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Psalm 131

O Lord, my heart is not proud
nor haughty my eyes.
I have not gone after things too great
nor marvels beyond me.

Truly I have set my soul
in silence and peace.
A weaned child on its mother’s breast,
even so is my soul.

O Israel, hope in the Lord
both now and for ever.

Commentary

This tiny psalm is a literary gem with a brilliance all its own among the many jewels of the Psalter. It is a song of mature, yet wonderfully tender, childlike faith and trust in God. Attributed to David, it reflects the quiet maturity of a person who has found fulfilment in God.

O Lord, my heart is not proud
nor haughty my eyes.
I have not gone after things too great
nor marvels beyond me.

Truly I have set my soul
in silence and peace.
A weaned child on its mother’s breast,
even so is my soul.

O Israel, hope in the Lord
both now and for ever.
                                   (vv. 1-3).

David comes before God in prayer, utterly open and unafraid to let God see what really is the condition of his heart. The pride and ambition of his youth are gone now, as is any presumption or leaning on his own strength. They are cast aside for the worthless things they are (see Philippians 3:7-9). He is no longer playing “god” to himself or others. He has learned, instead, to let God be God, and has accepted the lowliness of his own position. He recognizes the limitations of his own creature-hood, and so does not claim to know or understand everything. He will not try to raise himself up to some false level of importance. He has found peace in accepting the truth about himself, and so he can relax in the presence of God, much like a child in its mother’s arms which has stopped it useless fretting and grabbing at its mother’s breast, because it has learned to trust the mother’s love, and also because it has discovered that there was a person behind the comfort it felt in being there. When the child begins
to recognize the mother and trust her love, then it can relax. It is the same in our relationship with God; we can stop our anxious fretting and worrying once we realize that God is not just the supplier of all our needs, but more importantly, that He is a father who loves us and cares for us with infinite love.

When David declares that he has “set” his soul in silence and peace, he is saying that he has struggled, probably for many years, to calm the ceaseless surging of pride, arrogance and worldly ambition that strive for dominance in our lives. This fight against nature’s struggle for honour, wealth and importance, means that he had laboured to enter into his rest (see the Letter to the Hebrews 3:7-4:11). This peace and calm is not the inactivity of the foolish virgin who does nothing to prepare for the meeting with the Lord. It is, rather, the action of the wise virgin who cooperates on a daily basis with the grace that is available in ordinary things (see Matthew 25:1-13). We do not come to peace of heart without waging war on sin in ourselves, so it is the calm after the storm that is celebrated in this psalm. Besides, the peace and contentment which follow are such that one forgets the awful struggles that preceded them, and the many humiliating failures that have strewn one’s path to the place of rest in
God. All anxiety and fear vanish in the marvellous experience of union with God, and the heart is now captivated by the mutual love that quenches all thirst (see John 4:7). God is desired for Himself alone, not just for His gifts and graces. It is with this mature love and confident trust that he begs the whole nation to give fully to God, so that the nation, too, may enter into the rest promised by God, which she rarely, if ever, experiences (see Exodus 33:14; Deuteronomy 12:10, etc.).

Humility of heart is the necessary disposition if one is to come to complete rest from all striving and to permanent peace. Out of all the great qualities of His soul Jesus asked us to imitate only a few: “. . . learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (see Matthew 11:29). When He acted as a slave, washing the feet of His faithful eleven at the Last Supper, Jesus said: “I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done for you” . . . “Now that you know this, happiness will be yours if you behave accordingly” (see John 13:15, 17, J.B.). The disciples found it difficult to grasp that it was not possible to humiliate the Son of God, because His greatness only shone with greater brilliance in His humility. An emperor is still the emperor even if he serves at table, but the humble service reveals a quality in him that is truly attractive, and does not at all detract from his dignity.

Presenting a little child to His disciples, Jesus told them about the revolution in their thinking that would be necessary for them to acquire humility of heart (see Matthew 18:1-4). If anyone wanted to be first, which represents the worldly position of pride and ambition, then Jesus asked them to take the opposite place, namely, to make himself last of all, and servant of all (Mark 9:35). This demands the death of the clinging self which keeps us in bondage to all kinds of fears and anxieties, and a battle must be fought and won before God is put in control of the life. It is necessary, therefore, to be weaned from all worldly ambition if we are to be free to relate to God in quiet confidence, peace and childlike trust.

St Paul showed how he mastered this struggle in a brilliant exposition of humility in Philippians chapter 2. The humble of heart are self-effacing, thinking of others all the time. They are in competition with no one; they are fully occupied with the imitation of Jesus’ self-giving in the incarnation, life, Passion, death and Resurrection. He who has put all worldly ambition aside (Philippians 3) is now content with God’s daily providential care for all His creatures (Philippians 4:11ff), and he can be happy and content in his union with Christ (Philippians 4:4-9).

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