The Psalm 131 I know and love: “My heart is not lifted up, O Lord, my eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord now and forevermore.”
The Psalm 131 I usually see:
“Look how hard I try, O Lord, to do awesome things and make everyone think
I’m awesome—for you, of course (wink, wink).
If anything great and marvelous is going to happen, I must be a part of
it. I am a driven workaholic, and proud
of it. So I keep running and I keep
pushing because everything will fall apart if I don't. O God, aren’t you glad I’m around to do your
work for you? Lucky you!”
To truly follow Jesus, I
must lay down my pride, my agenda, my opinion, my need to be right, and my sense
of indispensability. I must let go of my
need to be needed and my desire to be applauded. After all, is trying to be liked by everyone
really kindness at all, or just needy manipulation in a clever disguise—self-love?
Still and quiet my soul, O Lord, and wean me of all that is no you. Forgive me when I get things backwards and begin to think that this life is all about me, rather than all about you. Amen.
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