"Do You Hear What The Children Are Saying?"

I can remember in high school an advertisement on the television asking parents, "It's 12 am, do you know where your children are?" Most of the time I'd laugh and say to a friend near me, "I'm at a church youth fellowship and yes my parents know!"

Well, it's 4:56 am and I'm the parent. I had a visit from a very tired 2 1/2 year old at 1:30 am who was complaining that the music was off (we have CD players in their rooms that play classical or children's music to them as they drift off to sleep). I escorted him back to bed and turned the music on for him. I, however, could not easily be guided off to the realm of dreams.

So, I am here and God's Word is with me. I flipped through the pages until I reached the first book of the New Testament and over to page 1039 (for those not able to see my Bible right now the passage is Matthew 21:1-16). On that page, I began to read about the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. I read, and of course, I was drawn in when I read about the children. They very innocently were caught up into the festive nature of the procession and proclaimed, "Hosanna to the Son of David," all the way up to the Temple grounds. This didn't set too well with the religious leaders who were not happy with Jesus in the first place. They asked Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" Of course, these are religious leaders, so Jesus referred to the only authority they should not refute -- Scripture (specifically Psalms 8:2). Long story short, the religious leaders had no problem with Scripture, they just hated that this song of praise by David was being used for a descendent of David as a proclamation of Messiahship by almost everyone including children.

I regress. The eye catcher for me in this passage is the words of the religious leaders, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" Obviously, someone was not listening! As a father, I trip up sometimes and do not really hear what my children are saying. This is really a detriment when they are bringing a concern about waste management. Sometimes, my listening is too good and I hear my children say things that they shouldn't. However, recently my hearing has been excellent. You see, from praises by my two older boys, who are Christians, and the testimony of my daughter's six year old friend, I had the opportunity to lead my daughter to Christ. I'm so glad I was listening.

Children are amazing in that they never relent when they hear something good and want to tell you about it. My oldest will be celebrating his 9th birthday and he's never missed a day of telling us what he wants and why. A child is also honest in that what comes from their lips is what is in their hearts (Matthew 12:34). The question is, are we actively listening to what we are saying? It is so easy to be negative, but really with a God who loves us and can provide for us why do we waste our words? Read Philippians 4:10-13 if you want some encouragement. My hope is that when the devil whispers, "Do you hear what Brian is saying?" that my Lord is saying back, "All I hear is praise."