Only the Innocent and Vulnerable Survive; Psalm 8, Proverbs 25

May the mumbling commence!

Because of the power of God, strength comes from the innocent and vulnerable.  Though we underestimate some people, let us never underestimate their Creator.  God brings strength and wisdom and intelligence through what the world might see as weakness, vulnerability and foolishness.  Read a portion of Psalm eight:

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have ordained strength,

Because of Your enemies,

That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. 

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 

What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him? 

For You have made him a little lower than the angels,

And You have crowned him

with glory and honor. (Verses 2-5)

Out of the mouth of babes and infants comes the destruction of the enemy and the avenger.  So much for only the strong will survive.  Only the innocent and vulnerable will survive!

And, when we look into the heavens at night, we can feel really small and insignificant.  There was once a U.S. president – I cannot remember which one – who would take his staff out onto the lawn in the evening time to observe the heavens.  After a time, he would announce that now that they had gotten a more proper perspective on themselves, they could continue their work.

Yes, I am dwarfed by the immensity of the wonderful creation that God has made.  When we are at the mercy of the wrath of nature – whether it is an earthquake or a tornado or a hurricane or an avalanche – we can feel quite powerless, like a babe in the woods, like an infant.

I ask along with the psalmist, why are you mindful of humanity?  In the grand scheme of things, any one of us is about as significant as a gnat.  Yet, God has made us a little lower than the angels.  We are crowned as children of God – with glory and honor.

But, let’s not allow our heads to get too big.  We need the perspective that places us in the innocent and vulnerable position of the baby and infant.  For everything we need, we are totally dependent upon God.  Let us thank our Creator for all that we have.

As Jesus taught us, let us seek a humble and lowly place before the King of all Creation.  The wisdom of Jesus is based on the same things that the book of Proverbs is.  This same basis becomes extremely clear when we look at some passages from Proverbs twenty-five.  This morning, I will only use one such instance of the parallelism between Jesus and Proverbs:

Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king,

And do not stand in the place of the great; 

For it is better that he say to you, "Come up here,"

Than that you should be put lower

in the presence of the prince,

Whom your eyes have seen. (Verses 6-7)

Yes, in God’s upside-down kingdom only the innocent and vulnerable survive.  Thank God through Jesus that we can obtain innocence.  Let us seek to be vulnerable as well. 

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out