May 11, 2017: Day 131 – Psalm 131

Okay, so I have never breastfed, but I have three daughters who have been weaned.  I’m pretty sure that a weaned child is not calm and quiet, at least they were not with me.  They were so fidgety at that point and they obviously wanted something from me which I could not provide.  I wonder if there is some sarcasm in this psalm especially in vs.2.  I’m going to need some insight if any of you think I’ve misunderstood David at this point.  How can he say that his soul is like a weaned child and then pair that up with peaceful and quiet?

We find a confession of David as he states that he is not able to lift up his head or look people in the eye.  I’m assuming that this is because of his sin.  David seems to have settled for things that are not too great or too marvelous.  He seems to have settled for less than what the Lord really wanted of him.  My take on this Psalm is that the key to it is found in vs.3 where David directs his words to his people and reminds them that they are to direct their thoughts to the Lord.  He basically tells them that they are to think of God and not David.

It reminds me of when he showed up at the gates of the city and pretended to be crazy just so that the king would not send out soldiers to kill him.  It was a great strategy and it worked.  So maybe here he is pretending to be the village idiot by saying that his soul is content and quite and peaceful just like a child who had recently been weaned.  It should direct the gaze of the people away from the King, who obviously is not worthy to be praised, and to the Lord, who is the only one to be praised.  But I’m probably giving him too much credit.