Psalm 8 Part 2: The Glory of God in His Strength over His Enemies
Psalm 8:2, 1 Corinthians 1:27, Matthew 21:14-17 - We have an obligation to the weak and vulnerable to allow them to stand in His strength.
“From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength
Because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.”
Psalms 8:2 NASB1995
Verse 2 of Psalm 8 establishes that God’s strength against His adversaries is through the very weakest. Human infants are among the most vulnerable of creatures when they are born and are completely dependent on their parents for a much longer period of time than most other creatures. I saw where this devotional would lead the minute I read these verses. Paul cites this strength through weakness in 1 Corinthians:
“but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,”
1 Corinthians 1:27 NASB1995
This passage is also cited by Jesus as He ministered to the people in the Temple in Matthew 21. He is making it quite clear that the chief priests and the scribes were the enemy and the vengeful:
“And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.”
Matthew 21:14-17 NASB1995
Jesus, the Son of God, came into this world to become the Son of Man and to know our humanity by being born as a vulnerable infant in very dangerous circumstances. As readers of the Gospel of Matthew know, Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt with their child because of a proclamation by Herod the Great to kill all male children in the region that were two years of age or younger (the massacre of the innocents), so that he could destroy the potential Messiah and a perceived threat to his throne.
We look at the past in disbelief that a massacre of babies like this could be ordered or when we see that children were put to death in the Nazi death camps (it is estimated that 1.5 children were killed in those camps). The strength of the babies and nursing children, in those cases, was destroyed by evil. But there is a greater evil at work in this world now.
I must bring up something that should cause righteous anger in all who believe and cherish the image of God in humans, especially newborn babies, and that is the scourge of elective abortion in this country. I may lose a reader or two because of the information that follows, but our roles as believers that are made in His image is to tell God’s truth. I pray about this topic in intercessory prayer every week and have thanked the Lord for the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court in 2022, which returned the decisions for abortion to the states (it did NOT ban abortion, as the hysterics claim, although many states immediately put forth restrictions that were on the books or pending). The Dobbs decision was a good start and it is better than the unconstitutional status quo previously, although some states will pride themselves on being pre-born child abattoirs, allowing abortion up to birth and creating abortion tourism. Sadly, I live in one of those states.
I have confessed to the Lord that in my wandering years, when I didn’t believe, I was an ardent supporter of abortion on demand. Our idiocy and selfishness also made Steve and I decide not to have children (a big regret). I am appalled and repentant daily that I used to believe in and supported this monstrous institution of abortion and the materialism of chosen childlessness. Here are some statistics from the Guttmacher Institute and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) from before the Dobbs decision (as cited in Abort73, a pro-life resource site - the Guttmacher institute provides data for abortion providers through surveys and uses statistical evaluations for probable undercounts):
Based on available state-level data, approximately 961,000 abortions took place in the United States in 2021.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, an estimated 930,160 abortions took place in the United States in 2020—up from 862,320 in 2017. [Abortions decreased from 2011 to 2020; the peak year in history was apparently 1990, with 1.6 million abortions].
In 2020, approximately 20% of U.S. pregnancies (excluding spontaneous miscarriages) ended in abortion.
According to the United Nations' 2013 report, only nine countries in the world have a higher reported abortion rate than the United States. They are: Bulgaria, Cuba, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Sweden, and Ukraine. [Note that China is not reported as they do not give the UN complete information; they are estimated to have the highest rate in reality].
More than 60 million legal abortions have occurred in the United States since 1973.
In 2020, unmarried women accounted for 86% of all abortions (CDC).
In 2020, women who had not aborted in the past accounted for 58% of all abortions; women with one or two prior abortions accounted for 34%, and women with three or more prior abortions accounted for 8% (CDC).
Women in their 20s accounted for the majority of abortions in 2020 and had the highest abortion rates (CDC).
Adolescents under 15 years obtained 0.2% of all 2019 abortions; women aged 15–19 years accounted for 8.5% (CDC).
Black women were more than 3.6 times more likely to have an abortion in 2020 than white women (CDC).
In 2020, 81% of reported U.S. abortions occurred prior to the 10th week of gestation; 93% occurred prior to 14 weeks’ gestation (CDC). The remaining 7% occurred after 14 weeks, with almost 1% after 21 weeks.
Based on extrapolated 2004 survey results by the Guttmacher Institute, these are the reasons for an abortion:
So these dry statistics paint, in many ways, a picture of a materialistic, self-absorbed culture that has not made abortion “rare”. It’s not particularly safe, either, especially in the later stages. Less than 8% of abortions are because of rape/incest or health problems; the remaining 92% are because of how that child (yes, a “fetus” is a child, just unborn) would interfere with life’s “plans” or costs too much. Abortions for “fetal health problems” in some countries like Denmark and Iceland has resulted in very few or no births of children with Down’s syndrome ; this is considered a “good” thing by abortion advocates and they want the same statistics in this country, even though children with Down’s are beloved by their families and have a right to life. And the rate of abortion for black women tells me that the original purpose of Planned Parenthood, as envisioned by founder and eugenicist Margaret Sanger, is a success (Planned Parenthood has apparently denounced her, but still operates many clinics in minority neighborhoods).
So why did this verse in Psalm 8 send me in this direction, which is uncomfortable for many to hear about in this “swinging” and free-spirited day and age? I believe that God answers my prayers on how to write these devotionals. He has touched on my heart this topic and this particular verse lends itself to bring it forward. I never had an abortion nor did I have a child, so I do not have true personal experience with this topic, but I know that sexual temptations are strong for younger people and I was no different than most of the women I knew when I was much younger (leave it at that).
Women that have abortions are often called desperate and want to change a situation, but that desperation is, as the statistics note, mostly born out of sin. Our casual “hook-up” culture pressures women into one-night stands and having multiple lovers and our entertainment reinforces these fun times and sneers at the idea of chaste behavior. This sexually immoral and debased culture takes pride in all sorts of other sinful behaviors and is doing the enemy’s work to draw people away from belief and repentance. Our culture also tells us that the world is overpopulated and “dying” and we have an obligation to stop reproducing to show our love for an idol that has been substituted for God (the Earth). This is another lie from the enemy - God only sees strength in our numbers, as He as seen since the beginning of humanity. And those numbers begin with the infants.
My next devotional examines Psalm 8 verse 3.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Please make me an advocate for the weak and vulnerable and to always know that strength from you comes from the infants and the nursing children to conquer the enemy. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org”
Amen👆👆👆