Useful Bible Studies > Songs of Ascent Commentary

Last part: Psalm 130: Something to do

 

Psalm 131

·        To get the maximum benefit from this study, please open your Bible and read Psalm 131 first.

David, who wrote Psalm 131, loved God with his whole heart (1 Kings 15:3-5). David knew that a person with proud attitudes never pleases God. And David wanted to please God very much. This Psalm, which is also a prayer, shows the attitude that David had. He was a genuinely humble man.

Psalm 131 is a very private prayer. David checks his own attitudes. He must not allow his heart (today, we would say, his ‘mind’) to become proud. He must not imagine himself to be important. He must not think about other people in a proud manner. He must remember that even the poorest and weakest person matters very much to God.

And David must not imagine himself to be cleverer than he really is. Only God knows all mysteries; only God really understands our lives. We study in order to understand the things that God has done. But we know that we can only ever understand a small part of them.

David had taught himself to have humble attitudes. In the original language, the words at the start of Psalm 131:2 are like a serious promise. In other words, David declared strongly that he must be quiet. He must not constantly express his own ideas when God wanted to teach him. He must not constantly think about his own fears when God wanted to comfort him. He must give up any proud attitudes that he may still have. Instead, he must learn to be humble. He must become like a little child so that God would rule his life (Mark 10:14-15).

Next part: A little child’s attitudes

See the word list for explanation of words with a *

 

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© 2015, Keith Simons.