Psalm 131 // Quieting the soul // Josh Hamm
Beautiful pictures of the spiritual life are illustrated all around us. The Bible is replete with images from everyday life that powerfully bridge truth to our souls. And in Psalm 131 David helps us both “hear” and “sense” what the heart is meant to be when it has been with God. I imagine that David, who fathered more than twenty children, would have seen this “visual” truth played out on a daily basis! And what visual is that?
In verse 2 he says, “But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.”
Every parent (as well as anyone in earshot) knows when a baby is hungry. Infants don’t “hint” to us of their need. They simply cry out, and will continue to cry out until that need is met! You can hear that baby crying in your mind, can’t you? But a weaned child, a child that has drunk deeply and fully – that is a picture of true satisfaction! Calmed. Quieted. Utterly at rest. That, David says, is what he does for his soul.
Notice that David is the one who acts to quiet his soul. He must choose to quiet himself and calm his own heart. This is the invitation for this sixth day of lent: God is inviting you to calm and quiet your heart and be like a weaned child. But how do you do that? The answer is in the verses before (v. 1) and after (v. 3). There is something we must choose not to do, and something else we must do instead. Psalm 131 is a pilgrimage song. A tune that God’s people were meant to sing as they went up to Jerusalem. That meant leaving their normal routine behind and fixing their minds ahead on the truth of who they were going to worship.
So as we go to the Lord today, we must first consider what we must choose not to do, what we must leave behind. Verse 1 says, O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
What David is expressing here that some things are not for him to know, and he has chosen not to get preoccupied with them. Do you ever get preoccupied with the why’s of life? At times we feel that God owes us an explanation, and we have a right to know. But as Scripture elsewhere says, ““The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever” In other words, what God has meant for us to know He has revealed to us in His Word, and His word is sufficient for what we need. Are we content with what He has shown us of Himself and His plans? David was, and therefore he avoided the sin of thinking God owed him anything.
Instead – and this is the second way – David implored his people to hope in the Lord now and forevermore (v3). So, if we desire a quieted soul today, David says, don’t let a proud heart make demands of God – no – instead hope in Him! He has given us every reason to trust in Him and His plans!
Question to Consider:
Is there some matter you’ve been preoccupied with that is preventing your soul from being quieted? What about God inspires you to hope in him today?
Prayer Prompt:
Is your soul quieted? As you go to Him in prayer think of all that God has done for you. Tell your soul why you should hope in Him today.
