Like a Weaned Child in Her Mother's Arms

                                                                                            Image by Anil Sharma/Unsplash.com

 Psalm 131 NLT

O' Lord, my heart is not proud nor haughty my eyes.

I have not gone after things too great nor marvels beyond me.

Truly I have set my soul in silence and peace.

A weaned child on its mother's breast, even so, is my soul.

I'm reading, Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland. Jr. and I love how the author captures the inner posture of trust in God as he describes the heart of David in Psalm 131. He surmises the psalmist has no concern for himself and is absent of anxiety because he has humbled himself and is willing to receive whatever provisions God chooses to give to him without angst or worry because of his total trust in Him. 

Furthermore, in the psalm, David compares his soul to a weaned child. Mulholland deduces that a weaned child no longer has any wants or needs because the term "weaned" means the child is no longer "at its mother's breast for its own food intake, or its own agenda- milk" but instead is simply content to rest in its momma's arms to receive whatever attention she chooses to give it." (Mulholland, p.93)

Once more, this metaphor depicts an image of someone who has total and complete trust in a loving and gracious God; a God who has provided perfect gifts for him, time and time again, who knows deep down, that He'll continue to do it just as before. A lifetime of trust.

Like the weaned child in Psalm 131, we can learn to accept God's perfect love and care for our lives without putting demands, conditions, or expectations on Him, as Mulholland so clearly stated in his book.  When we continue to love and serve Him without worry, trusting and submitting to His plans and His timing for things to happen, we will not only have peace but contentment, too.

Like the psalmist, we can completely trust God with our lives without the need to know or control the outcome of things. Instead, we can be confident in His purposes for us, knowing He will give us what we need at the right time. We are grateful for we serve an amazing and powerful God.

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• Mulholland, M R. Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity, 1993. Print.