ORDAINED

PRAISE
by Judy Rogers
Dear parents of covenant childrert,
I am so excited to begin a parent/child column in The
Counsel. My thanks to the editor, Bob Bailey, for giving me
this opportunity to share with you and your children the
"heart's intent" behind m:y music!
My husband, Wayne, called me from his office some months
ago and said, "Judy, I've found the verse of Scripture that is
the basis for your music ministry--Psabn 8:2!" This verse, of
course, is a very familiar one, at least up to a point: "Out of
the mouths of children and nursing infants. God has ordained
praise ... ". But guess what? The verse goes on at that point
without even missing a beat, " ... because of his enemies, to
silence the foe and the Wow!. That concept made
my head spin! We saw clearly here something that we'd never
seen before: God wants our children to praise Him in order to
shut the mouths of His enemies when they hear our children's
praise and to raise up righteous little voices in their place!
Then, if that's not enough, do you remember what happened
in Matthew 21 after Jesus drove the moneychangers out of the
temple? The chief priests were "indignant" because the
children were "shouting" in the temple area. You say, "That
makes sense--children shouldn't yell in church!" But what
were these children saying? Matthew 21:15 tell us that, "--
children were shouting 'Hosanna to the Son of David!'"
(Would that today's children shouted those kinds of things in
church!) Jesus then quotes from Psalm 8, "Have you not read,
'From the lips of children and infants, God has ordained
praise'?" Here was an instance in which God used the
children's praise to silence the foe, who in this case just
happened to be the self-righteous chief priests!
Because of this concept, I do not think it is proper for children
to stand before the church and sing, "Jesus Loves Me", just so
they can model their cute outfits and make their parents and
grandparents feel "warm" inside. I am weary of the old
tradition (or is it a relatively new one?) of children getting up
in Sunday School or Vacation Bible Schooland singing
shallow, frivilous songs. The Lord has given me a great
desire to create Christian children's music that flows from the
pattern of God's intent Music that is enjoyable and beautiful
The Counsel of Chalcedon October 1990 Page 22
and full of praise, truth and dignity. I see such a need to set
"the whole counsel of God" to music that will be excellent in
quality and memorable for children.
We all know and sometimes "tremble" at the power of music:
. catchy tunes, hypnotic lyrics, and a strong beat Why should
Christian music be weak and anemic with milk-toast lyrics
and forgettable melodies? One of the goals in my music is to
produce songs that can Vie for the attention of children over
and against the popular music of the day found on radio and
MTV produced by groups such as New Kids on the Block.
This is uo small task! And yet I find that God has blessed
this to happen in many cases!
In the next issue of The Counsel of Chalcedon I hope to
answer some questions that many of you have asked regarding
how, when, and why I write as I do. Mter four recordings it
has been interesting to see how God has provided and led in all.
these areas.
Our children can have an evangelistic outreach through
singing the praises of God in a day when a clear and strong
message needs to be sounded forth. I challenge you to read
and meditate on Psabn 8 and for now I leave you with the
lyrics from "Out of the mouths of children'' recorded on "Go
to the Ant!"
OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF CHIWREN
Chorus
Out of the mouths of children and tiny nursing
From the lips of the little ones, God has ordained His pt&Se ...
He has ordained their praise, because of His eneiDies . .
lord give our children a heart to know you,
let their song silence the foe.
1st .
0 LORD, our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth;
When I consider your heavens, tlie work of your hands,
what is man, that you care for him. '
. .Bridge
You made man a Jittle lower the angels,
. P.Ut all things under his feet;
made pim p.Ller over. all of your creation,
hJS children your foes 10 defeat!
2nd Stanza
When children came to Jesus,
shouting Hosanna and singing His praise,
The priests indignantly_tried to send them away,
but Jesus said, "Have you not read,"
Repeat Chorus
Closing
Hosanna, Hosanna, our P.raises we bring;
to Jesus, our prophet, our priest and our Kfug;"
copyrfpt 1JI89 Judy ...... n
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