Hoping in the Lord- Psalm 131:1-3
Instead, I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like a weaned child. Israel, put your hope in the Lord, both now and forever. Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I do not get involved with things too great or too wondrous for me. Psalm 131:1-3
I am a child of God. He has blessed me greatly. And the Holy Spirit empowers me as He does all of His. Yet sometimes, I can forget all about God’s hands-on work in my life. I think that I need to manage this heavy load all by myself.
I am learning (sometimes slowly), by His grace, to take my disquieting thoughts to Him, those anxiety surges that squeeze my chest. Instead of the voice in my head that screams this is going to fall apart, I am beginning to hear the Lord is my shepherd… I am learning to take these thoughts and bring them to Jesus because I don’t know how to back them down by myself. But when I set them at His feet, I get a sense of calm.
The Psalm says, “Lord, My heart is not proud…”
The Lord graciously empties me of pride. And when it’s trickled out, I gain tremendous power to serve him without worrying about myself. I get to stay focused on His objectives.
And I’m going to be honest. He’s still teaching me humility. I’m not sure it ever stops. Maybe that’s just part of the Christian walk. Just because I was humble yesterday, doesn’t mean I will be humble tomorrow.
I think that’s a piece of what Paul means when he tells believers to walk in the light. Walk. Move. Progress. In the light. The light reveals. It makes me humble.
To be humble is to not hide things from God. When I’m humble before God, as a consequence, I am vulnerable before people too. They sense that I am real. When I hide; they sense that too.
Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting that it is good to lay out all of my dirty laundry before everybody. I’m talking about a quality of life. When I’m not hiding from God, I quit covering up before people in the way I live. I’m not worried about what people will think.
I’m able to serve the Lord without fear. That’s power in humility.
And in my case, it doesn’t come overnight, even when the Lord graciously humbles me over and over, my lunches consisting of one mud sandwich after another, and heaping servings of crow. Even then, I wasn’t humble. I didn’t want to understand that the Lord was telling me something.
Why didn’t I? I wasn’t seeking for it. I was living life like it was a daily 24 hour forced march.
I wasn’t able to say like the Psalmist, “My heart is not proud…”
And that’s what it takes. It can’t be about me; it has to be about Him.
There’s another danger I want to just mention. I’m not saying that I don’t matter. It is clear that I matter to God.
But there’s a sweet harmony that takes place in a believer’s life when He depends upon God to do His will for His glory. And God lifts Him up. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
And there’s one more issue that comes up in this verse: The Psalmist says that he is not proud nor haughty. See, I can fool myself into thinking that I am humble.
This is where prayer comes in, my relationship, my walk with Jesus. As I walk with Him, He will let me know if I’m really full of my own stink and trying to cover it up with half a gallon of Axe spray. I can make a complete jackass of myself and when I get called on it, I can double down into more donkey-speak. I can.
But the Lord helps me. That’s not who I want to be. I want to be righteous and holy before Him. I want Him to send me on secret missions as His holy warrior. Okay, I don’t know about the secret part. Maybe I got carried away already!
“I do not get involved in things to great or too wondrous for me.” The Lord leads. I go. When I’m walking in the light, I don’t get all worked up about wanting to do that other guy’s job who looks oh so good when he’s doing it!
I can just be regular old me. Serving the Lord (on secret missions). And walking in the light.
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