Psalm of Ascent #2

"O LORD, my heart is not lifted up. 

my eyes are not raised to high;

I do not occupy myself with things to great and 

to marvelous for me. 

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned

child with it's mother; like a weaned child is my soul

within me. 

O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore."

Psalm 131 is a short but poignant reflection on the God of Israel. I can imagine a traveler on his way to Jerusalem beginning to work out the internal heart workings of worship and starting to address the humility needed in order to enter the temple properly and with respect. It is hard to genuflect if your heart is not in the right place. We are all great at lip service, most of us not always so great at having a heart to match the lip service. 

"My heart is not lifted up nor are my eyes raised to high." This is the pilgrim examining his heart and making sure he is not to proud of himself, nor that he feels he can look high and see and speak for God. He is preparing to hear God and praying the Psalm like it is a Psalm of examine. Stop and close your eyes for a minute and enter into the Psalmist shoes. You are dusty, dirty, tired and hungry. You likely have walked for days, or are preparing to walk for days. You are blistered, sore, yet fulfilled and energized by the thousands of pilgrims you are on the road with going where you are going. There are no strangers on this path, only fellow friends and pilgrims. 

"I do not occupy myself with things to great and marvelous for me." I cannot but think of the pilgrim clearing his mind and focusing only on that which is before him - a long road and the big unknown. The future is to great and marvelous, the past is already done. How often do we bind ourselves up with thoughts of the past holding us back, and the thought of an unknown future keeping us in fear? The Psalmist knows the long road can lead to much introspection, as it rightfully should. But he is clearing his mind of those things that so easily bind. He is calming his soul. 

"Like a weaned child is my soul within me" I love this thought. The pilgrim here, in my interpretation, is saying he needs his mom (God), but he does not need him for his every last sustenance. He needs his love and protection, but he is able to get along without the easy source of sustenance of a mothers breast. He is growing and beginning to understand the world around him, but he still needs the protection of his mother (God). When we first become toddlers and are able to be separate from mom, mom still is never far away to pick us up when we fall, and to teach us the boundaries that are there for a reason.

All this is to say - Hope is in God. He wraps up his meditation reminding himself to hope in God. The term Israel is defined as one who wrestles with God. It was the name given to Jacob when he wrestled with the angel for his blessing. O he who wrestles with God, hope in the LORD from here and forevermore. 

As we continue on as pilgrims in God's kingdom we must not be afraid to wrestle - but wrestle with the understanding that the God we serve is our final hope, and our hope is not misplaced in Him. We must be willing to do so humbly, and with an open mind to be taught and corrected. Correction does not always need to be forceful, but it might be. Will we open ourselves to the correction God gives and humbly accept? Will we wrestle with it and allow God to use the wrestling to teach us? Or, will we run as far as we can from it? 

The Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride is notable for saying "Life is pain" and he is not wrong. But can we allow the pain to transform us? We are all pilgrims on the road of life everlasting. What marks a spiritual person is their ability to incorporate pain and to learn from it. 

May you have peace and humility as you wrestle with God. May you have hope, may you have friends to walk the journey with, and may your soul find deep and meaningful rest in it all. 

~Selah