A Calm and Quieted Soul
Psalm 131
Do you ever get overwhelmed with life? Then this psalm speaks for you, and to you.
Psalm 131 offers a very short prayer, only three verses, with one simple theme. David prays to the Lord with simple trust. Instead of lifting his heart up or raising his gaze too high (1), instead of occupying himself with things too great and too marvelous (1), David makes the faith decision to quiet his soul by hoping in the Lord.
David paints a powerful picture of what this looks like. The image shows a weaned child sitting in its mother’s lap (2). When I first read this psalm, I thought it odd that he specifies the child as a “weaned child.” At first glance, it makes more sense for the child to be an infant, still breastfeeding, still depending upon the mother for nourishment. But the image of a weaned child holds even greater meaning. This child no longer depends upon the mother for nourishment. This child feeds itself and finds comfort from friends. But no, this weaned child chooses to return to his or her mother’s lap, to rest in her love and care and protection. A weaned child returns to the mother’s lap to rest in her love and to let her take care of all the bigger problems.
A soul quieted in the presence of the Heavenly Father.
When life gets too big, when things are way outside of our control, when things are too great and too wonderful for us to handle or to even understand, we face a choice. We can fix our gaze upon these things and let our hearts entangle in anxiety and worry, or we can sit in our Heavenly Father’s lap and let Him handle all the things that prove too great and too wonderful and too high for us to deal with.
The apostle Paul testifies of this quieted soul in his second letter to the church in Corinth. Speaking of the comfort God gives to His people, he describes his affliction with these powerful words: utterly burdened beyond strength, despairing of life itself, the sentence of death, a deadly peril (see 2 Corinthians 1.8-11). Those words certainly describe “great and mighty things” that would overwhelm a person. In the midst of such affliction, what does Paul do? He sets his hope on the delivering power of God, the power of the resurrection, the power that God has to raise the dead. As he places his hope in the Lord, he asks the saints in Corinth to help him through their prayers. As Paul quiets his soul in the sovereign care of God, he calls the saints to do the same.
O, anxious child, hope in the Lord. Calm and quiet your soul under the loving care of the Good Shepherd.