October 1, 2025 • 11 mins
In Psalm 8 King David informs us that God has ordained the mouths of babes, and children with strength and power, in order to silence the enemies and avengers of our faith. It is an incredible statement. Yet when look at the best selling books on parenting kids, we see pragmatic advise on succeeding in world, how to advice on fixing flaws, and admiration of pagan cultures. King David connects the power in our kids to the creation story. Once our family recognizes God's power in creation, we will see the value of God's word in our kids.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ethan (00:03):
Raising joyful children in an angry world, a podcast
dedicated to faithful parentsnavigating their families
through a stormy culture
This is raising joyful childrenin an angry world.
I'm your host, Paul Osborne.
I was talking last week aboutthe need to go back to Genesis
and I was talking last weekabout how hard it is and
(00:24):
grinding out the hard things inteaching our kids, and almost
immediately following thatpodcast, my oldest granddaughter
ends up at the house with a bookassignment for Charlotte's Web
and.
I and my wife have to take turnsin a, okay, you read two pages
and I'll read one page, grindingit out.
(00:46):
So it was, it was brought rightto our own, you know, doorstep
and we had to, we had toexperience what we were talking
about.
Well, this week I want to jumpback into Genesis and why it's
so important, and I wanna startwith understanding it from what
King David says in Psalm eight,because.
(01:07):
David is pondering.
He is pondering God's creationand the Genesis story, and then
this text, this, this piececomes out and he says, out of
the mouth of babes and nursinginfants, in other words,
children, he says, you haveordained.
You have established strengthyou may silence.
(01:30):
The enemy and the avenger.
God puts the power into themouths of our children in order
to silence the avenger.
It's an incredible thing thathe's saying, and he is catching
this because of hisunderstanding in his pondering
of the Genesis account.
(01:52):
This week, let me, let mecompare this to some things
because this is what I, I seethe world getting caught up in.
I was looking at the bestsellingbooks on Amazon.
I was doing it to see what wasselling.
'cause when I released my bookcalled Raising Joyful Children
in an Angry World on Amazon, hadlow, low expectations because
(02:13):
Christian literature andChristian parenting doesn't sell
well, particularly on Amazon.
But I wanted to understand.
What books are selling, and youcould break it down into really
three categories.
One is strictly pragmaticliving, almost like a human
resource person.
Went in and gave lectures, aseries of lectures to kids.
(02:35):
There was how to call nine oneone and when to call 9 1 1 And
personal hygiene, how to savemoney, how to set goals, you
know, all that pragmatic stuff.
There was in other books that Iwould say dealt with problems
specific, an angry child or achild that was difficult with
speech therapy.
(02:56):
And these books werespecifically written to deal
with a specific problem.
They were the solution.
And then the third one.
It was, was kind of weird, butthey were these observations of
other cultures and how muchbetter they were at raising
children.
There was one that went down, Ithink, to the Yucatan and they
(03:16):
talked about how much wiserthese parents were, even though
they were living in sort of asubstance farming existence now.
Now nobody admires them and goesdown and adopts this existence.
But these were really what Iwould call the three categories.
About the only thing out therewere children's Bible stories,
(03:37):
kind of something to read atnight.
And I was looking at it and Ithink, well, this is kind of why
we don't prioritize thescripture in our culture.
We are so convinced that we'vegotta solve the problems that
our kids are experiencing, wherewe've gotta give them a lot of
pragmatic advice on how to live.
And then the culture oftenadopts all these obser
(03:59):
observations of other culturesand how much wiser and better
they are.
But we don't really understandwhat is at stake.
And it is this power word thatDavid uses in Psalm eight that I
think should motivate us toteach our children, particularly
this Genesis story.
(04:20):
See, I think you, you get sotrained in rational thinking.
or how to fix everything, how togive basic skills that you, you
don't really have anunderstanding of how much power
and how much is being offered byGod and particularly.
(04:41):
When you have churches and youhave Christianity that has sort
of, uh, diminished and arguedover Genesis, but doesn't really
want to spend much time in it,and if you want to understand
real power of God, you have tostart with this book.
If you want to understand whatAugustine called power words,
(05:05):
you've got to get back toGenesis.
When you see this book, you seein the beginning, which is a
great way to start a story.
In the beginning, God createdthe heavens and the earth.
You see how things moved fromchaos to order without form and
void and dark.
God says, let there be light.
(05:26):
God saw the light and God saidit was good.
You see this pattern of speakingpower and order and what is good
into the universe.
You even get up into like verse11 in the first, first chapter
of Genesis, let the Earth bringforth grass and herbs.
They yield seeds, fruit, treesthat bear fruit, and then
(05:49):
reproduce with the same kinds ofseeds.
You see in 27, God creates maleand female and blesses them and
says, be fruitful and multiply.
God's word.
God's word speaks power.
If you just think about thetree, you and I can talk to a
tree all day.
You can scientifically explainit.
(06:11):
You can care for it.
Which is, you know, kind of ourdomain in Genesis.
But God says, let the earthbring forth grass and herbs and
seeds and reproduce, and only hecan create the tree and give the
tree its purpose of bearingfruit.
And that same God.
Once we understand that concept,then we begin to see God speaks
(06:35):
power.
Words that bear fruit in us.
You go through the scriptures.
Jesus says, whoever hears thesewords of mine, he gives the
emphasis of his words.
Paul says, faith cometh byhearing and hearing the word of
God.
That is what, how we areconverted.
(06:57):
That's what deals with our sin,nature, and brings us new life.
The, the word of the cross isfoolishness to those that are
perishing, but those beingsaved, it is the power of God.
God's words have power to gointo the heart, to go into the
mind the psalms calls the innerparts, the conscience, all these
(07:20):
things that are inside, and itproduces fruit that goes beyond
pragmatic reason.
Now you need reason.
I mean, you know, but reason'sonly gonna take you so far.
And it's interesting.
In our society we have poweraid, power rangers, power
(07:40):
lifting.
We talk about power all thetime.
But what the Bible's telling youabout powerful and God's words
being powerful, that it createsreality.
It provides purpose and meaning.
It's what connects us to God, tohis creation and to each other.
(08:03):
And this is actually thebattleground I am seeing when I
look out there.
What are we colliding with andwhy?
Why so many get caught up andmiss this?
Well, you've got the circle oflife.
You know that famous Lion King,it's actually Greek philosophy.
It says life's a circle, andit's easy to get into sort of a
(08:24):
dystopic mindset.
It's a, it's a vicious circle,our response to that should be
where does the circle begin andwhere does the circle end?
It can't be a circle, our biblesays in the beginning, so we
actually have something here.
It gives us an actual start.
Unlike the circle philosophy orthe random chance, which many of
(08:49):
our kids get taught in schoolswhere we talk about atoms
colliding, and it's just allrandom.
It's kind of a game of chancethat if done long enough over
enough time, it would randomlyproduce something.
And so there's this confidencein chance, but chance.
Is nothing.
It's not a being.
(09:10):
Chance has no power, but this isthe kind of thing that gets
taught about the origins of theuniverse and where we came from.
This is what is at stake.
I believe in why you've got toget the Bible taught to your
children.
You got to help them understandGenesis.
(09:31):
And, and you've got to put thepower words in them because as
it says in Psalm eight, themouths of children is the power,
and it is there to thwart theenemies of God.
The enemy understands thisbetter than we do.
The enemy understands that if Ican strip away your
(09:53):
understanding that God's powerspeaks reality into existence,
you will be more inclined towanna solve the problems
yourself by reading a book.
You'll be more inclined to wantpragmatic, practical
understandings of how to besuccessful in the world so that
you smell nice, dress nice, saveenough money, and know when to
(10:14):
call 9 1 1.
What we're talking about when wetalk about the Bible stories is
the, is putting in the powerwords of the creator of the
universe into the heart and thesoul and the mind of our
children.
And when they have that, thenthey fearlessly go out and serve
(10:38):
in the kingdom.
And that is our goal.
And it can only happen.
When we put the power of God'sword inside them.
Paul (10:48):
The ultimate battle for the heart and soul is a fight
for identity.
Our king invites our kids toknow who they are, what to
believe, and where they belong.
Paul (2) (11:01):
Until next time, let's remember the words for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven.
Raising joyful children in an angry world, a podcast
dedicated to faithful parentsnavigating their families
through a stormy culture
This is raising joyful childrenin an angry world.
I'm your host, Paul Osborne.
I was talking last week aboutthe need to go back to Genesis
and I was talking last weekabout how hard it is and
(00:24):
grinding out the hard things inteaching our kids, and almost
immediately following thatpodcast, my oldest granddaughter
ends up at the house with a bookassignment for Charlotte's Web
and.
I and my wife have to take turnsin a, okay, you read two pages
and I'll read one page, grindingit out.
(00:46):
So it was, it was brought rightto our own, you know, doorstep
and we had to, we had toexperience what we were talking
about.
Well, this week I want to jumpback into Genesis and why it's
so important, and I wanna startwith understanding it from what
King David says in Psalm eight,because.
(01:07):
David is pondering.
He is pondering God's creationand the Genesis story, and then
this text, this, this piececomes out and he says, out of
the mouth of babes and nursinginfants, in other words,
children, he says, you haveordained.
You have established strengthyou may silence.
(01:30):
The enemy and the avenger.
God puts the power into themouths of our children in order
to silence the avenger.
It's an incredible thing thathe's saying, and he is catching
this because of hisunderstanding in his pondering
of the Genesis account.
(01:52):
This week, let me, let mecompare this to some things
because this is what I, I seethe world getting caught up in.
I was looking at the bestsellingbooks on Amazon.
I was doing it to see what wasselling.
'cause when I released my bookcalled Raising Joyful Children
in an Angry World on Amazon, hadlow, low expectations because
(02:13):
Christian literature andChristian parenting doesn't sell
well, particularly on Amazon.
But I wanted to understand.
What books are selling, and youcould break it down into really
three categories.
One is strictly pragmaticliving, almost like a human
resource person.
Went in and gave lectures, aseries of lectures to kids.
(02:35):
There was how to call nine oneone and when to call 9 1 1 And
personal hygiene, how to savemoney, how to set goals, you
know, all that pragmatic stuff.
There was in other books that Iwould say dealt with problems
specific, an angry child or achild that was difficult with
speech therapy.
(02:56):
And these books werespecifically written to deal
with a specific problem.
They were the solution.
And then the third one.
It was, was kind of weird, butthey were these observations of
other cultures and how muchbetter they were at raising
children.
There was one that went down, Ithink, to the Yucatan and they
(03:16):
talked about how much wiserthese parents were, even though
they were living in sort of asubstance farming existence now.
Now nobody admires them and goesdown and adopts this existence.
But these were really what Iwould call the three categories.
About the only thing out therewere children's Bible stories,
(03:37):
kind of something to read atnight.
And I was looking at it and Ithink, well, this is kind of why
we don't prioritize thescripture in our culture.
We are so convinced that we'vegotta solve the problems that
our kids are experiencing, wherewe've gotta give them a lot of
pragmatic advice on how to live.
And then the culture oftenadopts all these obser
(03:59):
observations of other culturesand how much wiser and better
they are.
But we don't really understandwhat is at stake.
And it is this power word thatDavid uses in Psalm eight that I
think should motivate us toteach our children, particularly
this Genesis story.
(04:20):
See, I think you, you get sotrained in rational thinking.
or how to fix everything, how togive basic skills that you, you
don't really have anunderstanding of how much power
and how much is being offered byGod and particularly.
(04:41):
When you have churches and youhave Christianity that has sort
of, uh, diminished and arguedover Genesis, but doesn't really
want to spend much time in it,and if you want to understand
real power of God, you have tostart with this book.
If you want to understand whatAugustine called power words,
(05:05):
you've got to get back toGenesis.
When you see this book, you seein the beginning, which is a
great way to start a story.
In the beginning, God createdthe heavens and the earth.
You see how things moved fromchaos to order without form and
void and dark.
God says, let there be light.
(05:26):
God saw the light and God saidit was good.
You see this pattern of speakingpower and order and what is good
into the universe.
You even get up into like verse11 in the first, first chapter
of Genesis, let the Earth bringforth grass and herbs.
They yield seeds, fruit, treesthat bear fruit, and then
(05:49):
reproduce with the same kinds ofseeds.
You see in 27, God creates maleand female and blesses them and
says, be fruitful and multiply.
God's word.
God's word speaks power.
If you just think about thetree, you and I can talk to a
tree all day.
You can scientifically explainit.
(06:11):
You can care for it.
Which is, you know, kind of ourdomain in Genesis.
But God says, let the earthbring forth grass and herbs and
seeds and reproduce, and only hecan create the tree and give the
tree its purpose of bearingfruit.
And that same God.
Once we understand that concept,then we begin to see God speaks
(06:35):
power.
Words that bear fruit in us.
You go through the scriptures.
Jesus says, whoever hears thesewords of mine, he gives the
emphasis of his words.
Paul says, faith cometh byhearing and hearing the word of
God.
That is what, how we areconverted.
(06:57):
That's what deals with our sin,nature, and brings us new life.
The, the word of the cross isfoolishness to those that are
perishing, but those beingsaved, it is the power of God.
God's words have power to gointo the heart, to go into the
mind the psalms calls the innerparts, the conscience, all these
(07:20):
things that are inside, and itproduces fruit that goes beyond
pragmatic reason.
Now you need reason.
I mean, you know, but reason'sonly gonna take you so far.
And it's interesting.
In our society we have poweraid, power rangers, power
(07:40):
lifting.
We talk about power all thetime.
But what the Bible's telling youabout powerful and God's words
being powerful, that it createsreality.
It provides purpose and meaning.
It's what connects us to God, tohis creation and to each other.
(08:03):
And this is actually thebattleground I am seeing when I
look out there.
What are we colliding with andwhy?
Why so many get caught up andmiss this?
Well, you've got the circle oflife.
You know that famous Lion King,it's actually Greek philosophy.
It says life's a circle, andit's easy to get into sort of a
(08:24):
dystopic mindset.
It's a, it's a vicious circle,our response to that should be
where does the circle begin andwhere does the circle end?
It can't be a circle, our biblesays in the beginning, so we
actually have something here.
It gives us an actual start.
Unlike the circle philosophy orthe random chance, which many of
(08:49):
our kids get taught in schoolswhere we talk about atoms
colliding, and it's just allrandom.
It's kind of a game of chancethat if done long enough over
enough time, it would randomlyproduce something.
And so there's this confidencein chance, but chance.
Is nothing.
It's not a being.
(09:10):
Chance has no power, but this isthe kind of thing that gets
taught about the origins of theuniverse and where we came from.
This is what is at stake.
I believe in why you've got toget the Bible taught to your
children.
You got to help them understandGenesis.
(09:31):
And, and you've got to put thepower words in them because as
it says in Psalm eight, themouths of children is the power,
and it is there to thwart theenemies of God.
The enemy understands thisbetter than we do.
The enemy understands that if Ican strip away your
(09:53):
understanding that God's powerspeaks reality into existence,
you will be more inclined towanna solve the problems
yourself by reading a book.
You'll be more inclined to wantpragmatic, practical
understandings of how to besuccessful in the world so that
you smell nice, dress nice, saveenough money, and know when to
(10:14):
call 9 1 1.
What we're talking about when wetalk about the Bible stories is
the, is putting in the powerwords of the creator of the
universe into the heart and thesoul and the mind of our
children.
And when they have that, thenthey fearlessly go out and serve
(10:38):
in the kingdom.
And that is our goal.
And it can only happen.
When we put the power of God'sword inside them.
Paul (10:48):
The ultimate battle for the heart and soul is a fight
for identity.
Our king invites our kids toknow who they are, what to
believe, and where they belong.
Paul (2) (11:01):
Until next time, let's remember the words for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven.
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