Psalm 131 is one of the shorter chapters in the entire Bible, but it's words are potent!
"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. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore." -ESV
I thought about that quite a bit the first time I ever read it. I began contemplating what it would have been like in the days before formula, the years before pacifiers. What was it like when the baby stayed at home 24/7 with mommy in their humble habitations and was then forced to be torn away from mother's breast and weaned in order to take on solid foods?
It must have been a brutal transition for both child and mother, especially without the comforts of modernity. Imagine a small baby receiving his comfort, his nutrition, his calm, and even his ability to rest from his mother's breast. Everything that he knows is found in this identity and now he must grow and must be weaned off of the breast and put onto something of greater substance- something that will cause greater growth and physical nourishment.
Though I am certainly no theologian I have studied the scriptures to a decent extent, but I had never heard a sermon or a theological dissertation on this particular passage of scripture. When I began contemplating what King David could have been referring to I came to a personal conclusion, I then went on to see if any Bible commentaries or theologians agreed with that assessment and they do.
LIKE A WEANED CHILD IS MY SOUL WITHIN ME.
When those infants were taken away from the one thing they found comfort in it became a difficult and trying experience for them and the hardest of their short little lives, but it opened the door to possibilities that they never knew existed. When a baby is weaned from the maternal milk he begins to try new flavors, new textures, etc.. A whole new world opens up to the baby and that one comfort that they couldn't do without quickly becomes a fading memory in the light of their new and much more abundant lifestyle.
When David said that he was like a weaned child he was in essence saying what each sincere Christian must say. I am not claiming to be someone great or haughty. I am no one and nothing before you, God! I am no greater than a small child, than an infant. Yet I want to be someone who is completely and utterly given over to you. Wean me from my sin, wean me from the worldly ways I've known. Though it aches me and tears my heart out from within me- wean me from my flesh and my sin Lord and teach me what it means to live abundantly in You!
This should be the cry of each believer- from day one until the day that we die. We are to calm and quiet the yearning for sin from within our sin filled selves. We are to be weaned from all that we once knew, painfully and sadly weaned.
There will be times when our flesh desires that old milk. We will yearn for it at times and we will look to it with affection and sadness- but to be torn from our past and brought into our future is going to be a costly and difficult task, yet it is necessary for a sincere follower of Christ.
I've watched as woman had to leave the man they've loved for years. I've watched as addicts had to be torn from their 'best friend' in drugs/alcohol/cigarettes. I've seen people give up friendships that meant the world to them. I've seen people give up even seemingly innocent things in order to bring glory to Christ's name.
This is the call of Christ- to leave all that is comfortable, familiar, easy, and all that our hearts desire and to follow Him with reckless abandon.
Like a weaned child our soul should eventually cease to long for the old ways and become content with the much greater things that God has given to us. Are we being weaned daily from the world and beginning to ingest the spiritual meat that our Father has prepared for us?
Like a weaned child has our sin slowly lost its place of comfort and fulfillment in our lives or are we a child in need of a weaning?
