Psalms 131

Psalms 131:1-3

“ Out of the Depths” Psalms 130:1-8; Psalms 131:1-3 The cry, Psalms 130:1-2. The word Lord occurs as often as there are verses. The soul in trouble repeats again and again that precious Name, in which comfort and help are summed up. The chief cause of anguish, Psalms 130:3-4, is the memory of our sins. But our iniquities are not marked save by the jewels of forgiveness, like the pearls of an oyster that are set in the place where it was wounded. The soul’ s attitude, Psalms 130:5-6. It waits! He will surely come though He seems to tarry. Plenteous redemption, Psalms 130:7. It is not enough for God to forgive. He will abundantly pardon. Psalms 131:1-3 The cry of the child-heart. The psalmist said this in all simplicity. He did not exercise himself in things beyond his powers, but left God to reveal them to him, as he was able to receive them. We are reminded of Mat 11:25. Clearly he had not reached this position without effort. He had found it necessary to still and quiet himself, as a nurse quiets a fretful babe. There had been a time when he was fed at the breast of the world’ s consolations. The weaning had been hard, but he had learned to get all from God and to draw on His sustaining grace.

As a weaned child This Psalm is ascribed to David. It bears in its small compass distinct traces of its origin. But it was evidently constructed before the dark clouds which overcast the close of his reign had gathered. It must have been composed during that “morning without clouds,” in which he ascended the throne of a united people. It is a cry for the child-heart. It becomes us to offer it “in all times of our wealth,” when pride and self-will lie in wait against us (see 2 Chronicles 32:25).

Psalms 131:1. My heart is not haughty The home and seat of pride are in the heart, but how often it betrays itself in the eyes! (Psalms 18:27; Proverbs 6:17, R.V.). Exercise may be rendered to walk to and fro. Though David had a promise of universal dominion, yet he took no step to secure it for himself. He resisted every temptation to snatch for himself that which was nevertheless divinely assured. There are many things which are great and high, both in revelation and in daily providence. We are not forbidden to use our reason, but after our best attempts, we must feel that God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours.

He could not be God, were it not so. Our true attitude then is one of childlike, loving trust, waiting to be taught and led. And to such a spirit, God’s Spirit of revelation will draw near, making clear mysteries which had baffled reason and left human genius faint and weary in its quest (Isaiah 40:30-31; Matthew 11:25).

Psalms 131:2. My soul is even as a weaned child The weaned child is no longer filled with tumultuous passion and frenzy for its mother’s breast. It is content to do without its wonted sustenance, because it has been led to another source of supply. So, when God turns us from some long-cherished comfort, let us be sure that it is not to starve us, but to give us something more suited to the maturing conditions of our life. And let us not be cross and impatient, but rather let us quiet ourselves. If that seem impossible, beseech that his Spirit may instil his quiet (1 Peter 3:4).

Psalms 131:3. O Israel, hope in the Lord! (R.V.) The cure for inquietude is to be found in a hope which begins as a struggling ray, but expands into the “for ever” of eternity.