MOVING FROM CHILDHOOD TO ADULTHOOD (Psalm 131)

Today’s psalm is a deeply personal one. It was written by David and is all about him, specifically, his relationship to God. I think it gives some insight as to why he is referred to as the “man after God’s own heart.” It sheds some light on the intimate, personal walk David had with his God.

It is only three verses long. Charles Spurgeon called it “one of the shortest psalms to read, but one of the longest to learn.” I think you will understand why in just a moment.

Verses 1-3: “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forever.”

Do you see what Spurgeon was talking about? This is the psalm of a man who had to grow beyond childhood to maturity in his walk with God. I must say that I want this for my own life.

We all remember the words of Paul in I Corinthians 13:11. “But when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Psalm 131 is, in many respects, the words of a child of God who is maturing on his way to becoming the man God wants him to be. In these three verses are three simple truths regarding this maturation process.

Humility

The first verse expresses David’s lack of haughtiness and his desire to put away any semblance of pride. This is where it all begins, when you bring yourself low in the presence of God.

In the previous psalm, the Psalmist was brought into the depths. Sometimes, God brings us there to humble us. He allows us to come into low circumstances because He is trying to do something in us, not just around us, to bring us to a place where we get low before Him and acknowledge that we are nothing.

Isaiah wrote, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). In other words, don’t presume to tell God what to do or that you know better than He. Just humble yourself before the Lord.

We are in the section known as the Psalms of degrees, or ascents. I think there is a tremendous spiritual application here, and it is this: the only way to go up is to go down. The only way to ascend in our spiritual growth is to get low before the Lord.

The difficulty for most people is not getting low but staying low. There are moments when we realize what sinners and failures we are, how weak and tired we are, and this humbles us. But after a while, when we regain some strength, we forget all of that and are full of ourselves once again. So, God has to remind us to be humble before Him.

One of my Bible teachers said, “Thank God for everything He uses to humble you.” Whatever it is, it is maturing your faith and your walk with Jesus Christ.

Submission

The picture in verse 2 is of a child who is completely dependent upon his mother for nourishment. When he does not get his way, he cries. You don’t have to teach a baby to cry; you have to teach him to stop crying. He wants what he wants when he wants it, and this is how he communicates that.

Here, the Psalmist is saying that he has passed the point of demanding what he wants, choosing instead to submit to God and His desires. What a contrast between the screaming child and the quiet man who has learned to still himself because he knows God will give him what he needs when he needs it.

If you are going to be a man or woman after God’s own heart, you will have to learn to quiet yourself. Stop making demands of the Lord or fussing and complaining. Say quietly, through a definite act of faith, that you will behave yourself and believe that He has everything completely under control. This is a mark of maturity.

Hope

Verse 3 reveals the fact that the psalmist’s own hope is in God, and he wanted others to learn this as he did. The only hope of any nation or individual is the Lord.

From this moment forward, do not let your hope be in other men or what you think you can accomplish yourself. Do not hope in material things or in circumstances. Let your hope be in the Lord alone.

It is believed that Psalm 131 was inserted near the end of David’s life. If so, I believe that is very insightful. Here is an aged man who has had some things knocked out of him, quite frankly. He has been brought low and reminded that he desperately needs God, having been taught that God’s way is perfect and the only hope he has is in Him. It was a man not just with age but also with maturity who penned these words and expressed his need for the Lord.

This is what David wanted to pass on to the next generation. Knowing that he would soon be leaving the scene, here was his plea for his people: “Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forever.”

I believe this is a psalm for each of us who wants to know God better and grow into the people He saved us to become. If you are not a child of God, you must begin by putting your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. As Acts 16:31 tells us, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

Once you become a child of God, you must ask Him to help you not remain childish forever. You should want to grow and become the person God wants you to be.

Humble yourself before the Lord, submit yourself to a Father who knows best, and be sure that your hope is in Him. Pray that God would help you mature in the faith, learning these lessons and then teaching them to others.