Charles Spurgeon calls Psalm 131 ‘one of the shortest psalms to read, but one of the longest to learn. It speaks of a young child, but it contains the experience of a man in Christ.’ He says it’s ‘a short ladder yet one that rises to a great height.’
Psalm 131 is a song of David, who was elevated as king of Israel, yet one who knew humility.
This was quite a statement in the ancient world where humility was not counted among the list of virtues. The ancient world admired self-reliance.
Things haven’t changed much; our modern culture also downplays humility. We’re in an age where might makes right, where power and control are most highly regarded. The key virtues of our age as it was then are self-sufficiency, self-importance, self-righteousness and self-indulgence.
But these cannot grow in the air of humility.
Humility shows itself in a quiet confidence before God – just like a weaned child resting against the breast of its mother (v.2).
Anselm in the 11th Century penned this prayer: “I do not seek, O Lord, to penetrate Thy depths. I by no means think my intellect equal to them; but I long to understand in some degree Thy truth, which my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe, that I may understand.” This is the mature expression of a seasoned saint.
Humility shows itself in a quiet confidence in God – “hope in the Lord” (v.3).
A missionary to Africa had this to say about trust: ‘I can show you the graves of missionaries who died what we would call premature deaths. If my trust were in God’s protection, my trust would have crumbled long ago. My trust is in God, in the belief that He is in control and that whatever happens will happen for His glory.’
“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3)