131 A Song of Ascents. Of David.
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;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.
Section Overview
This psalm of confidence in the Lord models the ideal frame of soul before God, a soul that has been “calmed and quieted.”
The first part of this short psalm (vv. 1–2) focuses on “I” and “my,” while the second (v. 3) addresses all Israel.
Section Outline
I. I Have Quieted My Soul (131:1–2)
II. O Israel, Hope in the Lord! (131:3)
Response
The goal of Psalm 131 is to cultivate a humble and trusting disposition among the faithful who sing it, inviting each worshiper to aspire to such humble trust and then to call all his fellow worshipers to the same hope and trust.
The psalm also serves a more specific function within the Songs of Ascents. The biblical festivals revolve around both the agricultural calendar and the liturgical calendar that recounts God’s great deeds of redemptive history for the sake of his people. Sooner or later the faithful will wonder about how events of their own day relate to this story—a question for which humans can usually not provide a satisfactory answer. But the faith and hope described here enable God’s people to play their role, trusting him to work out the details of the story.743
Christians are likewise called to play a meaningful part in the unfolding story of the world, and they too will find themselves baffled if they attempt to pry into the secrets of God’s will and rule. With this psalm they can also come to aspire more and more to humble trust toward the God who has proven himself trustworthy.Psalm 131
Psalm 132