Today's Lesson is from Psalm 131:
"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.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me."
I love this Psalm. It is one of the many "Songs of Ascent" - songs Jews would sing as they made the journey up to Jerusalem for religious festivals. But there is an irony in the song. Even as they are going up to the holy mountain of God, they sing a song whose lyrics tell them not to think they can ascend to too high and lofty a place. It's a song that reminds them that there's a lot they don't know and a lot they have no control over. When these limitations are acknowledged then the song says the soul is calmed and quieted.
Learning to sing this song would put an end to a lot of the fighting I see going on in the media, on Facebook, at work, and in church. There's a lot I don't know about God and human beings and what we should or should not do. I've learned that saying "I don't know" is a remarkably freeing place.
St. Paul said we see through a glass darkly. When you get to the point of confessing that you see through a glass darkly it means you have begun to see yourself and God a little more clearly. We don't know a lot of things. But here's the good news: God knows that we don't know a lot of things. And this is the grace: walking humbly with God, we learn that He really does work all things to the good of those who love Him. In other words, whether our decisions in life are right, wrong, or indifferent, so long as they are made in a right Spirit of humility and love then we can trust that God will bless them.
And that really is calming and quieting news for the soul.
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