Calm and quiet
This week is on Psalm 131, the whole thing:
These verses are a great example of how to live a focused and faith-centered life. The funny thing is that the author was a king. It's not like he could isolate himself from very many things. And yet he manages to trust in God and not worry about things.
It starts with him not thinking too highly of himself. He doesn't puff himself up with ideas that he is some kind of expert, or should be telling other people how to live. If we saw things that way, political TV networks would go out of business! So would gossip shows. The newspaper might be a couple pages long. If King David were alive today, he'd probably be like "How should I know if mankind is making the climate change? Or if the Russians hacked the US elections? How is what is happening in Spain or Las Vegas any of my business?"
These things are too complicated for us to know about. Anyone who is talking to us about them, even on TV, probably doesn't know about them either. And yet people get worked up about things like that, and devote hours to watching shows and reading articles and getting in arguments with their friends about stuff that they can't control, which doesn't affect their life, and which may or may not even be true in the first place.
David has calmed and quieted himself. He's told himself not to worry about this thing or that, to calm down, to focus on God's love for him and the promise of his blessing. We can do that too. When we're aware of who God is, and his love for us, there are a lot of things we don't need to worry about or pay attention to. We can be as happy and at peace as a little kid sitting with his parents.
After telling us his secret to a righteous mind, David urges people to put their hope in the Lord. It seems so obvious, doesn't it?
My heart is not proud, Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord
both now and forevermore.
These verses are a great example of how to live a focused and faith-centered life. The funny thing is that the author was a king. It's not like he could isolate himself from very many things. And yet he manages to trust in God and not worry about things.
It starts with him not thinking too highly of himself. He doesn't puff himself up with ideas that he is some kind of expert, or should be telling other people how to live. If we saw things that way, political TV networks would go out of business! So would gossip shows. The newspaper might be a couple pages long. If King David were alive today, he'd probably be like "How should I know if mankind is making the climate change? Or if the Russians hacked the US elections? How is what is happening in Spain or Las Vegas any of my business?"
These things are too complicated for us to know about. Anyone who is talking to us about them, even on TV, probably doesn't know about them either. And yet people get worked up about things like that, and devote hours to watching shows and reading articles and getting in arguments with their friends about stuff that they can't control, which doesn't affect their life, and which may or may not even be true in the first place.
David has calmed and quieted himself. He's told himself not to worry about this thing or that, to calm down, to focus on God's love for him and the promise of his blessing. We can do that too. When we're aware of who God is, and his love for us, there are a lot of things we don't need to worry about or pay attention to. We can be as happy and at peace as a little kid sitting with his parents.
After telling us his secret to a righteous mind, David urges people to put their hope in the Lord. It seems so obvious, doesn't it?
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