Author Archives: reveds

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About reveds

Occupation: Pastor, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Lennox, SD Education: BS - Christian Education, Sterling College; MDiv. - Princeton Theological Seminary Family: Married, with Four children. Hobbies: Running (will someday run a marathon), Sci-Fi (especially Doctor Who and Sherlock), Theater, and anything else my kids will let me do.

My heart is not lifted up…

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“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 marvelous for me.”
(Psalm 131:1 ESV)

We don’t know the occasion that prompted the writing of the 131st Psalm, but I think we all have been there before.  Just three verses long, this is one of the most heartfelt, humble, and sincere Psalms in Scripture.  It is one of the Songs of Ascent (Psalm 120 – 134) which were used by faithful worshippers ascending Mt. Zion to worship at the Temple.  Ultimately, it is a song of humble trust in the Lord, but it’s how we get there that’s important.

This week has been a tough week for some.  Some have had injuries.  Some have been sick.  Some have had their marriage fall apart around them.  Some have lost loved ones and friends.  Some have had life-changing, hope-shattering news.  Some have been wrestling with an important decision for weeks and months and are still no closer to a conclusion.  Some are dreading tomorrow and the uncertainty it brings.  Some have been wrestling with sin and disobedience in their own lives they just don’t see how God could continue to use them let alone love them.

That’s when this Psalm speaks to us.  “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not too high.”  Commentators suggest that this refers to the humble heart that is not lifted up in pride, and that very well may be the case.  But I hear it speaking also to the humble heart that is too overcome with pain to be lifted up.  It’s almost as if David is saying, “God, the joy of my salvation has been so assaulted by the crisis of this situation that it is impossible for me to raise up my eyes to you, to lift my heart in praise.”  Maybe this was part of David’s prayer when his first child with Bathsheba died; perhaps he prayed this when his own sons rebelled against him.  We don’t know the occasion, but we know the feeling.

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me” (Psalm 131:2).

David, here, teaches us that it is important, when our souls are overwhelmed, to quiet ourselves and trust in the Lord.  When we read this verse, it is easy to overlook that word “weaned,” and simply picture a young child being comforted in the arms of his mother.  A beautiful and comforting picture, indeed; but not what the Psalm is saying.  James Boyce writes:

When David says that his soul is “like a weaned child,” he is not saying that he has always been content with God or even merely that he is content with God now.  He is reflecting on the difficult weaning process in which a child is broken of its dependence on its mother’s milk and is taught to take other foods instead.  Weaning is usually accompanied by resistance and struggle on the child’s part, even by hot tears, angry accusing glances, and fierce temper tantrums, and it is difficult for the mother.  But weaning is necessary if the child is to mature.  David is saying that he has come through the weaning process and has learned to trust God to care for him and provide for him, not on David’s terms but on God’s terms.  (Boyce, James.  Psalms: An Expository Commentary (Vol. 3) (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998).  1150.)

“O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore” (Psalm 131:3).

Whatever the crisis that David faced, when he “calmed and quieted his soul,” he could return to hope in the Lord.  Knowing that “God loved him and would care for him even if it was not exactly the way he anticipated or most wanted, he came to love God for God himself” (Boyce).  Rather than loving the gifts that God has given, rather than merely believing in God, David calls us back to loving God himself, believing God – taking Him at His word.

Whatever you may be facing when you read this, if your heart is downcast, calm and quiet your soul, putting your hope in the Lord, for He is faithful and good.  Only God is worthy of your hope and trust.  Only God will never let you down.  He cares for you, and will provide for you, even in ways you cannot possibly hope for or imagine.  As the companion Psalm 130 says in its conclusion,

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.  (Psalm 130:7-8)

SDG

Saving Daylight

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“And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”
(Revelation 21:23 ESV)

Daylight Savings has ended, and the long dark nights of winter are upon us.  Last week, late afternoons in my office I could still see the bright and joyful light of the sun pouring through my colored glass office windows.  Now, all I see is a grim grey darkness.  Times like these I begin to wish for snow again, if just to brighten up the landscape.

I get the whole idea behind Daylight Savings – in an industrial age the shifting of time allowed for greater productivity.  What I always find amazing is the way we talk about the time change.  We say we lose or gain an hour.  We complain about how dark it gets, and how early it gets dark.  We say the days are shorter, when technically, it’s just the “day-time,” we still have 24 hours in the day.  It’s almost as though each year we forget that this all happened the year before, and the year before that, and so on.

Days like this I am reminded of John’s vision of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21.  There, as the city of God descends out of heaven from God, we find the perfect city, the dwelling place of God with His people.  We are told in verses 21 and 22, “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.  And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”  What a vision.  No temple.  There’s no place you’ll have to go to meet with God, for we will be in His presence, we will see the Lord face to face.  There will be no need for the sun or the moon.  They may still exist, but they will pale in comparison to the radiant glory of God and the Lamb. 

It will be a restoration of creation.  Remember back in Genesis 1, on the first day of creation God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, but it wasn’t until day 4 that God created the sun and the moon and the stars in the heavens.  Before there was a sun, there was the Son, who is the light of the world (John 8:12).  When Christ returns, and God’s Kingdom is fully realized in all its glory and wonder, the light of His glory shall shine on us, and we will never walk in darkness again.

Now that will be a Daylight Saving.

SDG