Daily Devotionals
August 24, 2020
Out of the Mouths of Babes and Infants
August 24, 2020
DAILY READING
FIELD NOTES
O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? (Ps 8:1-4)
The Bible pays special attention to children. I have vivid memories of the picture of Jesus blessing the children that hung on the wall of my Sunday School class when I was a child, and most likely still hangs in the nursery classrooms of many churches. Exodus 1:1-7 makes it clear that the children are the future of God’s people, and for us that includes the future of our church. If we are generative adults, we give care to all God’s children, even those whose names we don’t know. We want to see that children have enough of what they need to live and flourish, and to continue to grow in faith.
As “stay at home” people this spring, we were especially mindful of the glory of creation. We had nowhere to go so we watched the season advance in slow motion. One morning a baby cardinal fledged right outside our window—landing and taking off repeatedly on our “flight deck”—anxious parents looking on, and we thought of children all over the world spreading their wings and hoping for a new world.
FAMILY FIELD TALK
- What do children need to grow “in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor” (Luke 2:52)?
- How can we show Jesus’ love to “all the children of the world”?
PRAYER GUIDE
Collect for the Children
Loving God, your Son Jesus called the children to him and blessed them: We come now in prayer for the children of our hurting world, for those whose names we know and call our own, and for those known only to you. Bless and shield them from sickness and hunger, brutality and oppression, war and neglect. Teach us how to love and care for your children, for they are precious in your sight. Give them courage to spread their wings and show us the way to your peace. We thank you for the children who astound us with their vision and lead us beyond our tired assumptions. Make their voices heard; may they grow in love and live surrounded by your peace. We lift our hearts in praise to you. Open our hearts to be led by a child, in communion with the Spirit and in the grace of Jesus Christ. Amen. (BGM)