Rehoboth Ministries

What parts of creation illustrate God’s strength most clearly? Some might answer this question with examples of natural phenomena–hurricanes, earthquakes, or Niagara Falls. Others might turn to the animal kingdom–a lion’s rippling muscles, a blue whale’s vast expanse, or an eagle’s talons gripping its prey in midair. A few minds might even venture beyond our planet into outer space– the eternal fire of the sun, the moon’s mysterious pull on the ocean, and the sheer immensity of our ever-expanding universe. All these things remind us of the power of the God who created them. In Psalm 8, however, David turns to a very different example.

David begins this psalm with a declaration of praise–“O LORD our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.” The Lord’s majesty is seen in the things that he has made. Unlike the pagan gods, who often personified natural phenomena, David’s God transcended nature. To David, God was not the universe or part of the universe. Rather, he spoke the universe into being. Hence, his glory was above the heaven. It transcended nature. Clearly, a transcendent deity who created all the examples of power in nature would be indescribably more powerful than the examples and his nature would be worthy of worship. Hence, David turns next to what inspires him to praise the Lord’s strength. The example he chooses is surprising, however, because it is not something people usually consider strong. In fact, it is something we consider weak. “Out of the mouth of babies and infants,” he adds, “you have established [prepared praise for] your strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.” Here, David tells us that the attribute that most reveals God’s strength to him and draws him to worship God is God’s penchant for using “babies and infants” [i.e., the naturally defenseless] to defeat his enemies.

Reflecting upon David’s life enables us to understand why this would be the example he would choose. David’s career began in humble obscurity. When the prophet Samuel came to his house with a word that the Lord had chosen a son of Jesse as Israel’s next king, David was so unimpressive that Jesse didn’t even think to include David in the lineup. Samuel had to ask Jesse, “Don’t you have another son somewhere?” Once Samuel anointed David, however, “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him from that day forward” (1 Sam. 16:13). David recognized the true source of his strength as he prepared to face Goliath. King Saul warned him, “You are but a youth, and Goliath has been a man of war from his youth,” but David calmly answered, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Once David came face-to-face with Goliath, he declared, “You come to me with a sword and a spear and javelin…I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts… The battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand” (1 Sam. 17:45, 47). In this story, we see an illustration of the truth David writes about Psalm 8–the Lord had established his strength in the mouth of babies and infants to still the enemy.

God’s revelation of strength through David’s weakness humbled David. In Psalm 8, he asks, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” Here we see David realizing that strength through weakness is a recurrent pattern in God’s interaction with the world. Human beings are not the most powerful or intelligent of God’s creatures–we run a distant second to angels. Nevertheless, David realized with astonishment, God has placed a higher calling upon us than upon them because he has chosen us to be the vessels of his authority–“Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.”

After naming a few of the divine works over which God has called human beings to rule, David ends the psalm the same way he started it–“O LORD our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” The repetition calls us to worship God’s majestic name (character) once again, this time with the added insight that the clearest example of God’s majestic character is his delight in pouring strength into weak vessels. YHWH is the God who uses infants to humble giants.

Knowing this aspect of God’s character ought to inspire believers to holy audacity, a delight in God’s ability to defy long odds. A story from the Korean War illustrates the spirit believers ought to have in the face of adversity. At Chosin Reservoir, Lt. Gen. Chesty Puller’s marines encountered the Chinese Red Army in mountainous terrain during wintertime. Nighttime temperatures dipped as low as -50º F. Given that his men were surrounded by enemies who outnumbered them four-to-one, Puller knew he had to inspire his men to execute a successful breakout. “All right, men,” he told them, “they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time!” Today, Chosin is widely considered the Marine Corps’ finest hour. If a military leader could find that kind of bravado by relying on natural ability, how much more ought we who are filled with God’s Spirit be able to face down giants in faith–even with our backs against the wall? As the Apostle Paul wrote, “I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:10) He had learned the lesson of Psalm 8, a lesson supremely illustrated through the cross of Christ–“the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” and “God chooses the weak things of the world to confound the strong” (1 Cor. 1:25, 27).