In 2009, Susan Boyle achieved international fame for her audition on Britain’s Got Talent. She did not seem like the usual contestant. She was forty-seven years old and unemployed, and no one expected much from her— until she began to sing. Her brilliant rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” became the most watched video on YouTube that year, and Susan went on to sell millions of albums.

When we encounter the unexpected, we respond with a sense of wonder. In Psalm 8, David praises God, not for His power or might, but for how He often uses the people we least expect. In verse 2 David proclaims, “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” In the ancient world with high infant mortality rates, babies were a symbol of powerlessness and fragility. David glorifies God because He uses the praise of the most insignificant, weak, and needy people in society to silence His enemies. God is shown to be majestic because of how He chooses the weak to silence the strong.

God has always enjoyed working in this way. In verses 3 and 4, David reflects on how vast the created universe was and how God put all these wonders under the care and authority of humans. How small we seem compared to elephants or supernovas! Yet, “you made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet” (v. 6).

This theme of God showing His strength in weakness comes to its ultimate fulfillment on the cross. When Jesus was at His weakest point, beaten and mocked and hanging on a Roman cross, He was accomplishing the most. In His death, He defeated His enemies: the power of sin and Satan and death.

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