Psalms 131 -Revisited as a Communion Meditation

 I've talked about this Psalm before in a devotional thought. Here, I've turned it into a communion meditation. Check this out:

Psalms 131

Psa 131:1-3  A Song of Ascents. Of David. 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.  (3)  O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.

 

I’ve seen what happens when kids go from milk to solid food. It’s not an altogether pleasant occasion. There’s fussing, tears, pawing, calling out. And then, there’s quiet, and clinging.

When we try to lift our hearts up to understand, raise our eyes to perceive, we’re trying, many times to grasp at things we can’t comprehend. At least not right now. Once you’ve become an adult, and have kids of your own, you know why they stop taking milk. They’re growing. Even if they’re not aware of the process, it’s occurring, and they are changing. In the three years Jesus spent with His disciples on earth, He was changing them. He was feeding them milk, and getting them ready to be without Him. On the night He was betrayed, He took the Passover meal given by God through Moses to celebrate and remember the transition of the people of God from slavery into freedom. He told them what it really meant. It was something too great and marvelous to comprehend. When He announced to them on that night that someone would betray Him, they couldn’t believe it. When He announced that He had to go away, they didn’t understand. He gave them a deeper meaning to that meal though. It was a type of what was to come, what those disciples were witnessing in the moment. He simply told them to take the bread which is His body, and that the wine in the cup was a new covenant written in His blood. Take it, eat it, and remember. Find your comfort there.

After the weaning’s over the child finds new comfort in the presence of his mother. We do the same thing when we take the Lord’s supper. We find the presence of Christ here together in remembrance of what’s He’s done for us. Let us pray and remember and participate in the presence of Christ together.

A Psalm to Consider

I am suddenly struck by a scripture, and I want to share it.
I'm always in the place this scripture describes, sometimes more than others.

Psalm 131English Standard Version (ESV)

I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

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.

3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
    from this time forth and forevermore.

from: Bible Gateway
Three verses long, it cuts deep.
Some brief considerations:
Something has happened to the Psalmist, a trauma. He compares himself to a weaned child with its mother. I've been around children freshly weaned. Sometimes they don't take to leaving their mother's breast very kindly. There's much grief and tears, but if the child is to grow, they have to leave their mother's milk. From that point forward, the sustainance they get from their mother is different. Deeper than physical provision, they can be still, and know that even though what once was will never be again, there's better things, bigger hope, more comfort coming from the One who loves them.

When God takes the milk away, He's still there, as a mother with a weaned child. Holding us, comforting us, keeping our soul sustained.

Don't understand where your money will come from - calm yourself.
ISIS related terrorism got you worried - calm yourself.
Prexisting condition keeping you from getting healthcare - calm yourself.
God is still doing something even though you're not getting milk anymore.

Let your cares be carried by the Lord!