Humility and Hope

The Songs of Ascent

Text: Psalm 131

Title: Humility and Hope

Introduction

The worshipper has reached his destination and in the presence of God he declares his creaturely submission. This is a very short Psalm to read but a very long Psalm to learn. Having received the mercy of the Lord the psalmist is expressing his appreciation for the greatness of God in creation and redemption. In Isaiah 40 God’s people are pictured as little lambs carried in the shepherd’s arms, and then God reminds us of why we are so utterly dependent. It is because of His greatness, as we read in verses 12-15, Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. The psalmist being in awe of God expresses his dependence in the metaphor of a tiny child. Thus we first at the humility and then at the hope.

I Humility

The picture of humble dependence is in verses 1 and 2, 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. Elizabeth Akers Allen expresses a kind of sentimental longing for childhood in her poem, “Make Me a Child Again,” She writes, “Backward, turn backward, O time, in your flight, Make me a child again just for to-night! Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years! I am so weary of toil and of tears,—Toil without recompense, tears all in vain,—Take them, and give me my childhood again!” However, this is not the objective of the psalmist. He is not longing for the good old days of lost childhood and supposed innocence. He is reflecting the wisdom of God so aptly put by our dear Savior who loved the little children and welcomed them. We read of Jesus in Matthew 18:1-4, At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. We also read in Luke 18:15-17, People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Not only is greatness in the kingdom measured by childlike trust, but one cannot enter except with a childlike faith. Of course Jesus said you must be born again, but he also said you must become like a child. The latter is as important as the former. Nothing reveals the falsehood of the liberal myth that all men are children of God like Jesus’ statements. The essence of these statements by Jesus is that we must know God in His absolute sovereign greatness. You can’t worship God if you think you are smarter than He is. Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? Adam and Eve thought they were smarter and so do all their offspring. It may seem outlandish to you that I say this, but most people are not childlike because they think they know the answers that only God knows. Are you willing to submit like a child to its Father’s wisdom. Accepting His advice when you don’t always understand. Do you really believe that he is the potter and you are the clay? Do you believe what Paul says in Romans 9:16-18, It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden? If you do not believe these things, then, whoever you are worshipping, it is not the God of the Bible, and you have not taken the position of the psalmist as he tells us, I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.

II Hope

Before he can call upon the congregation to hope in the Lord in verse 3, O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore, the psalmist refers to the process of weaning in verse 2, But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. The poet captures the picture, “My soul doth like a weanling rest, I cease to weep; So mother’s lap, though dried her breast, Can lull to sleep.” Spurgeon says, “To the weaned child his mother is his comfort though she has denied him comfort. It is a blessed mark of growth out of spiritual infancy when we can forego the joys which once appeared to be essential, and can find our solace in him who denies them to us.” James 1:2-4 tells us, Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. In other words the trial of being weaned is necessary for a child to grow just as our trials are necessary for us to grow. Paul says the same thing in Romans 5:3 and 4, Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Peter even suggests a process of weaning in his first epistle, 2:1-3, Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. The child is first nursed, but as it grows up it must gradually introduced to solid food. Our spiritual lives are just like that. What makes spiritual weaning different is that what we naturally desire out of our sinful hearts is not good for us, and so many times we are unaware of our need for weaning and afraid of it when it happens. But the lives of the saints in the Bible and throughout the centuries of Christendom have been filled with tribulation because that was the only way to make them hope. The psalmist has learned and is expressing this truth so that the people of God may understand that they desperately need to put their hope in God as he here exhorts, O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore. We are not so different from our children. Look how often they have been warned about the pitfalls in life, and yet many times they plunge headlong into them and the only way they can learn to trust and obey is by enduring the consequences of their foolhardy behavior. So it was with Israel, and so it is for us. The psalmist says one of the the purposes of worship is to remind us that we are being weaned. In 1870 Frederick Atkinson wrote, “Spirit of God, Descend upon my heart.” The first two verses remind us of the need for being weaned, “Spirit of God, descend upon my heart; Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move; Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art; And make me love Thee as I ought to love. I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies, No sudden rending of the veil of clay, no angel visitant, no opening skies; But take the dimness of my soul away.”