Liam had pastored a church in London for 12 years, but sensed that God was calling him and his family to move to another place “without knowing why”. Although he thought this new unknown would be terrifying, he found that wasn’t so: “We got to a point where we felt that disobeying God would have been scarier.”
During this time, praying through Psalm 131 helped Liam to trust God while also not closing off his emotions. Although the psalm is short, he received God’s peace through it, namely this verse: “But I have calmed and quietened myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content” (Psalm 131:2). As Liam looked to God as his loving Father, he put his hope in Him (v. 3). He found peace as he waited for God to lead them to a new place to live.
We too can join David in this song of ascents, part of a collection of psalms the pilgrims sang as they travelled to Jerusalem. And we might agree with the Victorian Baptist minister Charles Spurgeon when he noted that it is “one of the shortest Psalms to read, but one of the longest to learn.” But God will help us in this also. When we affirm that we won’t puff ourselves up (v. 1) while we seek His guidance, He will lead us to contentment, understanding and peace.
By Amy Boucher Pye
REFLECT & PRAY
When have you felt God inviting you to make a difficult decision? How did He fill you with His peace and quiet?
Loving God, my Parent, help me to trust You, whatever life throws at me. When I feel unsettled and afraid, surround me with Your peace.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The language of Psalm 131 can seem a bit odd. Isn’t the psalmist a little prideful to declare to God that he’s not prideful? But the psalmist isn’t after praise for his humility. Instead, the words of the song communicate great confidence in knowing his station in life and being satisfied with it.
Rather than aspire to things beyond his reach, the psalmist looks to what’s in front of him. He finds contentment in quiet and peace, an idea the NIV brings to the front by translating verse 2—which reads literally, “like a weaned child I am on myself”—as “like a weaned child I am content.”
In the end, the psalmist encourages Israel to hope in Yahweh. Contentment with our lot in life—neither looking higher or lower—comes from our confidence in God, because He is enough.
Jed Ostoich
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