Psalm 131 is a psalm of David declaring to the Lord his confidence in him and the calmness of soul he experiences as he trusts his God:
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.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel,
hope in the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore.
David Powlison writes that “Psalm 131 is show-and-tell for how to become peaceful inside.”
He jutaxposes this biblical God-centered worldview with a functional godless universe, composing an Anti-Psalm 131 to show what it looks like when we are not trusting and resting in the Lord.
Self,
my heart is proud (I’m absorbed in myself),
and my eyes are haughty (I look down on other people),
and I chase after things too great and too difficult for me.
So of course I’m noisy and restless inside, it comes naturally,
like a hungry infant fussing on his mother’s lap,
like a hungry infant, I’m restless with my demands and worries.
I scatter my hopes onto anything and everybody all the time.
Contrast that one more time with what the Psalm calls for our soul to look like, resting in Christ:
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.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel,
hope in the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore.
If you want help living in Psalm 131 reality and not feeling and sounding like Anti-Psalm 131, Powlison’s article is a wonderful piece to read: David Powlison, “Peace Be Still: Learning Psalm 131 by Heart,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling 18, no 3 (Spring 2000): 2–10.
