Psalm 131-- Lean On Me

A song of Ascents. Davidic.
Yahweh, my heart is not proud
Nor my eyes haughty.
And I do not involve myself in ambitious matters
Or things too amazing for me.
I have determined to become serene
And quieted my soul
As a child weaned of its mother
My soul is like a weaned child within me.
O Israel, hope in Yahweh
From this time and forever

More and More and More and More and…As human beings we are never satisfied. What we have is never enough. It must be something in the human psyche that insists that we aren’t satisfied, we don’t yet have what we need. We just need a little more. A little more justice, a little more peace, a little more stuff, a little more respect, a little more food, a little more love, a little more authority, a little more wealth. We say we need this because we figure we will be satisfied if we get just a little more. But we never are. Every time we get a little more, we always are looking for the next little more.

Screw ups
But when we get a little more, then, more often than not, we screw up what we get. If we get a little more money, we use it on our greed or addiction. If we get a little more stuff, it just clutters up our living space. If we get a little more authority, we abuse it and hurt others. If we get a little more respect, we assume that we deserved it to begin with and so disrespect those who don’t give it to us. It isn’t because we want to screw things up. It just happens that way.
This psalm is a commitment to stop the cycle of get, screw it up, so get more only to screw it up again. This psalm says, “Okay, I’ve had enough. I chose to be content with what I have.” This psalm isn’t a sermon, nor is it a claim that everyone should be like this. It is a simple prayer for simplicity.


Climbing The Ladder
The psalmist prays against pride. Pride, in the ancient world, wasn’t so much an attitude of being more important than one is, but it was a striving for a higher position than what one has. Pride could be seeking to be wealthy, or seeking to be powerful or seeking to be more famous than one is. This does not mean that one could not receive from others more wealth or power—one could be humble and obtain wealth or power from another source, as long as one was not seeking for oneself. Pride is the grasping of power or wealth on one’s own, whether one deserves it or not.
The psalmist is separating himself from pride, from grasping, from personal ambition. He is determining that he will not seek more. He sees his own weakness, and how the world is full of things that he cannot grasp, cannot control. So he will let God control things and he will not try to take the reigns himself.

Peace of Mind
Instead, he devotes himself to quietness and humility. This is not the same as being silent. One may be boldly speaking justice, yet be quiet in one’s soul. This is a picture of contentment, of repose. It does not depend on one’s circumstances. One of the best examples of humility is Joseph. He was sold into slavery, thrown into jail, yet in all things he trusted that God was leading him. In the end, Joseph ended up being the ruler of Egypt and the savior of the world at that time. But he did nothing to achieve that position. Rather, he remained quiet and faithful to God.

Daddy!
The psalmist uses the image of a child trusting in his parent. This is not an infant, nor is it a grade school child. Rather it is a preschooler, a child who can walk and do things, but is still completely dependent on her parent. This is the kind of life the psalmist seeks. A life of dependence, of reliance on God’s power. God is the one who has great power, and will meet the needs of those under his care.

Life of A Nation
Finally, the psalmist calls out to all the people of God, all the people in His kingdom. He says that a life of humility and trust is the kind of attitude we should all have. This is the lifestyle of eternity, this is the life which all of God’s people will be dependent on, forever. So we might as well practice it now!


“Now you’re climbing to the top of the company ladder
Hope it doesn’t take too long
Don’t you see they’ll come a day when it doesn’t matter
See a day when you’ll be gone?
I understand about indecision
But I don’t care if I get behind
People living in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind”