"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.
