Psalm 131

“Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.” Psalm 131:1-3 (NKJV)

If you want to start a brawl in the women’s ministry, start asserting your opinions concerning the when’s, where’s, and extent of breastfeeding!  My wife breastfed all of our children, and we have heard about every opinion on the subject from every angle imaginable.  The reason I mention that is because David's use of the image of “weaning” brought to mind an experience my wife and I had at a restaurant many years ago.  Our oldest son was about five, and our daughter was a toddler.  A couple of moms were in conversation at the table next to ours, and our children were chatting with theirs.  But as the moms talked, one of the children, about my son’s age, kept interrupting and obsessively pawing at his mom.  Finally, mid-conversation, the mom snatched up her kindergarten-aged boy and started breastfeeding him.  My son glanced up at us and defined the moment with one whispered word: “Awkward.”

I share that story because it illustrates the exact point that David is making: the difference between a weaned and un-weaned child sitting next to their mothers. Before a child is weaned, the experience of feeding goes way beyond nutritional needs.  There is an essential personal emotional, and nurturing bond that naturally occurs through the process of breastfeeding.  But, by a certain age (which may vary for each child), what was once natural and nurturing becomes more akin to anxious and abnormal cravings that signal stalled maturity.  The apostle Paul and the writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews used the same imagery to describe similar dysfunctions in stalled discipleship maturity among followers of Jesus.

“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.  I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 (NKJV)

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.” Hebrews 5:12-13 (NKJV)

In Psalm 131, David is saying that he used to be haughty, with “lofty eyes,” but, like a weaned child, he had matured to a calm and quieted soul.  His faith had grown so that his worship was no longer self-focused.  Have you matured past seeking God for what He can do for you to the point where you ask how you can serve Him?