From a certain point of view

1 LORD, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.

² Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

³ O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever. (Psalm 131 NKJV)

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Such a critical Psalm for times like these. But here is the problem, at least for me. I tend to reverse vs. 1 and 2… like this:

LORD, my heart is indeed haughty (proud)
My eyes look for everything in lofty places
I concern myself with great matters
and with things too profound for me.

Surely I have agitated and disturbed my soul,
Like an angry brat with his mother,
Like a self-absorbed child is my soul within me

And then I have the audacity to demand that God fix everything for me. Left unchecked I want my way to continue forever.

But God loves us too much. God draws us back to reality. We need someone like Eliphaz to get things right with God.

“Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects;
Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
For He bruises, but He binds up;
He wounds, but His hands make whole. (Job 5:17–18 NKJV)

God challenges my arrogance, my self-centeredness, my myopic perspective. In other words, He speaks Law to my sin. As much as I want to run away or hide I cannot do so with God. And that is a good thing. Because when His Law has done it’s work, God speaks Gospel. Gospel not focused on my works, my words, my thoughts, my intentions. Gospel is entirely God’s words, actions, work (extra nos = “outside of us”).

God says: “You sins are forgiven.” “You are now righteous.”

And in those words is where my hope lies. May that be true for you as well. Now we can speak and believe Psalm 131 with a heart that has been renewed, refreshed, recreated God. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forever.

And now we can finish Psalm 131