Sunday Night Reflection 12-Jul-2020

Psalm 131 - Humble, and Content Good evening church family. Welcome to this evening's reflection as we progress together through the Psalms exploring the Songs that Shape Us. Last week, Stephen looked at Psalm 130, a song of hope as we wait upon the Lord. Tonight, we're looking at Psalm 131, which although short, has much we can learn from it. The theme for tonight's song that shapes us is being humble and content. In keeping with this series, what song or songs inspire you to be humble and content? What songs take you to a place of calm and contentment in the presence of God? I have many, but for tonight, I'd like to share a song by Tenth Avenue North, called "Control" - it talks of how God doesn't need us, but He wants us. How even when things go wrong, God will always be with us. I'll leave a link to it at the end. Before we explore Psalm 131, let's pray together. Our Lord and our God, thank you for your relentless pursuit of us. Thank you for Jesus' sacrifice which secures our destiny in you. As we open your word tonight at Psalm 131, I pray you will reveal yourself to us, speak to our hearts and our minds that we might gain a new insight and understanding of you. Amen. This is a short Psalm, so let's dive in and read what King David wrote. 1 Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don't concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. 2 Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother's milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord- now and always. 1 This Psalm can be broken down into three key themes: * Verse 1 is David's renunciation of pride and self-exaltation. * Verse 2 is David's very intentional composure of soul - calm, quiet, contentment in his heart. * Verse 3 is David's call for his people to join him in this restful, hopeful, waiting on the Lord. Verse 1. David's renunciation of pride and self-exaltation. Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don't concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. In general, there are two kinds of pride - the pride of having and the pride of wanting. The pride of having is the pride of those who have superiority, or at least think they do; and it expresses itself in boasting or intending to boast. The pride of wanting is the pride of those who don't have superiority but wish they did and continually crave others' attention and approval. You might call it the pride of the strong, and the pride of the weak. Pride is very subtle and cloaks itself with some remarkably weak-looking forms so that you will feel sorry for it and see how much it is suffering, and how unrecognized this virtue is. Be careful you don't just see pride in the arrogant. It is more often manifest in those who have nothing to be arrogant about and crave the attention and approval of others. David renounces all that, he says, in verse 1, and does so at three levels: the level of feeling, the level of appearing, and the level of acting. "O Lord, my heart is not proud" - that's the heart level of feeling. I cut off the first emotional stirrings of any feeling that I have something that exalts me over others, or that I crave something that would exalt me over others. I put the first heart-stirrings of that feeling to death. Second (v. 1b), "My eyes are not haughty." The eyes are the expression of the face, the outward appearance. We have moved out from heart to eyes. Any prideful feeling that gets through his first defence against pride he cuts off at the level of appearance. He will not let pride use his face or any other part of the body (stiff neck, lifted nose, belittling roll of the eyes). Third, (v. 1c), "I don't concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp." Now he has moved out from the heart to the eyes to the activity of the day. If any pride slipped through his first defence against feelings, or his second defence against appearance, he will cut it off at the level of action. It's interesting, in the first part of verse one David talked about the heart. In the second part he talked about the eyes. And now here metaphorically he talks about the feet, because the word translated "concern myself" is actually the Hebrew word for "walk." It can be used for physically walking, but it is also used in the sense of how you walk or conduct yourself in life. The word that is translated "things too wonderful" or "matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp" is used many times in the Psalms and is especially used to speak of God's wonders or mighty deeds. In other words, these are things that are too high for us, things that are beyond our power or too difficult for us to understand. So what is David saying in this verse? He is saying: "I have learned not to walk above my means. I have learned not to reach beyond my grasp. I have learned not to expend great effort trying to do things beyond my ability or attempting to understand things beyond my comprehension. I am willing to admit that there are things I cannot do, and many things I do not understand. And that's okay, because my walk is humble, not proud. I'm not caught up in greatness, or achievements or accomplishments. I maintain a lowly, humble walk before the Lord, and I bow my knee to his great power and understanding." Do you want a simple translation of all that? David is basically saying: "I quit trying to play God." If the proud heart has to do with pride in relation to self, and proud eyes have to do with pride in relation to others or how they perceive us, the proud walk has to do with pride in relation to God. So at three levels, David is committed to kill pride in his life, from heart to appearance to action. Pride is a great evil, and David renounces it at every level. Some people say that you can't speak about your humility, that the moment you do, you're being proud again. But it depends on who you're speaking to and your attitude when you speak. David is not boasting about his humility to others. Rather he is confessing his humility to God. The whole psalm speaks of a sweet, gentle humility before the Lord. David is not boasting; rather he is actually humbling himself before God even as he speaks. Pride is the main obstacle between us and God. Pride is what caused Satan to fall, and pride is what caused Adam and Eve to listen to Satan in the garden. Proverbs 18:12 says: "Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor. 2" (NIV) Notice the contrast there in Proverbs 18. Before someone falls down, their heart is proud or lifted up. Similarly, in Proverbs 3:34 we are cautioned regarding pride, which is also quoted in James 4:6; "He [God] mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. 3". It's ok to admit we don't have all the answers. At the end of Job's trial, when confronted by God, Job says "You asked, 'Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?' It is I-and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. 4" How about you? Have you quit trying to play God? Or are you still desperately trying to control everyone and everything around you? I saw a great quote that went like this: Good Morning! This is God, I will be handling all of your problems today. I will not need your help. So, relax and have a great day! So enough with playing God. It's time to practice humility. Do not be proud in our hearts. Do not be proud in our attitude toward others. Do not feel that we have to know or understand it all. God knows, and that is enough. Verse 2. Peaceful contentment The alternative to pride in verse 2 is a wonderful, peaceful, contentment of soul (from the NIV): "But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me5" Notice the focus on his soul, his heart, his deepest inner person. If this deep level can be delivered from pride and boasting and craving self-exaltation and craving autonomy from any authority, then all appearances and actions will express this godly humility. This weaned child is a picture of contentment. The unweaned child desperately clings to its mother, fumbling around for the milk it craves to satisfy its stomach. Conversely, the weaned child is simply enjoying the way it feels to be in lap of their mother, enjoying the love, security and serene joy shared between a doting mother and her child. The child is satisfied. And it is not about their stomach. It's about their heart. This is a picture of David's restfulness, contentment, satisfaction, joy, peace in the secure, loving presence of God. How do we know all that? All it says is his soul is calmed and quieted, like a child with his mother. How do we know he is referring to contentment in God? We know it because of verse 3: "O Israel, put your hope in the LORD- now and always. 6" It would be unreasonable to think there is no connection between verse 2 and verse 3. If verse 2 has nothing to do with God, why summon the people to hope in God, or as the word is often translated, wait for God? But there is a connection: Since I have found my contentment, my calm, quiet soul-satisfaction by turning to the Lord, and resting in his power and grace and wisdom, therefore I now call all Israel, "Join me in this! Put your hope in him. Find your rest in him. Calm your troubled heart in His presence. Quiet your soul by resting in the promise of his presence." So that's the message of Psalm 131: Renounce all self-reliance and self-exaltation and self-rule at the heart level, the appearance level, and the action level. And find your calm, quiet, deep soul-contentment in God. And then commend this wonderful life of deep soul-contentment to others whose lives, like yours, are surrounded by the opposite of calm, and quiet, and God-saturated joy. Say to the world of COVID19, and identity politics, and financial and economic uncertainty, and untold family upheaval - tell that world: Hope in the Lord. 1 Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Ps 131:1-3). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. 2 The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Pr 18:12). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 3 The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Pr 3:34). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 4 Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Job 42:3). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. 5 The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ps 131:2). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 6 Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Ps 131:3). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------