O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you. Psalm 8:1-2
Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen. Romans 11:33-36
When a child
speaks, it pays to listen. It was a lot of
years ago on a Sunday. I had just
preached to a full church on a perfectly beautiful Sunday. Everything had gone right, and I felt rather
after-glowish, basking in (and embarrassed by) all the wonderful compliments as
the congregation departed. A family of
six, who were new members in our church filed out, with Jamie, a precious
six-year old with pigtails, bringing up the rear. This little one had not mastered pronouncing
some of her words and sounds; Her “r’s” always came out as “w’s” – road
was woad, and phrases like really red became weally
wed. Sometimes the “p’s” came
out as “c’s”. She was adorable
and always had a big smile that was engaging.
As Jamie passed me, she grinned, clutching her stuffed tiger. I bent down, took her chin in my hand, and
said, I’m really glad you were here today, Jamie. My little friend looked up at her pastor,
took my chin in her chubby little hands, and replied, And I’m weally glad
YOU were heah, creature!
Creature? I was speechless. And then it dawned on me; Jamie was the
picture the Psalmist had in mind. With
one mispronounced word she had connected my ground wire. All those high-flying compliments of the
congregation had to have a way out of my head so I could think clearly about
how I didn’t know nearly as much as I thought I did.
Score one
for a humility lesson in one word or less, by a six-year-old!
The Apostle
Paul snapped that into perspective in today’s reading from Romans. God’s thoughts and ways; who is in that league? Who can compete with Heaven’s wisdom? Nobody reading (or writing) these pages.
The next time you’re in the presence of one of God’s little
messengers, stop thinking about the shopping list, or the chores you’ve left
undone. Listen closely; you could be on
the verge of hearing some weally good stuff.
Wight?
Title image Pixabay.com ∞
Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For other posts on Psalm 8, see: Wondering About the Big
Stuff Part 1 and
Part
2 and Part
3
