Dr. Justin Walker | On My Way Up: A Summer Pilgrimage in the Psalms of Ascent | Psalm 131
1 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;
My soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
3 O Isreal, hope in the LORD from this time on and forevermore. - Psalm 131
Climb Down (Intellectual Humility)
All those who are lofty of heart are an abomination to the LORD; be assured, they will not go unpunished. (Prov 16:5)
Before destruction one’s heart is haughty, but humility goes before honor. (Prov 18:12)
Haughty eyes and a proud heart—the lamp of the wicked—are sin. (Prov 21:4)
Verse 1: “I do not occupy myself…”
“Walk around in”
“Get involved with” (CEB; HCSB)
“Aspire to” (JPS)
“Exercise myself in” (KJV)
“Involve myself” (NASB)
“Meddled where I have no business” (Message)
Humility is the willingness to accept the limits of my knowledge, my power, and my responsibility and to relinquish my attempt at carrying what I was never supposed to hold.
2. Calm Down (Quiet Faith)
3. Speak Up (Public Hope)
“The Pulley” - George Herbert
When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
“Let us,” said he, “pour on him all we can.
Let the world’s riches, which dispersèd lie,
Contract into a span.”
So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honour, pleasure.
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.
“For if I should,” said he,
“Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature;
So both should losers be.
“Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast.”