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Out Of The Mouth Of Babes

In Psalm 8:1-9 – NKJV, David not only speaks of the great love and goodness that God makes known throughout all the earth, but takes our minds to the highest thought to which the mind of man can go — the LORD! (Psalm 8:1 – NKJV; Psalm 8:9 – NKJV). Not only is the greatness of God made known to all — from the greatest to the least — in all the earth and above the heavens, but is also made known by the “mouth of babes” (Psalm 8:2 – NKJV). The minds of pure and innocent little children are unfettered from calculating minds that sometimes consider the implications so as to look out for self-interests before they confess the obvious truth. Children will often apply and state the truth that they have learned from their parents or other teachers, in a much more ready and direct way than is comfortable for most adults.

This is exactly how Jesus Himself used this passage to rebuke the Pharisees:

“But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became 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 sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Matthew 21:15-16 – NKJV; cf. Psalm 8:2 – NKJV).

The Pharisees were offended by the children’s words. They were angry about it and asked Jesus if He knew what they were saying. They were incredulous that the Lord would actually accept the meaning of what the children were saying. Yes, Jesus did accept the “Hosanna to the son of David,” because the children were clearly stating what was obvious (He was the prophesied Messiah – John 1:41 – NKJV; John 1:45 – NKJV), and then sang it out — without thought of who would or would not like it (they didn’t think about being politically correct!).

Would this have been adults who sang these praises, it would have been after a conscious decision to be bold in the face of adversity. The children didn’t have to be bold — they simply did it by their innocent nature. The ready acceptance and proclamation of truth is one of the qualities of children that Christians must emulate. Regarding this aspect of children, our Lord said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:2-3 – NKJV). We sometimes shield ourselves from truth by social convention or self-interest. There are times when we do not speak the truth, because we do not like to hear the rebuke that truth automatically renders.

Paul had to deal with this problem when he wrote the Galatian brethren a letter of rebuke (Gal. 1-6 – NKJV). The brethren possibly thought that Paul might be chastising them simply to be chastising them, but Paul would speak only from the highest motives — love of God, love of truth, and enough love for them to bring them back to God and the truth (cf. Gal. 1:6-12 – NKJV; Gal. 3:1-9 – NKJV; Gal. 5:1-13 – NKJV). Unfortunately, the Galatian brethren would not automatically see it in this way. So Paul asked:

“Have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (Gal. 4:16 – NKJV).

Paul had to consciously decide to speak the truth to them, knowing that it might cause friction. But children speak truth without a second thought. As Christians, we need to recognize God’s truth from whatever mouth it comes (yes, even babes), and have the heart to speak it with a simple, childlike and trusting faith to those that need to hear it (1 Thessalonians 2:1-13 – NKJV; cf. 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 – NKJV; Ephesians 4:15 – NKJV; 2 Timothy 4:2 – NKJV).