embrace hope and find peace

A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1 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.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.

- Psalm 131

What a simple and yet powerful challenge for us this morning! This psalm strikes at the tendency in all of us to be proud and arrogant in our thirst for knowledge of the Lord.  To love the knowledge we have obtained and strive to attain more so we can be built up. We are creatures that long for and strive after a knowledge of God and how He works in the world yet are often dissatisfied with the simplicity of resting in and enjoying His glorious presence.  It seems as though there is always more to pursue.  The psalmist uses the illustration of a child being weaned from it’s mother and draws our attention to how a calm and quited soul is like a child weaned of its dependence on its mother. 

The picture the psalmist paints is clear as day to me after the birth of my daughter.  My daughter is at the beginning stage of being weaned off of her mother. Slowly we are feeding her solid foods more, giving her a bottle on occasion, and having more times where it is just her and daddy in a room together. This can be difficult for her at times when she has been without mommy for a while.  She talks to slowly realize mommy is not there and begins become dissatisfied with the presence of daddy alone. And everytime mom walks into the room she immediately goes to her to be comforted by her.  Her dependence is on that nuturing care that mom has provided for her for months.  Yet, as she gets closer and closer to being weaned she becomes more and more content to rest and enjoy the time spent being in the presence of her daddy.

The psalmist compares this to our pursuit of things that are “too high.” Like a child that is not weaned so are we as we desire to know and understand the things of God.  We are not satisfied in merely sitting and enjoying His presence.  The knowledge is our mother and for us to find rest we need to be weaned of our dependence of it.  The challenge is simple, calm and quiet your soul and be satisfied in the presence of your ”Abba Father” (Romans 8:15).

The call of verse 3, to “hope in the Lord,” is a powerful refrain to be satisfied in the coming presence of our King.  Hope points to something that has not been revealed to us yet. Hope calls for us to fight our desire to understand everything and embrance the joy of pursuing the glorious presence of God. One day our hope will turn to sight!  One day we will be in the presence of our glorious King Jesus! For now let us calm and quiet our soul and hope in the Lord.

- one who is embracing hope