The Weaned Child

Psalm 131

Continuing our look at the Psalms of Ascent we come to a Psalm of David. We don’t know exactly when he wrote this Psalm. There are no historical circumstances mentioned in the Psalm to help us date it. It seems to me it was written at the height of his spiritual maturity.

After he was anointed by Samuel.

After he killed Goliath.

Before his sin with Bathsheba.

The point of the Psalm can be found in verse 3. He wants all the people of Israel to put their hope in the Lord in the same way that he did. This is a very short Psalm. Don’t let that fool you. It is filled with truth for the believer. It is the testimony of a godly man. The description it gives should be the goal of every believer.

We are going to break this Psalm down into two points:

The Desire to be a weaned child

The Description of a weaned child.

1. The Desire to be a Weaned Child (2).

Weaning is the process a child goes through from breast feeding to solid foods. A weaned child is one that has successfully transitioned.

The imagery here is as applicable today as it was in David’s day.

Babies still need their mother’s milk.

Babies still need to go through the process of weaning.

Babies still need to complete that process.

In spiritual terms this refers to growing in Christ.

The Bible says we are born again when we become Christians.

The Bible says we are to desire the milk of the Word of God (1 Peter 2:2).

The Bible says we are to transition from milk to solid foods (1 Cor. 3:2).

What does that mean?

We are to move from elementary teachings of Scripture to deeper things.

We are to learn to feed ourselves.

We are to practice what we learn.

There are two types of Christians

1) Weaning

This is natural. No one expects a baby to come out with a fork in its hand.

This should be temporary. No one expects a five-year-old to be breast feeding.

A good mother initiates the process. They want the child to be independent. They want the child to have solid foods. They explain to the child the expectations they have.

God initiates this process in our lives spiritually. He expects us to move on from milk to meat. How do you know if you are weaning?

You don’t feed yourself spiritually.

You are continually overcome by basic sins like strife, jealousy, fusing, etc. 

2) Weaned

You are feeding yourself spiritually.

You are not continually overcome by basic sins such as strife, jealousy, fussing, etc.

Weaned does not mean perfect. Weaned means you are mature and are maturing in the Lord.

The key to knowing if you are a weaned child or not is your response to God when He says “No!”

The mother must tell the child “No!” if it is to be weaned. She does this out of love.

God will tell us no.

Our attitude

Our slothfulness

Our excuses

God demands change. God will deny us comfort so that we will find our comfort in Him.

The weaned child has learned to lie on its mother’s breast but content not to drink from them. The weaned child is comforted by the mother herself, not what the mother gives the child. This is the goal of God in our maturity.

We don’t have to get our way.

We don’t have to have all our desires met.

We have God and He is enough.

The reward of motherhood is when you discover your children love you for who you are not what they get from you. Our Father in heaven deserves that reward from us.

It is the desire of God for all of His children to be weaned.

It should be the desire of the pastor for all his church members to be weaned.

It should be the desire of every Christian to be weaned themselves.

2. The Description of a Weaned Child (1-2).

A. The weaned child’s heart is not lifted up.

David says, “My heart is not lifted up”. We might think that sounds proud. We should remember this was a prayer of David before it was a Psalm recorded in Scripture. David said this to the Lord, not us.  We are reading David’s prayer journal.

He doesn’t say “My heart has never been lifted up.”

There is nothing, especially in the early life of David that pointed to him being a proud man. He wasn’t trying to make something of himself. He was content being a shepherd.

The only hint we have of pride in David’s early life is a word from his brother Eliab. When David showed up to the battle between Isarel and the Philistines his brother said:

“Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.” 1 Sam. 17:28

I’m not saying David didn’t deal with pride. I don’t think it was as bad as his brother said. David never sought the throne. The throne came to him.

He never exalted himself above Saul. In fact, he treated him as his superior well after he had already been anointed as king. 

In his heart David did not think more of himself than he should have. When you are weaned, you see yourself properly.  

After years of following the Lord, Paul still saw himself as the chief of sinners. How do you see yourself?

If any man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself (Galatians 6:3)

B. The weaned child’s eyes are not raised too high.

A heart that is lifted up has to do with how we see ourselves. Eyes that are raised up have to do with how we see others. When our eyes are raised up we look down on others. The only One who should look down on others is God. When we look down on others, we put ourselves in the place of God. 

The greatest example of this virtue is Christ. He ministered to:

Widows

Lepers

Diseased

Children

A Rich Young Ruler

Prostitutes

Demon possessed

Jesus was approachable. No one sensed He did not care for them. The title “Friend of Sinners” was used as an insult by some but in reality it was a great compliment.

How we look at other people is a good way to determine how God sees us.

Do we compare ourselves with others?

Do we thank God we are not like others?

Do we roll our eyes?

Do we go the other way? 

The weaned child is no respect of persons. They do not look down on people.

C. The weaned child is not occupied with things too great and too marvelous for them.

I want to offer three different categories that can be considered here.

1) Difficulties. The mature child understands trials come. Life may get very hard. When it does, they do not:

Demand God tell them why.

Turn their back on God.

Gove God an ultimatum.

They are like Job. they say “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

The truth is, I don’t know why terrible things happen to godly people. These things are too great for me. My mind is limited.

2) Doctrines.

The mature believer knows that even what God has revealed often has shadows. You ought to memorize Deut. 29:29:

 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

Some of the most immature Christians are the ones who know the most. They cannot admit there are some doctrines too deep to fully understand. Instead of being humble they become proud. If you don’t see it their way they want to fight.

The two places I have seen this most is:

The end times

The sovereignty of God

You say, “Preacher what do you think about the end times?”

I say, “It’s too great and too marvelous for me!”

“What do you think about the doctrine of election?”

I say, “It’s too great and too marvelous for me!”

Can we not practice some humility in these areas?

3) Destiny.

Some Christians are so concerned with what they will be in this world that they never are what they should be in this world.

I see this with young preachers. They want to be great. God never called us to be great. He called us to be faithful. But marvelous and great are what many want when it comes to ministry.

After three years of being with Jesus the disciples were still arguing about who the greatest among them would be. Many preachers will be surprised when they get to heaven and see the greatest among them was unknown to the world.

Great is not on the stage.

Great is at that widow’s house.

Great is beside the bed of the dying.

D. The weaned child is content (2).

“I have calmed and quieted my soul”

Here you have a man at peace.

A weaned child has learned it doesn’t have to cry or throw a fit to get the mother’s attention. The weaned child knows it is loved.

God doesn’t have to explain everything to us. We trust His heart. We know His character. He loves us and we can rest in that.

Have you ever seen a child that was worried? It was fretting over something.

A grade

A relationship

A desire

They look unhappy.

Then you ask “What re you worried about? You got it made and don’t even know it.”

You know that’s true. These days are not difficult, the child just thinks they are. You tell them to enjoy their life.

God looks at us the same way. When we fret and worry it is silly. The sooner we realize that the better.

Notice the text doesn’t say “like a weaned child.” It says, “Like a weaned child with its mother.”

 We are content because although we are weaned, we are still with our Father. His presence is our comfort.

Also notice David said, “I have calmed and quieted my soul”. We have a responsibility to ourselves.

Speak to yourself the Word of God.

Speak to God about your situation.

When you begin to act like a baby, calm yourself down. This is a mark of maturity. Babies have a very shallow sense of self awareness. The mature should not. 

Adults don’t cry in restaurants.

Adults don’t intentionally soil themselves.

Adults don’t throw things across the table.

We have to calm babies down

Adults calm themselves down. 

We know things will get better. This too will pass. God is in control.

Are you a child of God?

Are you a weaning child of God?

Are you a weaned child of God?