Psalms 131
Big idea: Three verses, and the image in the middle is chosen with unusual care. Not a nursing child — a weaned one. A nursing infant with its mother is calm because it is being fed; a weaned child is calm with nothing to gain, having stopped demanding the one thing it used to scream for. That is the psalm's picture of a settled soul: still there, still close, no longer negotiating.
Psalm 131 is the shortest and quietest of the fifteen. Psalm 132 is the longest, and it is about a promise.
131:1–3 — Like a weaned child with his mother
Three verses, and the shortest psalm about ambition in the Bible. What makes it work is the word WEANED. A nursing child at its mother is content because it is being fed; a weaned child is content simply to be there, having given up the thing it used to come for. That is the state being described, and the psalm is honest that it took effort — 'I have STILLED and QUIETED my soul'.
1 A Song of Ascents. By David. Yahweh, my heart isn’t arrogant, nor my eyes lofty; nor do I concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me. 2 Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 Israel, hope in Yahweh, from this time forward and forever more.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).