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(FYI Besides my own study I relied on a article, “Peace, be still”: Learning Psalm 131 by Heart by David Powlison found in the Journal of Biblical Counseling.
Vol18 #3)
Turn to Ps 131.
Busy, busy, busy, we are all so very busy.
If it’s not ice skating lessons, it’s gymnastics.
If it’s not soccer, it’s baseball.
If it’s not working at work, it’s working at home.
We are obsessed, on edge, covered with post-it notes and to do lists.
There is pressure from others, pressure from within, achieve, produce, accomplish, generate, attain, complete.
We’re afraid of failing, afraid of disappointing, afraid of being seen as weak or incompetent, anxious about outcomes and results and decisions, anxious about what others think, and anxious about the future.
Guilty about the past, regrets, sorrows, questions.
We’re irritated, annoyed, aggravated, frustrated, apathetic, indifferent, discouraged, depressed, hopeless.
Like the tossing sea that stirs up refuse and mud, there seems to be no rest for our soul.
Life is messy, Life is troublesome, life is complex, life is busy!
and there are times when we just want to get away and seek solace, quiet, peace.
What is it for you?
Where do you find rest for your weary soul?
Maybe it’s the TV after work to calm yourself, or a glass of wine,
or that favorite comfort food.
Or maybe it’s when the kids can finally fend for themselves and you don’t have to change diapers,
or when they have grown up and moved out of the house.
Maybe when you retire, and you are free from the demand of work,
then you will know the calm and peace you are seeking.
We seek it at camp, we seek it at church, we seek it in friends, we seek it on vacation.
How many times have you said, “I need a vacation!”
How are you on the inside?
Are you quiet?
Do you know peace?
Has your soul found rest?
If the answer is NO, then you must ask yourself “what is going on on the inside?”
What is the noise inside my soul?
There is no doubt that life is busy,
but for the next few minutes I would like you to listen to a psalm of David.
Listen carefully and quietly to his prayer.
Drink deeply from the well of living water.
Ps 131:1-3 /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.
/
/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.
/
/3 O //Israel//, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.
/
This person is quiet on the inside.
He has learned the secret of contentment.
His soul is quiet.
IN THE MIDST OF THE NOISE!
He is at rest.
Who is this man that has found rest for his soul?
He is Dave, Son of Jesse, brother, shepherd,
defender of his flock, defender of Israel,
Stood up to wild animals, stood up to giants,
a loyal friend, a respectful subject,
competent soldier, righteous king,
musician, poet, political leader, husband, father,
Leader of Israel, worshipper of God.
This is not a man who retreated from life.
This is not a man who sought a vacation.
This is a man deeply involved in life.
This is the man whom we quietly eavesdrop on.
This is the man we hear praying.
For if we are to get all we can from these short 3 verses,
we need to know that we can’t gain rest for our souls by escaping our circumstances or retreating from our busy lives.
David was busy!
His life was messy!
A thousand years later we see Jesus.
His life was not about escaping or avoiding people, problems, sorrows, and pain.
In fact He dove in head first.
He approached life face to face.
Yet he also knew peace.
Not peace that the world offers, but peace from above.
Lasting peace.
Peace that surpasses understanding.
Like Jesus, we can no longer be satisfied with the false claims of rest, ease, peace, and relaxation that the world entices us with.
This is a psalm, a prayer that invites us in and encourages us to think deeply about it’s words and about our lives.
It teaches us about inner peace, composure, rest for our souls.
And that rest is something we must learn.
It is not granted instantly, it is a process.
It is also not about willpower, gritting our teeth determining to be at peace.
No, it teaches us that rest is a process that is learned in relationship with Someone Else.
You are trained into such rest.
And that quiet place CAN be found.
You can get there from here and Ps 131 shows us the way.
Let’s take a deeper look.
In verse one we see the Results,
/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./
Now in order to be able to say “I am not something” one must be able to identify what that something is.
As we turn this psalm around and create sort of an anti-psalm,
we begin to see more clearly where the noise inside comes from.
Listen carefully as I give you the Anti-psalm 131:
My heart is proud (I am self-absorbed),
O Self, my eyes are haughty (I look down on other people),
and I go after things too great and wonderful or difficult for me.
My soul is turbulent and noisy;
like a hungry infant fussing on it’s mother’s lap;
like a hungry infant I am agitated and upset.
I pin my hopes on things that falter and fail all the time.
* *
*Proud Heart*
Do you see the problem?
Do you see why the anit-psalmist has a noisy soul?
It all starts with a proud heart.
We think we are bigger and more important than we really are.
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