Are you someone who’s able to be quiet inside? We all live busy noisy lives: with all our to-do list’s long; the pressures that consume us; ambitions that makes us churn up inside; fear and despair that have started haunting us; anxiety spins us into free fall; regrets have corroded our inner lives; and now we look ahead and see a minefield of longing and fear. Today’s Psalm is an invitation to take a break; to stop, listen for a moment and ask ourselves, what is the noise that’s getting your attention? Our attention?
So what does Psalm 131 have to teach us?
Because we are immediately drawn in to see this is a Psalm of David. The last of 8 children, a miserable ill trodden shepherd. A young man chosen to become the nations King. David was arguably the greatest king of Israel who was: a skilled musician & gifted poet; a deadly soldier, shrewd military strategist and politician; the husband of a harem, father of many children; an adulterer & murderer by proxy; a broken father; a decrepit and dying old man; a broken hearted yet penitent man. King David writes a song, a prayer, and there is something we are immediately gripped by as David reflects what he writes isn’t unattached from reality. This is a Psalm of owning up to the life we live, in the midst of the stuff we are surrounded by. There is no retirement to a life of ease, there is no stoic indifference, and no retreat from the troubles of life, and no appeal to the trendy eastern idea of emptying yourself in order to find peace stuff. We are invited to something that we get only through composure that comes by deciding what will get our attention, and what we let disciple us, or even what voice we will let guide our soul. King David speaks about himself before God. In verse 1 David’s heart and eyes. In verse 2 we find the image of the weaned child. In verse 3 he starts talking to you and me directly about hope. The question we are asked us, what do hearts, eyes and weaning children and hope have anything to do with noisy distractions and following Jesus. As we read in verse 1
My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.
David here speaks about life. The biggest problem we soon see in the way is a proud self –will. The headstrong self opinionated idea that I take the journey of life guiding myself, I can do it my way, thanks very much God. Here instead David is telling us instead he is not self-trusting, as he is not headstrong, nor superior and so he pauses for the moment to listen to the noise rattling inside clambering for attention, stomping its feet like a tantruming child. This Psalm gets us looking in the mirror to ask ourselves, “Where does the noise turn up the loudest in your soul?” As we ponder that here is also a different way to see this Psalm. There is someone I read suggested we can turn this Psalm into an anti-Psalm. That is we are to turn all the promises of peace into noise – see what’s rattling about. So please now think about Psalm 131 this way as I read it: “Self, My heart is proud (I’m absorbed in myself). And my eyes are haughty ( I look down on other people), and I chase after things too great and too difficult for me. So of course I’m noisy and restless inside, it come naturally, Like a hungry infant fussing on his mother’s lap, like a hungry infant, I’m restless with my demands and worries I scatter my hopes onto anything and everybody all the time[1]
How often do you catch yourself saying “If only somebody anybody gave me a little bit of recognition I’d be OK”, or “Work hard in any church and it’s easy to start to thinking that we’re the only ones doing things?” Or we start telling ourselves that we never get any respect for all the effort we put in, no one does anything for us? Do you ever say to yourself
“That we are not where we deserve to be?” Do you feel like we have the answers to give our opinions on everyone’s problems? Or when do you catch yourself out saying the I WANT’s: I want my way; I want my will be done; I want my kingdom to come. Here in verse 1 David speaks about what is not, that is pride is not just about me. To be proud I must look down on you and I must FEEL superior or BE superior to you. Pride says I am right compared to you. That is with haughty eyes we look down on others, and we don’t see people eye to eye instead we look down on them David says in the noise STOP! THINK AGAIN
1My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.
Don’t go after things beyond you David prays. Just like Jesus told us following him first means dying to ourselves taking up our cross and following him – your will be done – your kingdom come. Now we shift weight, We are led to the right things to follow. As we read in verse 2
2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
Composure, and peace comes through a weaning process. The noisy grasping things that once seemed so important and necessary that now comes to mean so little. How could we ever think they were that important, and that we would tread over others to get them, as we learn to be still and know who is the God we worship “I am the God of the ages, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10) Notice how we can’t sort of be half composed, nor sort of half weaned. You are either quiet or noisy, David wrestles with his soul. He makes an oath – he makes a promise. He will wrestle his soul down to be quiet. He will push through the noise and find the still voice of God, and it is like learning to wrestle ourselves down by being alert to God. He tells himself SOUL BE STILL LISTEN IN TO GOD. Because here is the problem, that pride is at the root of our hearts to being humbled. The question is how do you wrestle yourself down? We all know how easy to say we’ll mend our ways, or we’ll stop obsessing about that, or we say that we’ll stop being fretful and fearful; or even l stop being the bear with the sore head in the room. Our problem isn’t that we know we are not strong, really truth is we are too strong. Our heart’s impulse is to self we need help as we need the Saviour who has risen again from the dead to bring us life - peace and hope and forgiveness and love. We need none other than God’s Holy Spirit in us to work and shape us in accordance with God’s will the invitation to Jesus is clear. As we read in 2Peter 1:3-7
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
So often we find the storms of our lives hitting us through us trying to control the uncontrollable. Instead we are reminded how vulnerable we are to be David likens it to a child on your lap and so put you soul on your lap and rest
like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
A weaned child resting on the lap of mum have stopped demanding, grasping, nudging mum for the next feed. This is a picture of contentment in the company of one another sitting still in peace. So the Psalm ends in verse 3
O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.
This Psalm looked forward to that hope we now have, Jesus is our hope and our life. So right now stop and look around you for the things you have started noticing have been your hope. We are proud, and we are filled with self will. The question is King David asks how will we quieten our soul, or to hold it in our lap, seek refuge in God. Here we are invited to learn this psalm by heart, to find ourselves being still and listening to God , and to learn this Psalm and repeat it as we drive along to say it before we go into that noisy room; or remind ourselves when it’s got noisy in our minds, or heavy on our hearts. We need to grow up not just grow old as followers of Jesus, knowing in Jesus his divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life.
Let’s pray…
May my heart not be proud O Lord, nor my eyes filled with myself and pride. Father humble me to not concern myself with things not mine to fuss over. Help me to make my soul still so that it’s like a weaned child with it’s mother. Make my soul satisfied in you, so that as the church of God; as the followers of Jesus help us together to put our hope in you Our Father, God, and King both now and forever more. For our hope is in you because we know Jesus and that he died so that we might know your love and as he rose again we know you are leading us forward. AMEN
David Hassan @ Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church 2-7-17
[1] David Powlinson "Peace Be Still': Learning Psalm 131 by heart" JBC Vol.18.No 3. Spring 2000 p.3-4