"Like a Weaned Child" by Randi Nelson

Devotional originally posted November 23, 2016.

Whether it is the depths of despair, pain of betrayal or the ecstasy of joy and wonder, the book of Psalms is candidly honest about the turmoil of human life. Yet it also declares that God, in his creative majesty and supreme righteousness, is ever present; his “lovingkindness endures forever”. His love overcomes, overarches, intercepts and permeates every human activity. God is not put off by our difficulties. He is ever-present to help and to comfort.

Delicately poised, after 130 expressions of life’s big emotions and just before a grand finale of 5 joyous praise-filled declarations, is Psalm 131 – three little verses so easily skimmed over that they hardly make an impression yet, if given attention, become stunning and timely.

Psalm 131 (NAS)
O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me.
Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.

Swirling motion marching towards a final great Hallelujah suddenly stops. There’s revelation; a summation of our relationship with God in the picture of a child, a “weaned” child, calmly resting against its mother.

Take a few moments to think about each of these questions:

  • What are the qualities of a “weaned” child?
  • Regarding a weaned child, what does neither having a proud heart nor haughty eyes mean to you? Apply it to your eyes and heart.
  • What does it mean to not involve yourself in “great matters” or “things too difficult”? Is there a personal application?
  • Who is doing the composing and quieting?
  • What are the conditions that make this sort of composure and quietness of soul possible?

I offer three words in answer to the last question.

Humility (verse 1):  I can get pretty worked up about my understanding of right and wrong in the world. But Jesus said that if we learn from him who is “gentle and humble” we will find “rest for [our] souls” (Matthew 11:29). He also asks, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:27). To find rest I absolutely must acknowledge that I am just a weaned child, old enough to walk but not old enough, strong enough or wise enough to know how to get there without help.

Choice (verse 2):  Whether the child rests or squirms in its mother’s arms is up to the child. Mom can’t force the child to stillness. Isaiah 30:15 says, “In repentance and rest is your salvation; in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” Israel chose not to sit still and lost her blessing of peace. To compose and calm my soul is to forsake all agendas, even my prayer agendas, and to soak in God’s enfolding presence.

Trust (verse 3):  The child knows that in the crowd of big people, mother is safe. So also, we can trust that, “though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly” (Psalm 138:6). Some of us have experienced unsafe parents, but God is the ultimate strong, safe, gentle parent who loves and gives generously. He says, “Let the little children come to me … for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these (Mark 10:14).”

The weaned child has learned to wait for its food, to trust that it will be provided at the right time. The weaned child is not frantic about things that are overwhelming. The weaned child is autonomous yet dependent. The weaned child can rest and be comforted.

This week as we are positioned between an incredibly emotional and tumultuous election season and the build up to exuberant holiday celebrations, I encourage you to stop! Stop to absorb God’s tender grace and presence; stop to rest your head quietly upon God’s great shoulders; to climb into the lap of the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Let him kiss and caress you. Let him sing songs over you.

O _________ [insert your name], hope in the Lord! For with [him] is steadfast love and plentiful redemption for you! (Psalm 130:7).

The Antidote to Worry

My bookcase project is done! I’m sure my friends are happy my frequent expressions of anxiety and panic are over, but the experience taught me to enjoy another facet of God’s love.

I jokingly call myself a recovering perfectionist. Occasional over thinking and self-doubt can sometimes make it hard to get things done. I hugely dislike this tendency and have worked for years to adopt a more positive and productive pattern.

Despite the daunting task ahead, I had a vision of the finished product and stubbornly took on the challenge. I hired a cabinet company to build and install a custom-made 6x7’ bookcase in my living room, and was immediately deluged with a long list of design decisions. Deadlines loomed and my stomach ached. It became harder to make the next group of decisions as I started to second guess my previous decisions.

I found that the specific part of perfectionism I battled was worry. I sometimes felt like I was heaving aside an incredibly heavy manhole cover in order to climb out of my unconsciously self-imposed limitations. God mercifully reminded me worry is a heavy burden I was not meant to carry. I discovered the antidote was to trust in God completely, regardless of any nagging doubts or unexpected setbacks.

Through God’s still small voice I heard Him say “I am going to bless you!”. I pressed into believing this promise and let go of the heavy weight of trying to do it by myself. Also, I chose repeatedly to stop feeling anxious and instead trusted God by waiting in faith for His provision.

God lovingly reminded me I am never alone in whatever I face when I bring it to him in prayer. The initial burning discomfort in my spirit of resisting worry and choosing to trust God in faith, faded as I continued to trust and thank God. It reminded me of the process of exercising and building up weak muscles. I read Psalms when I felt anxious and was tempted to panic. This helped me to avoid inferring with God’s blessings.

The finished bookcase is beautiful and I’m very much enjoying filling it up with books and decorative doo-dads. I recently heard God say “I want you to enjoy your life!”. This strongly motivated me to continue to push aside worry in the future and enjoy the assurance that God is with me always!

I’m not saying I have worry completely under control now. I have more home projects ahead, and I will face a similar tension again, but I have more tools now. I am encouraged by this victory and continue to trust God and His in-progress plan for my life.

Philippians 4:6,7 The Message
Do not fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know our concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

 

"Jesus Asleep in the Boat" by John Rice

During last Sunday’s New Year’s service I took some time to sit in front of Rembrandt’s painting, “Christ Asleep in the Boat”. Though I had looked at this painting many times prior to that evening, it was different this time.  I think what made it different was the amount of time and focus I gave to the viewing, accompanied by the prayer that God would connect with me somehow during this time, that He would show me something or speak to me about something as I observed the painting.

What I noticed first was that though the whole ship was being tossed around by the crashing waves and wind, the left half of the ship was most stirred up in the turbulence. On the left side men were struggling hard, pulling ropes, trying to right the sails. This part of the ship was lit up, clearly visible to the observer. The right side of the ship was lower in the water and in the dark. Jesus was sleeping in this part of the boat and the only action here was that of men trying to wake Jesus up to help them.

This light and dark contrast seems to me to be symbolic of the way our lives often work. When troubles or stressful things arise, it is natural for us to focus on them and struggle with them. Our problems are what are clearly visible and tumultuous. These things can easily become the only things we see and we focus all our attention there, trying to overcome the problems we face by our own efforts.

But at the very same time, on the very same boat, Jesus is there, in all His wisdom and power, unrattled. There is nothing too big or troublesome that He can’t take care of. The issue is where we will look for our help and our salvation. Where will be put our focus and our trust: on our problems and our own abilities to solve them…  or on the abilities of God?

We know the ending of this story of the wind and the waves from Scripture. Jesus wakes up and calms the winds and the waves and all is well, all the disciples are saved. What would our lives be like if we were quick to recognize that Jesus is with us when we experience troubles, and with that knowledge if we were to look to Him for help, healing, wisdom, provision, direction or whatever it is that we need? Would the actual troubles seem to diminish in comparison? I know troubles don’t usually magically and instantaneously go away when we pray, but rather sometimes take a long time to be dealt with. But I also know that when Jesus promises us a peace beyond all understanding when we pray to Him, we can count on Him to do something profound in us. It is both mysterious and wonderful. He has promised to walk with us through all of life, good and bad. He will give us what we need. It is not hard for Him.

Lord, help us be quick to see how close you are when the wind and waves are crashing against our boats!

Mk 4:35-41
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Mt 7:7-12
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

Mt 6:5-13
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’

"Like a Weaned Child" by Randi Nelson

Whether it is the depths of despair, pain of betrayal or the ecstasy of joy and wonder, the book of Psalms is candidly honest about the turmoil of human life. Yet it also declares that God, in his creative majesty and supreme righteousness, is ever present; his “lovingkindness endures forever”. His love overcomes, overarches, intercepts and permeates every human activity. God is not put off by our difficulties. He is ever-present to help and to comfort.

Delicately poised, after 130 expressions of life’s big emotions and just before a grand finale of 5 joyous praise-filled declarations, is Psalm 131 – three little verses so easily skimmed over that they hardly make an impression yet, if given attention, become stunning and timely.

Psalm 131 (NAS)

O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; nor do I involve myself in great matters, or
in things too difficult for me.

Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me.

O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.

Swirling motion marching towards a final great Hallelujah suddenly stops. There’s revelation; a summation of our relationship with God in the picture of a child, a “weaned” child, calmly resting against its mother.

Take a few moments to think about each of these questions:

  • What are the qualities of a “weaned” child?
  • Regarding a weaned child, what does neither having a proud heart nor haughty eyes mean to you? Apply it to your eyes and heart.
  • What does it mean to not involve yourself in “great matters” or “things too difficult”? Is there a personal application?
  • Who is doing the composing and quieting?
  • What are the conditions that make this sort of composure and quietness of soul possible?

I offer three words in answer to the last question.

Humility (verse 1):  I can get pretty worked up about my understanding of right and wrong in the world. But Jesus said that if we learn from him who is “gentle and humble” we will find “rest for [our] souls” (Matthew 11:29). He also asks, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:27). To find rest I absolutely must acknowledge that I am just a weaned child, old enough to walk but not old enough, strong enough or wise enough to know how to get there without help.

Choice (verse 2):  Whether the child rests or squirms in its mother’s arms is up to the child. Mom can’t force the child to stillness. Isaiah 30:15 says, “In repentance and rest is your salvation; in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” Israel chose not to sit still and lost her blessing of peace. To compose and calm my soul is to forsake all agendas, even my prayer agendas, and to soak in God’s enfolding presence.

Trust (verse 3):  The child knows that in the crowd of big people, mother is safe. So also, we can trust that, “though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly” (Psalm 138:6). Some of us have experienced unsafe parents, but God is the ultimate strong, safe, gentle parent who loves and gives generously. He says, “Let the little children come to me … for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these (Mark 10:14).”

The weaned child has learned to wait for its food, to trust that it will be provided at the right time. The weaned child is not frantic about things that are overwhelming. The weaned child is autonomous yet dependent. The weaned child can rest and be comforted.

This week as we are positioned between an incredibly emotional and tumultuous election season and the build up to exuberant holiday celebrations, I encourage you to stop! Stop to absorb God’s tender grace and presence; stop to rest your head quietly upon God’s great shoulders; to climb into the lap of the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Let him kiss and caress you. Let him sing songs over you.

O _________ [insert your name], hope in the Lord! For with [him] is steadfast love and plentiful redemption for you! (Psalm 130:7).