A Calm and Quiet Soul- Part 2

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Psalms 131

Verses 2, 3
“Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord, from this time forth and forever."

We have been learning how to have that perfect peace, that peace that passes our need to understand (Phil. 4: 6-7). Continuing on in this short but powerful Psalm.

The word- calmed—in the KJV= “behaved". In the original it means “to adjust,counterbalance". Quieted means to “to be dumb, to perish, to stop, cease, hold peace, rest, be silent, stand (be) still".

WE need to learn to ADJUST our behavior! We need to yield our souls to God and His workings in our lives as well as the lives of others. Like a "weaned child" who no longer fusses after mother’s milk, no longer stressed out that you’re not going to get what you think you need or want- but calm, reassured, trusting. You have seen those Christians- throwing temper tantrums because they don’t get what they think they deserve—critical of others and wanting all the attention and recognition. They are like unweaned babies- still fussing, kicking and demanding their own way. We must come to a place in our Christian walk where we mature and grow up in a Godly manner. There should come a time in each Christian’s life that they become weaned—calm and quiet and waiting patiently for God to work out His best in their lives. It relieves a lot of stress and anxiety on our part. We become so totally dependent on the Lord and not on having our own way.

This brings us to verse 3--- Psalm 131--
HOPE in the Lord- from now and forever! That word HOPE means “to be patient, wait, stay, tarry, trust”.

Let’s look at another Psalm- 46. The entire Psalm is about being calm and assured in the midst of the storm. In verse 10 we are told to be still- this means to“abate, cease, forsake”. After all the descriptions of the state of the world in this chapter--- God says: BE QUIET! KNOW THAT I AM GOD. I AM IN CHARGE! We sing a song- “Cease Striving and Know I Am God Says He!” We must come to the place where we stop striving, stop stressing, stop being like the nursing baby, stop bawling, stop fussing and worrying that you are not going to get your needs met!

In review- in order to have that calmness and quietness in our souls- going back to verse 1- we need to stop lifting ourselves up above others and God. Stop presuming we know all that God is going to do. We need to stop comparing ourselves with others or being overly concerned with what others are doing, and do what God has called us to do. We need to stop getting all upset about great matters and things too difficult for us to understand. Leave your burdens with the Lord- don’t pick them up again once you have placed them at His feet. We get caught up and entangled with them- drag them around with us all day and can’t accomplish anything for the Lord. Leave the burdens at His feet- let Him handle them. And then- sometimes we need to take hold of ourselves and say—BE QUIET! Sometimes we just need to shake ourselves and tell ourselves to be still and know that God is God! Be like that weaned child who no longer demands his rights and his ways, and trust totally on the Lord. Then we will be like that one in verse 3- where we can hope in the Lord- both now and forever!

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