Read Psalm 131. What does this psalm teach us about our relationship with God?

 God’s people live in a world that afflicts the faithful, a world full of temptations and hardship for almost everyone. A refreshed conviction that he is a child of God and dependent on God for his life consoles the psalmist and brings him to confess that his pride has no value. The deceitfulness of pride is that it causes the proud to become self-centered and unable to look beyond themselves. The proud are thus blinded to the higher reality of God.

 In contrast, the righteous lift their eyes to God (Ps. 123:1, 2). The acknowledgment of God’s greatness makes them humble and free from self-seeking and vain ambition. The psalmist confesses that he does not seek “great matters” and “things too high” (Ps. 131:1). These expressions describe God’s works in the world that are beyond human comprehension. Modern science has shown us that even the “simplest” things can be incredibly complicated and far beyond our understanding, at least for now. In fact, there’s a great irony: the more we learn about the physical world, the greater the mysteries that appear before us.

 Meanwhile, the metaphor in Psalm 131:2, “like a weaned child with [its] mother” (NKJV), is a powerful image of one who finds calmness and who is quieted in the embrace of God. It points to the loving relationship a child has with its mother at various stages in that child’s young life.

 Through weaning us from insubstantial ambitions and pride, God introduces us to the nourishment of solid food, which is to “do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34, also Heb. 5:12-14). The childlike trust depicted in Psalm 131 is mature faith that has been tried and tested by the hardships of life and has found God to be faithful and true to His Word.

 The psalmist’s attention at the end rests on the well-being of God’s people. Ultimately, we are called to use our experience with God to strengthen His church. That is, from what we have learned, personally, of God’s faithfulness and goodness, we can share with others who, for whatever reason, still struggle with their faith. Our witness about Christ can even be within the church itself, where many need to know Him for themselves.