I was blown away when I realized what this following passage was really saying, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained PRAISE because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” (Psalm 8:1,2) O.K. as I read this, nothing struck me as out of the ordinary but there was a little footnote on the word “praise.” At the bottom of my Bible it said the word could be interchanged with “strength.” The King James and New American Standard both use the word strength in this passage instead. I thought how strange that was…those words seem so different so I had to do a little research. Stick with me here…this is what I found.There was an interesting explanation. The Hebrew word for praise in this passage means strength or might. The same word is used in Matthew 21:16 when Jesus said, “Have you never read, “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise?'” This passage was spoken when Jesus went to the temple and drove out the money changers and those selling doves for sacrifice. It was at this time that he healed the blind and the lame. When the chief priests and teachers of the law saw the wonderful miracles he did and heard the children shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David”, they became indignant and asked Jesus if he heard what the children were saying. It was here that he quoted this passage from Psalms. Reread this. “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained PRAISE because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” (Psalms 8:1,2) Do you see the wonder of this? Did you get it? It is praise that is our strength to defeat the enemies of God. I asked myself, does God really use my praise of Him to fight against his enemies? Does He use the weak and feeble to accomplish great victories not by the sword, money or intellect but by His people praising Him? I would submit that yes…this is the very thing that God desires of us.
I believe that I’ve found the love language of God – Praise!
