies and infants sing your praise.
David Bahn - Reflections 