From The Lips of Children

FROM THE LIPS OF CHILDREN AND INFANTS YOU HAVE ORDAINED PRAISE! Matthew 21.16.

The other day at a home fellowship, a young mother made her three children recite Psalm 1 before us all. The children were all under 6! The youngest girl was only 3 probably! In an age when even older and mature Christians do not know any psalm or Scripture portion by heart, how did these little ones achieve their little feat? Their young and busy homemaker mother took the time and the trouble to diligently teach her little ones Bible verses.

This reminds me of the days when I was a child. We were eleven children. My godly parents and grandparents were very strict and they made us learn Bible verses by heart. No one could have their breakfast unless he completed his devotion. If one didn’t learn his verse, he had to miss the food. My grandmother ran a Sunday School in our home for the neighbourhood children. Every Sunday, all the children had to recite the given Bible verses. Marks and prizes were offered as incentives!

It is no wonder that many of us who came from such a disciplined and divine background had the privilege of learning by heart many Bible portions. Today, they come in handy when we need them. They are a boon and a tremendous help when teaching and preaching! Thank God for such parents with godly vision and divine passion who brought up their children and even infants learning to praise God using the Scripture.

You cannot praise God using ‘His language and Words’ unless you take the trouble to learn the Scripture by heart. Unlike the older generation, today's believers pray long prayers but all are their own words and there are no Words of God! Not only our choruses but even our prayers must be bathed in the Scripture verses. Psalms are specially written that we might use them to praise God.

Dear believer, make the time and take the trouble to hide God’s Word in your heart. Young parents and older ones too, you must have the burden and the foresight to make your infants and children memorise verses of the Bible. Then they will be able to bring delight to the heart of their Father in heaven by appropriately praising Him. We may boast of our own vocabulary and eloquence to please the God and move His heart and hand. But to really please God and move Him to act, you must learn to employ ‘His own Words’. They are perfect for praise and petition!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me to ‘learn Your Word so that I may praise You’, bring pleasure to Your ears and stir Your heart to act on my behalf (Psa 119.171). Amen.