Our Daily Bread Mar 28
Watch Me! / By: Alyson Kieda From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise.
Matthew 21:16
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Matthew 21:12–17 (NIV):
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “ ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”
17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
“Watch my fairy princess dance, Grandma!” my three-year-old granddaughter gleefully called as she raced around the yard of our cabin, a big grin on her face. Her “dancing” brought a smile; and her big brother’s glum, “She’s not dancing, just running,” didn’t squelch her joy at being on vacation with family.
The first Palm Sunday was a day of highs and lows. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, the crowds enthusiastically shouted, “Hosanna! . . . Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 21:9). Yet many in the crowd were expecting a Messiah to free them from Rome, not a Savior who would die for their sins that same week.
Later that day, despite the anger of the chief priests who questioned Jesus’ authority, children in the temple expressed their joy by shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David” (v. 15), perhaps leaping and waving palm branches as they ran around the courtyard. They couldn’t help but worship Him, Jesus told the indignant leaders, for “from the lips of children and infants [God has] called forth [His] praise” (v. 16). They were in the presence of the Savior!
Jesus invites us to also see Him for who He is. When we do, like a child overflowing with joy, we can’t help but revel in His presence.
Today’s Hymns
You Are the King of Glory
To You, O God, I Lift Up My Soul
Scripture to Respond
Matthew 17:5
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
Hebrews 1:3-4
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
Reflection:
God got praises from the lips of children and infants. Have you ever given praise to Him? Do you know who Lord Jesus is? Do you fix your eyes on Him and trust in Him with all your heart?
Prayer:
Dear loving God, thank you for everything you have done for me! You gave your beloved son so that I may have joy in your bosom. How amazing it is to me! Please help me continue to lift up my soul to no one but you!
Wong Wai Tung (Chief executive officer of The Great Wall Education Foundation) & Sam Chow (Administrative officer of The Great Wall Education Foundation) Reflection and Prayer translated by Jenny Hung
“The content of this article is taken from Our Daily Bread. Copyright by Our Daily Bread Ministries. Used by permission.”
