Psalm 131: Weaned

 

Psalm 131 is a short psalm that deals with large topics. Charles Spurgeon said that it is “one of the shortest psalms to read but one of the longest to learn.” Three verses filled with truth about pride, contentment and hope, and how to live in peace by taking charge of our hearts. 

The psalm begins by telling us that it is “of David”, the third Song of Ascents (Psalm 120-134) that has carried this designation. David wrote, “O LORD, my heart is not lifted up”. The Hebrew word that is translated as “lifted up” in the English Standard Version is translated as “proud” or “haughty” in other translations. It’s the word “gabah”, its literal meaning is “to be lifted up” but carries with it the understanding of pride. David’s first words are that his heart is not proud, not that it doesn’t want to be or isn’t prone to it, but that David won’t allow it. He’s making a statement, not of humility, but of awareness. David is not saying, “I am humble”, but rather, “I am aware of how easily I can become proud.” 

Awareness is the key to humility which means unawareness is the welcome mat of pride. In I Samuel 13:14 the prophet described David, before we were introduced to him, as a man after the LORD’s own heart. And yet, when we read about David’s life, we see that he was a man just like us. He was far from perfect, having bouts with pride, lust, anger, insecurity, disobedience and distrust. He abused his power, committed adultery, even murder and tried to cover it all up as if it never happened. He held others to a standard that he didn’t meet, he was flawed, he failed, he rebelled, he thought he knew better, and he did things his own way, but the Scriptures are clear, David was a man after God’s own heart. What could this mean? 

When David was confronted with his sin, he repented. Not just in II Samuel 12 when David was confronted for his pride, sexual sin and mercy by the prophet Nathan, but when God convicted David for cutting off the corner of Saul’s robe in I Samuel 24, he confessed to his men that he had sinned. In the next chapter, I Samuel 25, David gathered 400 of his men to go and destroy a man named Nabal and everyone that belonged to him because the man refused to give David and his men bread. Nabal’s wife Abigail intervened and met David while he and his men were on their way. She reasoned with him and convinced him that his actions of wrath were not only unreasonable but prideful. David relented and allowed God to work on his behalf. In I Chronicles 21 David took a census that God had forbidden him from taking, he had rebelled, again acted in pride, done what he wanted rather than trusting what God had spoken. When confronted he repented. It was not that David never battled pride, but David was willing to humble himself when he was confronted with his pride. 

The thing that keeps many of us prideful, insecure, anxious and afraid is that we are unwilling to acknowledge our pride. We fight to deny our pride rather than realizing that freedom from it comes when we are willing to confess it. John Piper once said, “there are two kinds of pride—the pride of having and the pride of wanting.” The pride of wanting is what Psalm 106:14 says Israel gave in to while in the wilderness, “In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wilderness they put God to the test. (NIV)” Israel ate manna every day, a miraculous gift and God’s provision, but what we sometimes forget is that even miraculous provision can become monotonous if we don’t take our thoughts captive (II Corinthians 10:5) and train our hearts in gratitude. When they had no food Israel gave thanks for the manna, when manna was the only food they had, they complained about it. They gave in to the pride of wanting, the pride that thinks it deserves more and is unsatisfied and ungrateful for what it’s been given. This pride refuses to be joyful or content because what it has been given is not what it wants. And pride is sin. Saddest of all, the pride of wanting keeps us from receiving the beauty that God has promised and prepared to give. 

David tells us how to keep our hearts from being proud, “my eyes are not raised too high”. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have hopes or dreams, that we are not allowed to have ambitions or desires, again, it’s a statement about training and leading our hearts. Psalm 118:24 says, “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” While that psalm carries great prophetic and Messianic truths, it is also a constant principle. Paul wrote, “now is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2) and Jesus said, “do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself” (Matthew 6:34). It’s not just that we are supposed to live in the moment, but that we are supposed to live in the confidence that every moment is in God’s hands. He is good and He is loving and He is trustworthy, pining for what’s next always robs us from being grateful for what’s now. Pride doesn’t only puff up, it also pulls down, it diminishes what God has done and what He is doing by focusing on what it still wants Him to do. It’s not necessarily wrong to look ahead, but it becomes sin when we look down on where we are because we haven’t gotten to where we want to be. Any time we hear ourselves saying, “I’m thankful for what God has done, but . . .” we have raised our eyes too high. 

Then comes the third “not” of Psalm 131, “I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.” Isn’t it interesting that David reveals that the battle with pride begins with what we don’t do? We are often founding wanting a formula or a plan. Tell me what I need to do, and I’ll do it, but here, David writes that the beginning of humility is not in the things we do, but in the things, we refuse to allow.

How much of our lives are spent dreaming or worrying about things that are out of our control? We try to plan a future that God promises He has already ordered. We fear outcomes that God’s sovereignty is in control of. We dream about the next thing while we neglect and sometimes despise the thing that God has already given. I believe in James 1:17 with all of my heart, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Not only does God give everything that is good, everything God gives is good and everything that is good comes from God. That means that the next season is no better than this season, because there is no variation or change in God. He leads us from faith to faith and glory to glory not good to better and better to best. Where we are is where He wants us, what we have is what He’s given us and what we need has been provided. Yes, He will do more, but more is not better because everything God does is good. If we are ever going to be content, we will have to deal with the pride of occupying ourselves with the things that belong to God.

In Philippians 4, nearing the end of a beautiful letter to some of his dearest friends Paul wrote, “I have learned the secret to facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” From prison Paul had written to encourage and challenge his friends. He had written to them about his joy and Christ’s humility, about being called to suffer, walking worthy of the gospel and thinking of others more highly than they thought of themselves. As he approached the end of the letter he thanked them for a gift they had recently sent, but he wanted them to understand that he was more thankful for them than for the gift because he no longer needed gifts to be thankful, he had reached the point where he was thankful for and content in Christ. No lack made him less thankful and no gift made him more, he was settled, and he was sure, he couldn’t just do all things through Christ, Christ Himself was all He needed. Jesus was enough.

David says a similar thing, “But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” A child that has nursed, that has been fed, leans back in contentment upon its mother. The child has no worry or opinion about the next meal, it doesn’t store up for later or complain about what has just been, it trusts, and it rests; what it has, has been enough. And while the child rests the mother rejoices. The antidote for pride is not humility, it’s contentment because being content will always keep us humble. Pride attacks our contentment, it questions God’s character, it raises doubts about our future, it robs us of today by casting shade upon tomorrow. So, I have to ask, where is your heart, where are your eyes and where are your thoughts? Are they on God’s presence and God’s character today or our questions about tomorrow? Are we settled in His goodness or are we rooting around for the things that we hope will finally settle us? Are we secure in His character or are we grasping for our dreams? While every good thing comes from Jesus, it is not the good things that settle our hearts. All the things we crave, all the things we hope to have, approval and acceptance, attention and affection, peace and joy, hope and love, they aren’t given by Jesus, they are found in Jesus. Our hearts will only be settled when we settle our hearts on Him. Jesus is not only all we need, He’s all we have, because all we have comes from Jesus. And so, no matter where you are today, I can confidently tell you that if you have Jesus, you have enough. Rest in Him while He rejoices over you.