Ordained Praise

 

You have taught children and infants

    to tell of your strength,

silencing your enemies

    and all who oppose you. -Psalm 8:2

As I was reading Psalm 8 today, this verse stuck out to me.  It seems out of place in this psalm of praise to God for creating the earth and the heavens and giving humans responsibility for caring for God's creation.  Notice that it is not God who silences the enemies and opposition, but God's children telling of God's strength.  

When Jesus quotes this verse to the Jewish leaders who want Jesus to silence the children in the temple shouting, "Praise to the Son of David!" he says, “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise.’” (Matthew 21:16) That seems to have silenced the Jewish leaders for the moment, but they are not silenced for long.

Instead of "strength," some translations say "praise."  Using strenth to silence God's enemies sounds violent and ungodly.  Using praise to silence them sounds much more like Jesus.

Ellicot's Commentary says, "This expresses, doubtless, part of the thought of the poet, that in a child’s simple and innocent wonder lies the truest worship; that God accomplishes the greatest things and reveals His glory by means of the weakest instruments—a thought which was seized upon by our Lord to condemn the want of spirituality in the scribes and Pharisees."

I'm seeing my starword for this year, "tenderness," in Ellicot's words. I noted in my last blog that "The dictionary defines 'tenderness' as . . . deep affection." Tenderness, then, helps us to express our worship of God in the way Psalm 8 describes, like a child's "simple and innocent wonder" at the majesty of the heavens, the beauty of the earth, and God's care for all creatures.

Psalm 8 begins and ends with a statement of praise: "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"  The Westminster Confession tells us that our chief purpose in life is to praise and enjoy God forever.  It's our job to make sure we address anything that gets in the way of praising God, which would mean addressing our sins and doubts and concerns with God, and with godly friends.

We tend to think of praise as music.  The ERV translates verse 2 that way: "From the mouths of children and babies come songs of praise to you. They sing of your power to silence your enemies who were seeking revenge."

I wonder if we don't think too narrowly about singing God's praise, though.  Parker Palmer says to "let your life speak," and Casting Crowns sing, "Let my lifesong sing to you."  Every moment of every day we can "sing" God's praise in how we live out Jesus' command to love God, love your neighbor, and repeatedly to "love one another."  Connecting this back to Psalm 8:2 which says that praise silences God's enemies, maybe we are to kill them with kindness?  Surely not killing.  Or maybe so?

"The phrase or expression probably originated from the English proverb The ape kills her young with kindness which was popular during the mid-1500s. This meant that the ape presumptively kills its young by crushing it hard while giving it a hug." --Penlighten.com

A very strong hug could literally kill, I suppose, though I'm sure that I am not that strong.  But we are in the middle of a pandemic, and if a hug results in spreading the virus, then it could kill.  

I'm pretty sure literally killing people is not what's intented by "silencing" God's enemies.  Proverbs 25:21-22 says: 

 If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat.

    If they are thirsty, give them water to drink.

 You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads,

    and the Lord will reward you.

Giving food to the hungry and water to the thirsty sounds like a good plan to me.  But also reminds me that we need to be tenderhearted about this too.  Deeply compassionate. 1 Corinthians 13 says:

If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Jesus says to love one another four times in his last teaching to the disciples (John 13-15) and the writers of the epistles repeat this commandment multiple times (as detailed here).

So, to sum things up, praise God, do it throughout each day by loving one another, even and maybe especially those who seem like enemies.  After all, only God knows who is for us and who is against us.

Keep on keeping on.