Stilled and Quieted

Our second "hungry" prayer is unusual in two ways:

Firstly, when we take an initial glance at the Psalm, it doesn't feel like a "powerful" expression of faith and hope in God. In fact, at first glance, it seems to be a prayer of desperation or resignation. But, the deeper one looks, the more one gets a sense that this is a rock solid prayer uttered at the coal-face of struggle and pain.

Secondly, the prayer uses the analogy of real hunger to help make its point.

The prayer is one of the Psalms of Ascent. (Ps120-134) These are Psalms that were collected and sung as the Israelites remembered the Exile and their return. Some of the Psalms, like this one, were older than the exile, but were deemed appropriate as they reflected on this difficult time.

To understand the Psalm, we need to note the difference between a weaned and an unweaned child:

An unweaned child feels hungry and cries. You can't tell an unweaned child, "Hold on 5 minutes, supper's on the stove, it's nearly ready." Unweaned children cry because they don't yet understand that their parents are faithful. They believe that they have to make the food happen by their effort. So they cry and wave their arms and legs and crinkle their faces. And they escalate!

Sometimes we're like unweaned children. We want peace and to be loved, but we think we have to work hard to get it...

Conversely, a weaned child has learned to trust Mom to provide a meal - even if it is not served immediately.

Oft times we are guilty of trying to be in control of our relationship with God. (Think about how nonsensical that is: us trying to "manage" our relationship with the Almighty.) But David warns us against this kind of pride.

We won't always be in complete control - we won't always have all the answers. We don't have to do all the talking and we don't have to understand everything. We have to grow up from being the insecure and demanding baby to the trusting child who has learned from experience that God is faithful.

The incredible beauty of this prayer is how clearly David sees that he does not have to control his relationship with God. He comes to this beautiful place of surrender which is revealed even in the brevity of his psalm. He's saying, "I trust You, Lord. I don't have all the details and I can't do it all. I don't know all the answers, BUT I know that You love me and even when I am tempted to be frantic in my efforts to impress You, help me to know I am Your child and help me to put my hope in You."