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 (Psalm 8:2).
But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?” (Matthew 21:15-16).
Jesus quoted Psalm 8:2 when challenged by the religious leaders because of the children’s voiced praise to Him. But notice that instead of saying You have ordained strength, He rephrased it to say You have perfected praise.
Praise creates spiritual strength! How does this happen? Well, Psalm 16:11 reads: You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. And we find in Nehemiah 8:10: Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
And we know that praise brings a manifestation of the presence of God according to Psalm 22:3 (KJV): But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
When you put all of these scriptures together you find that when you praise God His presence manifests, and in His presence is fullness of joy. And the Joy of the Lord is your strength! So God has ordained that we be strengthened when we praise Him. Praise brings a manifestation of His presence which brings in it joy producing spiritual strength!
That’s the reason you should practice praise when going through tests and trials. You’ll find strength from the Father during the hardship when you praise instead of gripe and complain and whine! Paul and Silas were set free from a remote dungeon where they were shackled in Acts 16 after they spent time in praise!
If you find yourself in a habit of complaining when things go wrong, start practicing praise! You’ll be strengthened by His joy if you’ll just do it! I’ll leave you with a kind word about praise from our beloved friend James: Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4 – Amplified).
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