Finding Contentment – Psalm 131
Have you ever heard the story about John D. Rockefeller, one of the richest men in American history who, when asked how much money he would need to be satisfied, famously replied, “just a little bit more.”
Although we marvel at his answer, isn’t it indicative of our human condition? We seem to have an insatiable appetite for more. We have a scarcity mentality, even when we live in abundance. And, if we don’t want more of something, then we want something different than what we have. If we are honest, discontentment often rules our hearts.
If we are honest, discontentment often rules our hearts.
But David, in Psalm 131, shows us a different way. He gives us a picture of contentment and reveals the path to that satisfied state.
“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 weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.” Psalm 131
The picture is easy to grasp: a weaned child content to be with his mother. I imagine this child in a restful state, gazing at his mother, completely relaxed in her arms, not asking for anything from her but satisfied to simply be in her presence, trusting in her devotion and feeling completely whole and secure in her care.
Although the idea communicated by David here is simple and easy to grasp, the challenge comes because it must be played out in the day to day disciplines and the unexpected moments of our lives. Charles Spurgeon said of this Psalm that, “It is one of the shortest Psalms to read, but one of the longest to learn. It speaks of a young child, but it contains the experience of a man in Christ.”
“It is one of the shortest Psalms to read, but one of the longest to learn. It speaks of a young child, but it contains the experience of a man in Christ.”
David shows us that the secret to this contentment lies in the surrender of personal pride and self-dependent striving. It is a total reliance on God’s sovereign power and will, entrusting our lives to His loving care and believing that our peace is found in relying on His purposes rather than in fighting against His ways in pursuit of our own agenda.
Simply put, we must live as though God is God and we are not.
In rejecting our pride, we must be aware of our lowly state. Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit” remind that the Kingdom of heaven is for those who recognize their dependence on the Almighty God.
We do not get to this place on our own. The Holy Spirit must open our eyes to see the Lord’s beauty and perfection and, by contrast, see our sinful, broken state and our neediness for salvation.
This is not just a realization for the moment of salvation. This fight for humility (the opposite of pride) is ongoing and lived out in the realm of repentance and meekness before God and others.
And, while repentance is key in rejecting our pride, true humility, before God, goes beyond that and reflects a trust in the Lord that results in submission to His ways instead of striving to make our own path.
We also see that David has stopped trying to make sense of the things that are beyond his ability to understand. He is content to trust in the Sovereign Providence of a good God who has been merciful and gracious to him.
We, likewise, are called to trust the Lord in the scope and timing that He has ordained for our endeavors. This confronts our desire and our striving to know more, do more, be more and calls us to simple faithfulness in the ordinary rhythms of a life lived for the Lord’s glory. He calls us to steward well what He has given, working within the confines of our human limitations and trusting in His good plans, not our own.
So in our rejection of pride and striving against God, we embrace humility as we recognize God’s Sovereign Providence and we submit to His ways through daily actions of repentance and dependence on Him. In this, we find our satisfaction in Him.
It is in the Gospel that we find the ultimate reason to reject our pride and striving.
We are humbled by the perfect obedience of our Savior and we clearly see how short we fall as we study his life and his teaching. And, by His death and resurrection, we find the answer to our striving as He has done the work that all of our striving could never achieve.
It is in embracing Christ in the Gospel, that we find our satisfaction. Resting in Him is the place of true contentment.
It is in embracing Christ in the Gospel, that we find our satisfaction. Resting in Him is the place of true contentment.
While we will still struggle with pride and striving in this world and while contentment, at times, can feel inaccessible in this life, we can experience great moments, even seasons, of contentment in the Lord. He longs for us to find our greatest delight and joy in Him and He willingly offers that satisfaction as we spend time in His Word, as we worship Him and as we love and serve others according to His will.
And, even more, He promises us a day when we will see Him face to face and dwell together, with Him, in the restored earth that He has promised.
There, we will finally be free from all of our selfish pride and striving. We will understand fully the picture of satisfaction that David paints for us in the weaned child of Psalm 133.
And, there, we will find complete contentment forever in the presence of the Lord.
Questions for reflection:
- In what areas of your life do you feel most content? What has led to your rest in the Lord in those areas?
- In what areas do you tend to struggle with discontentment? What makes trust in those areas hard for you? Will you commit these areas to prayer?
- In what ways does the Gospel speak to your need for contentment? How does remembering that Christ has already accomplished what you could never achieve impact your sense of peace and rest?
- How does the hope of eternity with the Lord change the way you approach your current struggles?
