This passage has been on my mind. Because today I spent a lot of time thinking about the future. Everyday the news is filled with updates that are changing by the hour regarding increased measures being taken to contain what seems to be uncontainable. We all have questions about how this virus is going to affect our loved ones, our everyday lives, our jobs, our economy, our country and the rest of the world. And in recognizing the uncertainty of the future, even the uncertainty tomorrow brings, these questions can start to feel overwhelming. This problem is too big.
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.
O Israel put your hope in the Lord both now and forever more.
Psalm 131
I love the humble but firm stance this psalmist, King David, takes as he writes. "I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me - but I have stilled and quieted my soul". Maybe this pandemic is one of these "great matters" he is talking about. After I have done my duty first as a mother to safeguard my own family, secondly as a good neighbour through practical and tangible acts of kindness, and thirdly as a citizen by taking all measures to curb the spread, there is really nothing else to do but to be still and quiet.
Thinking ahead in order to be reasonably prepared in situations like this is wise. But when fear dictates our thoughts, and inadvertently our decisions, it ultimately leads to panic, despair and hopelessness. Because in this instance, fear is based on a false belief that God has somehow fallen off of his throne, that this pandemic is too much for his mighty hand to handle. We may not consciously think these thoughts but when we worry too far into the future, when our minds are consumed with fears and concerns that go way past beyond where our next meal is coming from ("give us THIS DAY our DAILY bread") then we know that in our minds we have doubted the sovereignty and supremacy and goodness of God. Then we have unconsciously forfeited the peace that comes with the confident conviction that God is for us and that he will help us and provide for us.
"But I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother". I am in awe at the resolve of this psalmist to live in peace. Sometimes we confuse the peace of God as something that passively comes to us as children of God. We wait and wait for it to fall on us and when it doesn't, we fall into despair when we continue to be plagued by worries. Yet this is a good reminder that God has given us a supernatural way to live in peace - he paid a high cost by sending his Son to die on the cross so we can experience a peace that passes understanding - yet we need to decide, every moment of every day, to refuse to be anxious and to live in that peace.
I love the picture that this psalmist gives about a weaned child being so content in her mother's presence. Mothers who are breastfeeding or have breastfed know the joy that comes when our child is finally contentedly laying in our arms with no questions asked and with no other demands or wants other than to be with us. They are so confident in our nurturing and protection that worries of any kind are foreign are to them. Oh to experience such peace in such a time as this! But I love that this situation gives us an amazing opportunity to choose to sit in the arms of God and be "mothered" by him. Let us then echo the conviction of the same psalmist as he firmly decides, "I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN. (Psalm 16:8)
So I echo this psalmist's closing remarks:
O [my dear friends], put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore!
Trusting God at this time requires community. Should some of us forget or should some of our hearts fail, let us encourage and remind each other to continue to trust him. He remains all-knowing, all present, all-powerful and sovereign. He remains good. He remains faithful. He remains seated on the throne. And there, we can sit safely and peacefully in his arms if we choose to.
Oh the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgements and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Romans 11:33-36
The Contentment of a Child in the Middle of a Storm - by Abi Olson