Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Quiet Contentment

"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.

But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, put your hope in the Lord
both now and forevermore."
Psalm 131

This Psalm of David spoke greatly to me this past week. David, the greatest king in Israel's history (not counting Jesus, of course), writes that he does not concern himself with "great matters". When I am not content with my role in life, my pride often drives me to be concerned with "great matters", and when I fail to play a significant role in them, it only leads to more discontent.

This Psalm is a beautiful portrayal of surrender. David's soul was crying out to be "important" and "influencial", but he stilled his soul and resolved to be content with his lot in life. Are you crying out for God to feed the desires of your heart, only to find him silent? This is the weaning process; we must learn to trust. A newborn gets hungry, cries, and eats. But with maturity comes contentment. The child is weaned, and even though it is still side-by-side with its mother, who could very possibly feed it at any time, it must learn to trust quietly that nourishment will come. David is the "mother" and he weans his soul to be content and trust in God.

Let us not concern ourselves with things too wonderful for us. Let us still and quiet our souls, and know that He is God.
APK

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I think many (including myself) will relate to this post. Well spoken...gonna have to share this with others if you don't mind.

P.S. tell your better half that buttercotch cake is basically yellow cake mixed with butterscotch pudding...before baking, butterscoth chips and sugar are sprinkled and gently patted into cake batter. Once baked, you have a sweet and lightly crispy butterscotch topping...frosting is pudding and milk with cool whip folded in. Very sweet, but delicious cake.

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to leave a little more to the story. The brush and thick growth that had so long covered the finding of that beloved tomohawk was burned away by fire. See Dad burned away the years of growth just to clean up the hill side that covered up something you wanted so much to find. I was standing in the kitchen looking out the window that day Josh found Tommy. I knew what he was looking for and thought he might find it. The dense grow of weeds had been burned to the bare ground exposing anything that might be there. You should have seen the smile on Josh's face when I opened the window and started hootin and hollering on the find. Thought this was an important part of the story.--Kalub