Psalm 131

Our scripture again is taken from the 131 number of songs, that's one 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. But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a Wayne child with its mother, like a Wayne child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord, from this time forth and forevermore, they got richly blessed both the reading and the hearing of his holy word. Now before we look specifically at the three verses that are before us, there are a few preliminary things that I think would be helpful in preparing the way for this particular Psalm. The first thing is this, that this is one of the Psalms of Ascent, beginning in the 120th Psalm all the way through the 134th, is a series of Psalms that were, you'll notice that the heading on all of them are songs of Ascent, which means that these were songs that were sung as the people journeyed to Jerusalem for the various feast days and the holy days. So this group of Psalms or songs were sung usually probably as a congregation as they journeyed to the house of the Lord on the designated feast days. Now there is something to be said about that because as such, with these songs, even though there, I don't know necessarily the arrangement in which they were sung, but some of them hang together in a very neat sort of way. But it is a reminder that when we come to the house of God, that sometimes, and I don't think that we need to make a law out of it, but it is good to set apart that time and that space in our mind even before we get there, oftentimes, one brother put it this way, and I thought it was very aptly stated, he says, oftentimes we come to church on our way somewhere else. And so it almost becomes as an afterthought. Oh, yeah, it's Sunday. It's one of two extremes that we kind of fall into that either it's an afterthought, like, oh, yeah, it's Sunday, or it's mechanical. So one way or the other is like, oh, yeah, Sunday kind of slips up on us. The Lord's Day kind of sneaks up on us. Oh, yeah, I forgot, even though we consciously remember, but it's almost as if we have forgotten. We haven't given much thought to it. We haven't cleared any space in our mind for that, which we are about to experience. Or on the other hand, it's Sunday again, and, you know, oh, yeah, tomorrow is Sunday, and we start mechanically getting ourselves ready. Now, I know some of us, and I've spoken to some as a matter of fact, that have talked about how growing up that you had to get all of your stuff ready on Saturday and preparation for Sunday and whatever the motive behind that, whatever the reasoning behind that, if we went through the ironing of our clothes on Saturday for Sunday, maybe that would kind of put our minds in the direction of the Lord's Day, I don't know, but one of the things that I think is helpful with the songs of a cent is a reminder, a conscious reminder of what we're headed towards, that this is the Lord's Day. He's given us one day, and I always think in terms of, like, you know, sporting events right now, we have March Madness that has started with the NCAA Tournament that will be starting this week, and the advertisers started weeks ago preparing us for this event. You know what happens, so it's the middle of January every year, they start preparing us for Super Bowl Sunday, you know, that big game, and it's as if everything else prepares us for that singular event, except for God's people when it comes to the time of worship. It sneaks up on us, or we, like I said, mechanically, kind of go through the motion, so I love the songs of a cent, because these were songs that were sung by the people of God before they got into worship. Years ago, a friend of mine who was passuring a church down in the South Bay in Los Angeles area, they rented out their sanctuary to another congregation. It was, I think it was a Chinese congregation, and so they would use the sanctuary in the morning, and then later in the morning they would have their services, but he said he came one Sunday, and he noticed their service, I think, started at seven, or at eight, and the people would start coming in between seven and seven-fifteen, and they would gather, and afterwards they would have fellowship, or before they would start, they would usually gather in the sanctuary, and then different parts of the sanctuary just sit, you know, just sit and meditate, and being, and prepare themselves for this time of worship, and so he said he came in one Sunday, and he was just kind of looking, and it just struck him, and so he would start coming sometimes on Sunday just for that period of meditation, because sometimes we get too busy that we're too professional or too distracted to really yield the totality of our beings for the worship of our God who encounters us through the means of worship, and so the Psalms of Ascent are, it's as they journey through the different parts of the region, and they were headed into Jerusalem, the men, and some of the, the feast days were only for the men, and they would gather, and as they would gather at various points in the journey, they would start singing these songs. Now that being the case, as they would prepare their minds for the worship of the great God, that they were encountering in the Tabernacle, and later in the temple, it is a reminder that these Psalms can be summed up probably in two words, anticipation and meditation, that when they would, they, in these Psalms of Ascent, and we'll look at a couple of others in a moment, but in these Psalms of Ascent, they would meditate on all that they knew about God from their previous experiences, because they weren't meeting him for the first time. This is the God that they worship on a daily basis, but what they would do is they would, these Psalms are ways of meditating on God's great attributes, meditating on the joy of being in the fellowship and the company of the redeemed. Certainly, that's what we see in Psalms 133, which was a part of our responsive reading, oh, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. And so they were able to meditate on the very dynamics of worship, but then not only did they meditate, but they also anticipated. They anticipated what was before them. Even though they worshipped in their various places, and they had their leaders that would lead them in worship outside of the feast days and the holy days where they gathered together in Jerusalem, this is an anticipation. There was this joyful anticipation of what would take place when they went into the city of God and into the sanctuary, and they offered their sacrifices, and they offered their worship, and they offered their praise. They weren't just making up time. I got to do something, but it was a time of preparation and that preparation consisted of meditation on the goodness of God and the necessity of the fellowship of God's people, and it was also anticipation, anticipating once again God's announcement of blessing, the announcement, and through all of the rituals that had been appointed through the mosaic law, all of the things that reminded them of the dynamics of God's great grace for his people. And so therefore these people, they would sing these great songs, lifting their voices together, and you can almost imagine them as they're traveling this group, as they're traveling in the as they would get to various regions, others would join them in the pilgrimage, and you can just imagine them traveling and singing Zion songs. And here's the thing they hadn't even gotten to the worship service yet. There is something to be said about meditating on God. There is something to be said about anticipating, and sometimes it's because our focus can be off, our anticipation of gathering in the house of God with the people of God, it's not always a pleasant thing. I'm speaking from experience. There are times when you get up because the focus is off. All you're thinking about are difficulties that you're going to face. And so rather than anticipating being in the presence of God, it's like, oh no, I hope so. And so we're going to have to deal. Oh no, not this again. And just let me put on the right face. But these people, surely there were some issues that were probably prevalent among these people as they went to worship God, but their focal point was not on the problematic personalities that they would have to deal with. Their focus was on the great God who loved them and called them as his own. So therefore they contemplated God's goodness towards them and anticipated. They meditated on the goodness of God and they anticipated the joy of being in His presence. But here's something else that we see in a preliminary note on a preliminary note. And that is the connection between Psalms 130 through 132. This trilogy of ascent Psalms seemed to kind of follow a particular pattern. In Psalms 130, the primary point that's being addressed there is meditating on the dynamics of being forgiven. We see this especially in verse 3. He says, if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. And so this theme of forgiveness carries over into our text, which is Psalms 131. And I would argue this, that the essence of Psalms 131 are the effects of being forgiven. But then we see in Psalms 132, it is really a call to the God on the part of David where it says, remember, O Lord, he then now prays in the name of God's or in the spirit of God's covenant promises to David. Remember, O Lord, in David's favor all of the hardships he endured. And then it goes on to say how he swore to the Lord and vowed to the mighty one of Jacob. I will not enter my house or get into my bed. I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyeless until I find a place for the Lord dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob. David's desire to build a house for the Lord, anticipating that this is where we're going is the place that David was so struck by this place where we could meet together and represent and reflect and rejoice in the majesty of God and the greatness of God. So they are very conscious of where they're going. They're conscious of the physical place that they are going as well as the spiritual substance behind it. So there is sort of a theme that runs through this particular section of the Psalms of Ascent as the travelers would get closer to the Holy City and some have even argued that as we get towards Psalms 134, this means that they are coming close to the end of the journey and the city is already in sight and they could see the structure from afar and they are ready to go in and receive God's blessings. What I want to do tonight is just look at Psalms 131 and as we indicated, I think what we see here are the effects of being forgiven. There's three levels now in preparation for that. I would argue that the theme as in Psalms 130 is being conscious of God's forgiveness and if one is made conscious of one's forgiveness, then two things have been driven home to these travelers or to the composer here. On the one hand, God's law, what they are anticipating, what they are meditating, I should say, what they are meditating on is the law of God and by God's law, what I mean very specifically are the requirements of God's law. Now there's a reason we will show the reason in moment why that must be the case, but not only are they conscious of God's law because if they talk about if you would mark in Psalms 130, when he says if you would mark our iniquities, oh Lord, how could we stand? In other words, they are conscious of their sins and the thing that makes us conscious of our sins is an elaboration of God's law. Now that's going to carry over into Psalms 131. So the reason they are conscious of forgiveness is because they are aware of God's law and so their journey to the Holy Sanctuary includes a meditation on God's law. But it also means that they are conscious of God's words of grace, his gospel. The reason we can say that is if the law convicts us and the only reason we are aware of our iniquities is because the law of God has been clearly and properly laid bare before us. But if we are made aware of our guilt because of God's law, then what is it that makes us aware of the fact that God forgives iniquities? It's his gospel. It is his promise of grace. It is the promise of grace that is seen in the house of God through the animal sacrifices and through his Word of promise. So the thing that seems to drive Psalms 130 is that the writer is crying out. He says, I cry out to the depths or out of the depths. I cry to you, O Lord, O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my plea for mercy. Why is he pleading for mercy? Because in their journey, they have meditated upon the law of God. And anyone who meditates on the law of God rightly, what you don't see is your resume. What you don't see is a checklist of those things that you have done. I'm always amazed at Christians who are so quick to say what they are not. And we should always be careful on that. I say, oh, I don't like. We should be careful on that. We try not to. But the more we are convinced that we speak the truth whenever we speak, then we look at the depths of God's law and see what truth telling does include. And then we become guilty, very much like the apostle Paul, where he says, I would not have considered myself covetous if it were not for the law of God. And so therefore a clear meditation on the law of God, not only it does two things. Meditation on God's law tells us what we ought to be. And then it reminds us of what we are not. And then the meditation on God's gospel begins with where we are not. And then it embraces what God has said about us or what God has given. The only one that Christ for mercy is the one who recognizes his own guilt. Now that being the case, I would argue what we see in Psalms 131 is a meditation that reflects the effects of the grace of forgiveness or the effects of God saving grace. So the first effect that we see is in verse one. And that is the humbling effect of God's grace. Notice again, the words of David here, oh Lord, my heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high. And I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. Go back to that opening statement. My heart is not lifted up. Now one could read this and think that David is boasting about the fact that he's not proud. But I think what another way to see this is that David in contemplating God's law recognizes that he doesn't have anything to be puffed up about. Because God's law lays us bare. And so therefore, he speaks out of the knowledge of God being forgiven. And here's what God's law reveals to us that if we begin at the bottom and work our way up, here's what God's law has, here's the way in which God's law has humbled him, that he has been occupied with the wrong things. We'll see some of the effects of God's grace in dealing with that. But he recognizes, notice what he says, I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me because perhaps that was his issue. But he saw himself rightly through the law of God. And when we see ourselves through the law of God, we are laid bare. I was in Chicago a few months ago and we were talking about God's law and sharing just sort of been a workshop setting about how do we know when the law of God has been properly preached. And I said, we know that the law is properly preached when every listener is slain. I don't mean slain in the spirit where you flop. And I mean broken. When everyone who thinks that they are good, recognize that they are not. And so David recognizes that in himself, that perhaps he was thinking a little, you know, maybe just in a very innocent sort of way, he viewed himself in a particular way. But now as he meditates on God's law and God and then God rescues him by his grace, David is quick to say, Lord, I listen, my eyes are not raised too high. It's not that they weren't, but they aren't now. And certainly we do see in David's confession here. Isn't that wasn't that his issue with Bathsheba? His eyes were raised too high. And so David acknowledging his own guilt. And he says, now I come to you because the effect, the humbling effect of God's grace is that it lowers us. It brings us down. And man has a tendency to step beyond himself. In fact, where he says in verse one, that I do not occupy myself with things that are too great, I run right away to even the garden. Wasn't that her issue? That she, isn't that what Satan offered or the serpent offered to them? That God says the reason God doesn't want you to eat is because he knows that the moment you eat, you become like God and all of a sudden that was appealing because they have a God complex. So there, one of the humbling effects of God's grace is that it enables us to see ourselves as we truly are. It lowers us so that we see ourselves for what we are in our wretched condition, our neediness, our dependence upon God. Lord, my heart is not lifted up. And I think one of the reasons that some people do not apply to God for the mercies and the graces that was strengthen us is because we don't think we need it. That was God's charge against the Church of Lay of Decia. He says, you don't come to me. You yourself sufficient. You think you have everything. You don't see yourself right. But then he says, if you come to me and buy salvation so that your eyes could be clear, then here's what you'll see. You'll see that you are naked and that you are needy and that you are poor. Brothers and sisters, here's one of the effects of saving grace is that it allows us. It humbles us to see ourselves as needy. I like what James says, if any man lacks wisdom, then let him ask of God. But what is it that will cause a man to say, give me more wisdom? It is the realization that I might be smart. You might think you're smart. You might think you have wisdom. But as we go back and trace our steps and our actions, sometimes we see that we don't always act in wisdom. God's grace humbles us to show us that we need what he supplies. The humbling effect of God's grace properly lowers our sense of self and it is not until we have become empty that we are able to fully appreciate what God gives us in his grace. On the Baptist says that I must decrease that he would increase and in any area of our lives where there's too much of us and not enough of God's grace, too much of us and not enough evidence of the work of the Spirit. It's to that degree that we need to be humbled and the only thing that can humble, a proud person, the only thing that can humble, an image bearer of God who's out of control is the true knowledge of God's law and then the gift of his grace. The Apostle Paul asked the Corinthians, what is it that you have that you have not received? And therefore one of the effects of God's forgiving grace is the humbling effect. Humbles us in order that we might see what we draw from Christ rather than seeing ourselves as equals with him. One of the things that was kind of disappointing over the years is when this breed of Christianity came out, this trend among Christians that Jesus is my co-pilot. You know, a co-pilot. Imagine that. Jesus is my co-pilot, which means I've got it under control but if I mess up, he's right there. David has seen himself in God's law and he recognizes that what he doesn't need, he doesn't need a co-pilot, he needs a pilot and he needs to be a passenger. And so therefore he says, Lord, I have not, my heart is not lifted up and my eyes are not raised too high and my desire is not set on things that are too marvelous for me because he is showing the effect, the humbling effects of God's grace. It is the self-sufficient one that is the self-deceived one. But here's a second effect that we see of God's grace in verse two and that is the detoxing effect of God's grace, having acknowledged himself as being humbled before the presence of God's laws. He meditates on the wonders of the depths of what God's law requires and the gifts of God's grace and partnering our sins. David then says, but I have calmed and I quieted my soul. And again, if this is being sung by those who are journeying into the holy city, what exactly has he had to calm his soul up? I think the distractions that go on from being somehow deceived about ourselves and sometimes caught up in the wrong things and sometimes too happy about the wrong things, he says, I have to calm myself. Not whether it's not just a matter of anxieties. I think one of the things that disturbs the souls of the saints is that we are too complacent in what we are. Oftentimes we call our sins just character traits. Well, I've always been short-tempered, but it's still sin. You know, I've always been blunt, but it's still careless. And so God's grace allows us to see ourselves in a particular light so that we are humbled, but then God's grace also has a detoxing effect. It is only those who are the recipients of his grace and not the other way around, that we are able to calm ourselves. Those who are able to calm themselves from those storms that rage within us are not those who have done anything, but those who are recipients of what we saw in Psalms 130. Lord, if you should mark iniquities, then who would be able to stand, but with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared, and when God is feared, then we are able to see ourselves right. And when we see ourselves rightly, then we recognize that sometimes we have fredded over the wrong things, and here's what God's grace does. He says, like a child, like a wing child from its mother. In other words, maybe my affections have been going in the wrong direction. Maybe my confidence is based on the wrong thing. And what you've done by your grace is you've redirected my affections. You calm all of my anxieties. And so therefore, he says, like a wing child is my soul within me again, we are able to see the effects of meditating on the goodness of God, contemplating the grace of God as it is set before them in the temple. Because what is it that calms all of our fears, and what is it that makes us like a wing child no longer needing the approval of the world, no longer needing anything else to sustain us, because something about God's love has made us satisfied. If any of you, I know some people will laugh like I did when I saw the movie coming out, Mr. Rogers, be my neighbor, but we watched that documentary and it is a wonderful portrayal of what grace looks like in human form. And at the end towards the end of the film, it shows Mr. Rogers at Fred Rogers who, by the way, was an ordained Presbyterian minister, but it shows him at a commencement, giving a commencement address. And in that commencement address, he speaks, he says, and he speaks in essence the way God speaks to us and like a parent would to his child. And he says in the voice of the parent or in the voice of God that I have, he says that I have talked to you into speaking. And I have, I have sung you into singing, and I have loved you into loving. And as we think about that, that's what God does. Here's what calms us because we act just like, you know, the bad kid who's really got some his misbehaving to divert you from something else, a deficiency in himself. What God does is he speaks to our deficiency so that we don't have to be puffed up by the things that used to give us our sense of purpose. And what what David says, Lord, you detox me from that. I don't need to count my trophies anymore because you are my trophy. You see, and therefore, like a child that's been winged from his mother's breast, I've been winged from those things. And my soul is content within me. Look at how many times in David's Psalms, even as we read tonight from Psalm 63, look at how often he speaks of his soul being satisfied. Sometimes as we head towards the house of God, that should be our point of motivation. That should be our point of meditation. I really am satisfied. The proverb says that to the hungry soul, every bitter thing seems sweet. But to the satisfied soul, even the honeycomb is bitter. What David says here, Lord, is you have detox me from those things. Your grace has detoxed me from those things so that I am no longer standing in human pride. I come to you as one who is full of God. And you are all that I need. You are my soul's satisfaction. You are my my my rock. You are my high tower. You are my shepherd. You are the greasy food that fills me up. You are joy to the soul. Your word is sweeter than a honeycomb. Look at what he says here. Look at the point of contrast. I've weaned myself. When you wean a child what you're doing is you are preparing them, training them to get away from mother's breast and be able to drink from a bottle and then eventually a cup so that they don't need baby milk. This is what writer of Hebrews is urging his readers and in fact that's one of the things that he kind of rebukes them for. He says that you know you he's talking about Melchizedek and the parallels between the priesthood of Melchizedek and that of Christ which he's only mentioned by the way in two places in the Old Testament and that is in Genesis where we're introduced to him through Abraham and then we see him mentioned again in Psalms 110. But he's saying in essence that the people of God should be so acquainted with the word of God that they don't have to scratch their head about Melchizedek. He says there's so much more I want to say about Melchizedek but you can't handle it because in essence you are still drinking milk. You haven't been weaned from milk. David says I've been weaned. I've been weaned from pride can you imagine the experiences in David's life that have weaned him from being dependent upon himself and sometimes that happens. I see this in sports a lot of time with a picture you get a in baseball you get a young picture as a great arm and he depends on the strength of his arm to get batters out because he knows that when push comes to shove all he has to do is throw it hard as he can and he'll throw it by people but then one of two things happens a he gets older and as Nolan Ryan said when he got older they asked him says well Nolan why don't you throw as hard as you used to he says I throw just his heart the ball just doesn't get there as fast so either the arm slows down and you lose velocity or on the other hand there become there come injuries injuries to the elbow and the arm and you're not able to do what you used to do in either case the pitcher who grows whose arm is growing tired or the pitcher who wants to survive and he and he's had injuries what he learns how to do is not just throw but pitch and he weaned himself from depending solely on the strength of his youth and isn't that what we see with David in his kingship he has to be wean he came in with all of the accolades and all of the high expectations remember when he killed Goliath man that was it they were singing songs about him maybe David needed to be weaned off the noise of the crowd singing his praises and so therefore the Lord put an antagonist in his way in the person of Saul when David became king and he had a season of peace again he got a little puff a little puffed up a little puffed up and the Lord had to wean him from his pride so that when kings go out to war he needed to be about out at war and sometimes God has a way in his saving grace to detox us from the poisonous pride that keeps us from reflecting fully the goodness and the graciousness of God and so we see on the one hand the effects of God saving grace we see the humbling effects that it breaks us down as the law lays us bare and shows us that as long as we've been on the road we are still but sinners saved by grace but God's grace is a detoxing grace because the more we come to know of its grace the less we are dependent on the applause and the accolades of people the less we are dependent on the approval of others and the less we are trying to prove ourselves to people that won't understand David says I I have calmed and quieted my soul and maybe it's because as what grace shows us is that everything that we need is in him and all that we have is nothing apart from him and so we find ourselves calm down the more we understand God's grace we just don't get worked up the way we used to over the least little things but here's the third and final thing that we see the third and final effect of God's grace or his forgiving grace to his people and that is the communal effect of God's grace we see the humbling effect in verse one the detoxing effect of God's grace in verse two and in verse three the communal effect David is not just built up for himself he says now he after looking at himself he then turns to Israel he turns to his fellow saints and he says oh Israel hope in the Lord from this time forever more brothers and sisters it is we do have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters in the faith in Hebrews chapter 10 when the writer says that do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as is the custom of some here's what he does recommend but pay close attention to one another and nurture one another all of the exhortations and pause writings about the one another's love one another serve one another be committed to one another and here's what he says in Galatians those if anyone has been overtaken in a sin then you who are strong attach yourself to that one attend to him so that he could be restored David has been detoxed of pride David has been humbled by God's grace and now he turns to his fellow worshipers and he it's it's not like he has to go into all of the details of his life what he partners with them it says oh Israel I know what I'm talking about hope in the Lord let your hope be in the Lord let your hope not be in the military let your hope not be in our in in our budget let your hope be in the Lord both now and forevermore God's grace connects us to the community I think it was Augustine that put it this way that no one can claim God as his father that does not recognize the church as his mother and as we are the children of God the father and of Christ who is our head then we are connected to one another and brothers and sisters being connected to one another means loving one another warning one another exhorting one another encouraging one another edifying one another putting up with one another praying for one another sharing with one another so David turns from to his brothers and sisters I think it was I was Luther that says God doesn't need our good works but our neighbors do and our most immediate neighbors are the people that we worship in the fuse with and so therefore David having been humbled by God's grace and being detoxed from being caught up in self now turns to his neighbors and hears his exhortation hoping God let your hope be in the Lord not just in the future but from now and forevermore wherever God's grace is at work in the lives of his people it is because his law has been firmly established so that everyone is laid bare and no one is left as Paul says in Romans chapter 3 so that every mouth may be stopped so that we have nothing to boast of except for the grace of God once we've been humbled then he detox us he he drains the poison of pride out of us a little at a time and then once we have been detoxed we are fit to offer up to God's people words of encouragement words of exhortation I find it interesting that in Psalms 51 David's great Psalm of repentance he speaks of God's renewing grace and then he says this he says and then I will be able to teach sinners in the way God's grace has a humbling effect a detoxing effect and a communal effect because it drops us into the lives of others let us pray father we do thank you for your word and we thank you for the reminder of the sufficiency of your grace we thank you for the law that we always need because we sometimes forget what we ought to be we thank you for your word of grace that where your law will remind us of what we ought to be and what we are not your grace reminds us that everything you have required in your law you have given in your son father we pray that the effect of us being in Christ would be seen as we interact with one another and even as we anticipate worshipping you in spirit and in truth thank you for the humility that comes from grace thank you for the calmness that comes from grace and thank you for the community that you have made us a part of we ask all of these in these things in Christ name amen