Monday, July 6, 2026
Psalm 131:1-3
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
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 Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time on and forevermore.
In these three short verses, we are given a window into David’s prayer life—and into something many of us long for: a calm and quiet soul.
How many days have you driven home from work with your stress levels at ten out of ten and wished it were not so? How many times have you jolted awake at two in the morning, trying to solve the unsolvable problems of the day? How often have you sat in the proverbial rocking chair of life—rocking constantly, yet getting nowhere?
So what is the secret David shares with us for finding a calm and quiet soul?
To begin with, David has done the hard work of heart-work. In the ancient world, the heart was understood as the seat of will and desire. What we see here is that David has entrusted his heart—his will and his desires—to God. He has released his grip on control and surrendered himself to the Lord.
This is the dynamic at work in verse 2 through the image of the weaned child. When a baby is first born, instinct tells them to cry until they are fed. There is a kind of urgency and franticness to that need until it is met. In that moment, the mother can seem like little more than the source of milk that cannot arrive soon enough.
But the weaned child is different. Because of the mother’s faithfulness, the child has learned that food will come and that they are loved. They do not need to panic, grasp, or worry. Their mother’s faithfulness allows them to seek her not only for food, but also for comfort, safety, and connection.
David has discovered this same dynamic in his relationship with God. As a king and leader, he had every reason to panic like an unweaned child, anxiously waiting for God to act according to his own timetable and desires.
But, he has learned, through God’s faithfulness, that there is more. That God is more than the “milk truck.” God is hope, God is safety, God is home for him and for Israel. And God’s ways are more than what David’s heart, or Israel's heart, could ever hope for.
The beauty, is that this trust isn’t even something that David, or we, have to manufacture. Just like it is the mother’s faithfulness that teaches and weans her child, it is God’s faithfulness that turns our hearts of stone into hearts that are full of trust and faith.
What can you surrender to God today? How has God been faithful in your story?
– Pr. Jason
Gracious God, thank you for teaching us to trust you with our every need. Restore our hearts so that they would be hearts of calm and quiet, ready to be in relationship with you. Amen.
