Trust God in Matters That Lay Beyond Human Comprehension & Control

One of the churches in the ABCRM had this in their newsletter. It is written by Litton Logan of Sombra del Monte Christian Church in Albuquerque, NM. I found it quite profound, as I have not looked at this passage in quite this way. Yet, this passage speaks a lot to my first post.

One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 131:

1 O LORD, my heart is not lifted up,
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
3 O Israel, hope in the LORD
from this time on and forevermore. (NRSV)

This Psalm is a prayer and verse 2 suggests that the original author was a woman.

The thing that I find most powerful about this Psalm is the profound level of trust the author places in God. We get an image of a recently nursing mother, who is at peace with herself and with God. Her peace is that of the satiated and trusting child that lies asleep on her breast. She has no pretensions; she is not defiant of her plight in life, nor is she troubled with matters beyond her limitations and control. All that lies beyond her abilities, resources, and understandings she entrusts to God.

Many folks would say this Psalm is chauvinistic or that the woman is experiencing a profound level of resignation to her plight in life, or she is grateful that things aren’t worse.

However, the Psalm ends with the exhortation—whether from the mother or a later redactor who uses this mother’s poem to tell God’s people—Israel—that she, too, is to be at peace with herself, her destiny, and to trust God in matters that lay well beyond human comprehension and control.

This mother has done all within her ability and resources and now rests all else in the hands of God.

What a lesson for those of us that are anxious and troubled over things we can’t control.

Whom do you identify with—the mother or the child?

28Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28--30 (NKJV)