Sunday 20 January, 2019

1 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. 2 But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. 3 Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.

What a poetic description of becoming content before the Lord. I see in this Psalm of David a challenge to our obsessively aspirational culture – “my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too marvellous for me…” I wonder how I’d go opening with this line at a self-development or corporate training event?

And yet, do I not want what David describes next – “I have composed and quieted my soul…my soul is like a weaned child within me…” Contentment before the Lord is as much about what I choose not to focus on, as it is what I do choose to focus on. And it is discerning, with God’s grace and wisdom, what is too great a matter or marvellous a concern for me. There are some things I just don’t need to set my heart on, no matter how great they may be, because developing a desire for such things will only leave me perpetually discontented and disquieted of soul.

Lord, I need your wisdom and grace here, especially when our culture promotes a message of – “accomplish all you dream of.” Amen.

Written by Ps. Rob Waugh