Listen to audio above while following along with transcript below (also available to download in Word at www.biblestudyministriesinc.com under “Bridgeville Family Ministries”)
As we come to God’s word there’s a principle of Bible study that’s absolutely indispensable. We can’t take it for granted, and we can’t live without it, and all other principles of Bible study will not avail if we neglect this. I’m talking about total reliance on God’s Holy Spirit. God wrote this book and only God can reveal it. I thank the Lord for the privilege to share some of the things He’s begun to teach me, but only God can speak to our heart and unveil Christ to us in a transforming way. So, before we pray let me share these two verses from the Old Testament. As we share together I think you’ll see the connection. This is David’s testimony, Psalm 119:71, “It’s good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes.” The other verse is Psalm 119:54, “Your statutes have been my song in the house of my pilgrimage.” With that let’s commit our time to the Lord.
Heavenly Father we thank You this morning for this beautiful day. We thank You for Al and Yvonne offering their piece of paradise to share with us, so we can worship You. We commit our meditation unto You and pray that You would unveil the Lord Jesus in a fresh and a living way to our hearts. We ask it in His all-prevailing name. Amen.
This morning what I’d like to do is to dip into God’s hymnal. The Bible gives us God’s hymnal. The book of Psalms is God’s hymnal. Most hymnals are arranged in categories, so you can look at a section and get Christmas hymns, and missionary hymns, and hymns about commitment and about evangelism, and hymns about heaven, and that kind of thing. God’s hymnal also has categories. There are messianic hymns, and there are penitential hymns that God has grouped together, and there are historical psalms, and there are companion psalms, and there are some psalms that are acrostic psalms, and there are certain psalms with headings, and they belong together. There are Hallelujah psalms, psalms of imprecation; there are groups of psalms.
Today I’d like us to look into a group which are called “the Psalms of Ascent”. You might be familiar with that. It’s fifteen psalms, Psalm 120 though Psalm 134. I want to dip into that section. Sometimes it’s called the “Song of Degrees” and sometimes it’s called “Pilgrim Psalms”, but it’s all the same. They are Psalms of Ascent. They are called Psalms of Ascent because when they sang them, that’s what they were doing. They were ascending. Three times a year at the annual pilgrimage they would go up to Jerusalem, and as they went up they would sing these particular psalms.
In the spring they’d go up to celebrate Passover, and then in the summer they’d go up to celebrate Pentecost, and then in the fall they’d go up to celebrate Tabernacle, and they would sing these wonderful songs. Every song took them closer to the city of peace. That was literal; Jerusalem, city of peace. But it’s also spiritual. If you look at those fifteen psalms, each one takes you closer and closer to an intimate relationship with the Lord. They are psalms of ascent. That’s a study all its own, a wonderful, wonderful study. Psalm 120, the seed is just the beginning of that relationship, and by the time you get to the last psalm you are in this wonderful union with the Lord.
I want us to look at the twelfth psalm of ascent; twelve out of fifteen. What that means is that we’re pretty high in our ascent in our relationship with the Lord. In other words, the experiences that are described in the psalms before it, I’m assuming that God has begun to teach us those psalms. So, this psalm is a wonderful experience. It’s only three verses. So, follow along please as I read those three verses. Sometimes they say, “Alright, we’re going to open to hymn so and so, let’s sing verse 1, 2 & 4, and the third verse is left out.” We’re not leaving out the third verse. In this song, and I hope you see it, the third verse is probably one of the most important verses. We are going to sing all the verses. Psalm 131,
“Oh Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty, nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me. Surely, I’ve composed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child rests against mother. My soul is like a weaned child within me. Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.”
That’s the hymn. Before we look at it I’d like to give the hymn story because sometimes when you hear the hymn story the hymn takes on a greater meaning. For example, we’re all familiar with the song we sang today, “It’s Well With My Soul”. There’s a story behind that. When Horatio Stafford wrote that it came out of a deep experience. George Matheson wrote a hymn, ”Oh Love That Will Not Let Me Go”. He found out he was going blind, and was engaged to be married. He gave his fiancé a choice, and she decided not to marry him because he was going blind. So, he wrote “Oh Love That Will Not Let Me Go”. There’s a hymn story and that makes the hymn very meaningful. The same thing with Charles Wesley’s hymn that he wrote during a tremendous storm, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul”. I don’t know if you know that story. Look it up; it’s wonderful. God moves in a mysterious way. Cowper was in a great depression.
Psalm 131 was written by King David, and the songs I’ve mentioned have specific hymn stories. David’s hymn story is more general. Stafford wrote that song at the loss of his daughters drowning. Cowper was in a deep depression and Matheson was broken-hearted. But David, what is the background of this psalm? Did he write it when he was running those ten years from Saul? Did he write this after God took his baby when he sinned against Bathsheba? What’s the story behind the hymn? Did he write it when he was running from Absalom? Did he write it when God turned his whole life into ashes, and his whole family was taken as prisoners of war at Ziklag? What’s the background of this psalm?
We don’t know the specific occasion, but we know the general occasion, and because we know the general occasion, it brings great light to the psalm. We don’t need the specific occasion. I want to give you the heart of this psalm right up front and then we’ll take it apart, God helping us. We’re describing ascending Christians, ascending in our relationship with Jesus, and at this point there are only three possible conditions. Everybody here is in one of these conditions. Sometimes they overlap.
We’re talking about ascending Christians. This psalm does not address the backslider, and does not address those who are rebellious. There are some Christians that just refuse to ascend. They don’t want a more intimate relationship with the Lord. That’s not addressed here. Two of the conditions are assumed, and you’ll see that as we look at the psalm. One is not assumed; it’s stated, not only stated, it’s recommended.
The first condition is this. This psalm assumes that there is such a thing as an unweaned Christian, a Christian who has not yet been weaned. In the picture God gives us the picture of a baby and his mother, and the baby was depending on what mother gives, rather than who mother is. In all three of these conditions mother is the picture of God, the Lord. That doesn’t change. In every condition it’s the Lord. God’s early provision in the natural is mother’s breast for the baby. That’s not an unhealthy dependency. That’s healthy and that’s from the Lord. It’s for a time, and it can’t go on forever, but it’s from the Lord. The baby, in order to advance, to ascend, to grow, to get strong to go on, needs more substantial food, so God works His process to move the baby forward.
The constant theme all through the Bible… I don’t think I put this note on your page, but it’s Luke 10:42, what our Lord Jesus said to Martha, “One thing is needful.” All through the Bible and all through your life you are going to hear it and you are going to learn it, and you are going to have to relearn it. One thing is needful, and only one thing is needful, and that’s the Lord; a relationship with Him. Part of what God is doing in your life and mine is teaching us, and He’s drawing us to the one thing needful. We need Him; we need the Lord. It’s wonderfully pictured in this beautiful psalm. The entire maturing process is moving away from what mother gives to who mother is. Praise God for mother’s milk, but this psalm takes you from mother’s milk to mother, so you rest upon the bosom of the Lord, and mother’s breast becomes more of a pillow than a spring. We need to see this great principle.
The unweaned child thinks that this will never stop, and that this will always be the case. And the unweaned Christian has also that mentality that God has given this, and it’s from the Lord, and it’s His gift, and “I want His gift.” Thank God for the fruit of the Spirit; love and joy and peace and patience, and so on, but that’s not the goal. Thank God for the gifts of the Spirit and praise God for all His wonderful gifts! Some people can’t live without that. They just want more milk, more gifts, more blessing. They never get into a rich and intimate union with the Blesser, the One who gives the gift.
We’re not toning down or making light of any of God’s gifts. Praise God for all the gifts, for signs and wonders and whatever He sends! But you can’t live there. One thing is needful. There comes a time in my life and your life when I have to be weaned. I have to be led away from that, that which is good, and from the Lord, to God Himself.
The second condition that’s assumed, you have the unweaned Christian; you now have the Christian who is in the process of being weaned, and that’s another possibility, the actual weaning process in process. For a child that can be traumatic, and I understand for the mother that can also be quite traumatic, to get the child off of that milk. The child naturally is reluctant to let go of that lesser dependency because that child doesn’t know about growing and maturing and getting stronger. He hasn’t learned yet that there is infinitely more beyond what mother can give.
In the English weaning comes from two words and means “wee one”, “little one”, and to grow the child needs to be weaned. It’s a necessary process to bring us into union with the Lord. It is not done in anger. It’s not chastening when God weans you. It’s not discipline when God weans. It’s done in love. He doesn’t look at your dependency, “Oh you are depending on that job,” “You’re depending on that person,” You’re depending on that assembly,” “You’re depending on that gift,” “I will blast that gift,” “I will destroy that dependency,” “You aren’t supposed to lean on people.” That’s not what He does. He’s not out to destroy. He’s out to draw away from your supposed need of that thing, so that God can write indelibly into your heart and mine that there’s one thing needful; it’s Him, it’s the Lord. May God write as we look at this today. The Oxford Dictionary defines weaning as, “The process by which you accustom a child at the loss of mother’s milk.” We’ll see that as we go through.
Now to get to David, to get to the occasion of the psalm, the reason he wrote the psalm, there’s such a thing as an unweaned Christian, a Christian in the process of being weaned, but there’s also the experience of one who has been weaned. That’s this psalm. He has already been weaned. Psalm 131:2, “Surely I’ve composed and quieted my soul like a weaned child rests against mother; my soul is like a weaned child within me.” The goal here in this psalm is to see the one that has been weaned and now has learned to just rest on mother. Remember that mother is a picture of the Lord; to be drawn away from what mother gives to who mother is. It’s glorious day for the child on the level of earth when they’re weaned, and it’s a glorious day for the Christian on another level, when they have come to the place, “Lord, all I want is You.” May God bring us there!
There’s no question as we read this psalm that the weaning process is in the background. It’s not stated, but it’s there. It’s the occasion for this song. David could not write psalm 131 unless he had been through the weaning process. We don’t know the details of that, but we know that’s the illustration. He has come through it, he has experienced it, he has come to the place of rest, and God has given him a song. That’s the song; that’s the hymn, and he wants us to sing with him and he wants us to learn that song. He says it’s like being weaned and then resting against mother. He went through something. The tears have been dried, the tantrums are over, the hard times are through, and now he’s resting on mother, nesting on mother.
I know we don’t live on the level of earth. Every now and then we come down. I came down to see what the psychologists had to say about weaning. On the low level of earth where we don’t live, the psychologist gives three ways to help mothers and fathers to wean their children. The first way is cold turkey; you either take away mother or take away baby, put the kid in a room, shut the door, let him cry it out, and eventually he’ll learn. The second way is to make that seeming necessity, mother’s breast, unattractive to the child. So, they have salves that you can buy that make the breast bitter. Some women have peppered their breast to make it not taste good, so the baby doesn’t want that anymore. The third suggestion, and I think is probably the most common, is to give the kid a substitute. When he begins to cry and wants the breast, give him a rattle, a pacifier, or a toy, or give him something else, a teething ring or something like that. Then they get close to heaven’s view; give him a hug or a kiss.
We don’t know, as I said, what David went through, but we know that he went through; the process is over. It’s past and done, and he has come to this wonderful place. This is the song of the weanling, so I’d like to now come to the psalm. I’m going to start at verse 2 because there are two nuances in verse 2 that will help us enter into this song, “Surely I’ve composed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child rests against mother. My soul is like a weaned child within me.” I’ve told you many times that I don’t know the original languages. I don’t know Greek, or Aramaic, or Hebrew. I’ve never tried to know Hebrew. I tried to know Greek and I have the privilege of flunking the course three times. So, I’m an expert on Greek. Anything you want to know, ask somebody else.
There are two nuances. I read people that know those languages, and we’re told there are two nuances here in the original language that shed light on this. The first is in verse 2, “I’ve quieted my soul.” That Hebrew word “quieted my soul”, “I’ve smoothed my soul,” “hushed my soul,” one way to get into that is to see the same expression in the prophet Isaiah. I’ve written out those verses. Isaiah 28:23,
“Give ear, hear my voice. Listen, hear my word. Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed. Does he continually turn and harrow the ground? Does he not level its surface?” That little expression is the same Hebrew word, same phrase as “I’ve quieted my soul.” Does He not level it’s surface, and sow dill and scatter cumin and plant wheat in rows, barley in its place, rye within its area? God instructs and teaches him properly. Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is the cartwheel driven over cumin. Dill is beaten out with a rod, cumin with a club, grain for bread is crushed, indeed he doesn’t continue to thresh it forever, because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it. He does not thresh it longer. This comes from the Lord of Hosts who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great. He taught the farmer how to do it. The Lord taught him. He doesn’t plow forever. He doesn’t always dig up the soil. He’s not always scattering and threshing and beating and clubbing.”
Weaning is not forever. There comes an end to it. The plowing and the beating, eventually that would ruin the harvest. You can’t keep doing that, and God knows that. So, He says, “Does he not level the surface.” David said, “I’ve been through the plowing, and God has turned up the land, and God has brought me through a process which I thought I didn’t need, but it was necessary to draw me to Himself. Whatever that process was, he said “I’ve come to the place now that it’s time to level the surface, it’s time to rake over my soul, it’s time now, we don’t know the details, but there’s been a plowing and a churning, and something going on in his life, and he said that now it’s time to rake it smooth.
The same verse, verse 2, there’s another word, “Surely I’ve composed and quieted my soul.” The word “composed” is very, very instructive. Scholars tell us in the Hebrew, that takes the form of an oath, a vow. He’s swearing, “I’ve quieted my soul, and I’ve raked it over, and I swear, I impose a silence on my soul,” David said, “I am not going to be agitated anymore. I swear to that. I’ve smoothed the ground. I vow to quiet myself. I’m not going to gripe, not going to grumble, not going to complain, not going to question; I rake over my soul. It’s over and it’s done.” In English in very simple words, “I choose to stop fretting over what God has brought into my life, what He’s allowed to draw me closer to Himself. I’m not going to be anxious about that anymore.”
The weaning process is implied in this psalm. It’s there; it’s in the background. It’s in the shadows. He raises his hand to heaven and says, “It’s over. It’s time to be quiet, it’s time to relax, it’s time to rest against the Lord, it’s time to draw near to Him. I determine by an act of my will, it is over.” This upheaval is in the background, but you can see it. You don’t have to hush a soul that’s already hushed. It’s in the background. You don’t have to rake over a field that doesn’t need raking over. You don’t need to vow to quiet a soul. That implies there’s a soul that hasn’t been quieted yet. So, you can see how the background feeds into this.
When I first read this psalm I thought, “Oh, what a peaceful psalm. It’s a wonderful psalm. It pictures a little baby laying against mother. It’s a peaceful psalm.” But what did it take to make it that peaceful? I think some of you know that eleven times my wife and I have been privileged to have a once in a lifetime experience. We had couple who treated us to Hawaii every year for eleven years, all expenses paid. I don’t know if you’ve been there. Hawaii is beautiful. Do you know what it had to go through to make it like that? All the volcanoes and all the rest…
I’ve hushed my soul; I’ve raked it over and I’ve determined it’s all done. The psalmist had become dependent on something other than the Lord. We don’t know what it was, and the Lord is going to work in our lives the same way, every dependence, and I’m not saying they’re bad. They’re from Him and they’re good. Praise God for others, but you can’t depend. There’s one thing needful. You’ve got to depend upon the Lord. Praise God for health, but you can’t depend on it. You’ve got to depend upon the Lord. Thank God for blessing. If He takes it away; “The Lord gave and the Lord took away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Thank God for ministry. If He closes the door on ministry, it’s only so you might know Him more intimately, more closely. He wants union with you and union with me. This is the song of the weanling, the one who has been through it all, who has learned to rake over his soul. It’s over, “I’m not going to fret and I’m not going to worry, I’m not going to be anxious. I have Him. I have the Lord, and I’m just going to lay like a little baby.” I have to leave the dependency of the baby, but nobody, no matter how mature, will ever leave the desire of the baby, like newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you might grow thereby. You’ll always have that baby desire. Matthew Henry said, “Maturity is growing backward toward the cradle.” Oh, how He needs to work that in our heart!
There’s a couple of more things I want to share from this. Verse 1, “Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me.” For years I missed the point of verse 1. I took the verse out of its context and took it in isolation, “I’m not going to worry about things over my head, things too difficult.” I thought that was matters of theology, and that was too deep for me, so I’m not going to bother my little head about that.
Don’t get me wrong, there are matters of theology way over my head. Psalm 139:6, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. I can’t attain it.” I struggle with things I don’t understand in the Bible. I struggle with things revealed. There are things not revealed that I try to struggle with. I don’t understand the trinity. Do you? I don’t understand the full meaning of the incarnation. People want to talk about God’s decrees. I believe it, but I don’t understand it. Election, predestination; I don’t understand any of that. I don’t know why God had a plan of salvation for you and me and not the fallen angels. I scratch my head about that. I don’t understand about that. I don’t know about how we’re going to appear in the resurrection. We have a few clues and that’s all.
So, I thought that theological matters were too high and too difficult and I’ll set them aside. But He’s not talking about theology. He’s not talking about the hypostatic union; He’s divine and He’s human. He’s not talking about eternal security or spiritual warfare in this particular psalm. He’s not talking about prophecy or the glorified body or the eastern mind or culture. He’s not talking about those things. The context of Psalm 131 is the contentment that follows the weaning. He’s talking about the weaning. He raked over his soul because what was going on in his life was too difficult to him. He didn’t understand it, and he was trying to. That was part of the problem, just like the baby doesn’t understand why mom suddenly cuts off that wonderful supply. He doesn’t understand it.
How did God deny him and how did He draw him away? Did He make life bitter? Did He give him some substitute? Did He just put a dissatisfaction in his heart? A thousand questions are occasioned by the weaning process. “What in the world is going on in my life? What is God doing? Why did He allow this? What is He trying to accomplish?” Those were the great matters. Those were the things too difficult for David. “What’s happening? Why is God drying up this breast, taking away this dependency?” David became a weanling, and he said, “I finally surrender. I don’t know what God is doing. I don’t know how this fits in. I don’t care anymore. I have Him. I don’t have to know why. He knows why. I have Him. He has the answers. I have Him.”
By the simple step of faith David came to the place, after the weaning, he said, “It’s over. It’s done. It’s time now to crawl on the lap of my Father and let Him embrace me with His mother arms. I need to lay upon Him, and let Him wipe away my tears. I’m not going to try to explain it anymore. I vow that I’m not fretting any longer.”
Sometimes when that weaning process comes, and I think all of us know what I’m talking about, especially if it begins to rage, we need to know that Jesus is enough, and not only enough, but is more than enough. That weaning process can be quite devastating, if we don’t understand and we’re not resting in the Lord. One reason is for the child it was unexpected. This idea to do without suddenly comes and it’s not expected. It comes as a shock. I didn’t expect to lose my job. That just sort of happened. And that unexpectancy, I didn’t expect mom to say, “You can’t have my breast today.” I didn’t expect that interview would be cancelled. I didn’t expect to flunk out of college. That just happened; I didn’t expect it. I didn’t expect my health to take this turn. I didn’t expect the health of my loved one to take this turn. It comes unexpectedly, and sometimes it leaves you disappointed. At this time it makes no sense; “I don’t understand what God is doing.” It’s not necessarily unhealthy, that dependency, but it is important. God’s great desire is to be intimate with you. His great desire is to be intimate with me. In His great love He draws us away from this and that and the other thing. “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Sometimes that weaning experience can be so frustrating and traumatic for a season, and I pray it’s a short season. You can begin to hold His love in suspicion, and we can begin to doubt the Lord. Our faith begins to tremble. We wonder if God is really concerned with us and paying attention. “Why me? Why this? Why now?” Those questions come as part of the weaning process. “I wonder if He loves me. I wonder if He is just standing some distance away, like a spectator and just observing what is going on, or is He involved? Does He have a part in this? Is it His permission and His plan?” And sometimes the weaning process makes us doubt. We want to believe with Cowper, “Behind a frowning providence God hides a smiling face.” We want to believe that, but where is He? The baby says, “I need this,” and God said, “No, you don’t. You only think you need that. There’s one thing needful; you need Me, you need Me.”
Let me summarize two reasons God allows the weaning process. I’ve already stated the first, and I’m going to restate it as a principle. God allows the weaning process because it’s His great desire to have intimate union with you, and He wants to give you a song, the song of the weanling. He wants to have intimate relationships with me and He wants to give me a song, the song of the weanling. He is determined to draw me from every dependency that is not Jesus, so that He might draw me to Himself and to His heart. That’s the first purpose of weaning.
I told you that third verse is important, and we’re not going to skip it. There’s another reason, and I think it’s probably more profound than just wanting a relationship with you and I, and to give us a song. That is, He not only wants to give you a song, but He wants to give Himself a testimony. He wants to give Himself a testimony. He wants the song He gives me to be a testimony to others. He has a name. He has a reputation. He has a renown. He has a glory. He wants to be known for who He is in His character, and your song becomes redemptive. Do you notice how this song ends? Verse 3, “Oh Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.” The psalmist said, “I’ve been through it, I’ve been through the weaning process. It was tough. I had my doubts, but God enabled me to rake over my soul, and He enabled me to take a vow that I’m not going to be anxious, and I’m going to trust in the Lord. He enabled me to climb up on His lap and rest upon His bosom. He put a song in my heart.” And now David says, “I want you to sing with me. Oh, Israel, hope in the Lord.” He ends this song with a burden for others, that they could enter into this. It’s not just for David. It’s for David, it’s for you, it’s for me, and it’s for His name, and it’s for His glory. “Oh, Israel, hope in the Lord.”
Those are the two reasons that God gives. First, He wants to be intimate with you and give you a song, and He wants His name proclaimed to everyone, that He might give them the same song. For me, some of you know that one of the vents that I have to worship the Lord is poetry. I love poetry, and I’ve tried an uninspired version to Psalm 131. This is uninspired, but let me just read this:
A WEANED CHILD
As a weaned child rests upon mother
Is content on her bosom to lie,
Has abandoned the tears and the tantrums,
Over things that could not satisfy,
So, my soul is reposing on Jesus
Without thoughts of a gift or reward.
What a glorious foretaste of heaven,
Being weaned from this world to the Lord
There were times when I questioned His purpose,
And His patience was put to the test,
When I harbored hard thoughts of His wisdom
And mistakenly thought I knew best.
But His love wore away my resistance,
I was drawn by invincible grace,
From the blessing that held my affection
To Himself and His tender embrace.
I don’t bother myself with great matters,
I’m at rest, my heart is not proud.
I’m content with whatever He gives me,
And I’m thankful for what He allows.
God is getting me ready for heaven,
As He draws me from this world apart
I’m waiting with joy for the weaning,
That will take me at last to His heart.
As I wait for that day I’ll be singing
With a heart that is well satisfied
Though I tremble, on Him I’ll be gazing,
Through the tears that He has tenderly dried.
Catch the thrill of this beautiful music;
It’s a song that will set your heart free!
It’s the song of a satisfied weanling,
God has tuned it for you in your key.
There’s nothing the Lord desires more,
Than an intimate relationship with you.
There’s nothing you need more,
Than an intimate relationship with Him.
Let’s pray. Father, thank You for Your ways, so far above our ways, like the heavens are above the earth. Show us Your ways, that we might know You. If there’s someone who needs to be weaned, we ask that You in Your faithfulness show them the one thing needful. For those who are going through the process, carry them through we pray. Show them Your heart. For those who have already been weaned, let us sing this song of testimony, so that others might learn to sing it as well. To You be glory forever. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.