Psalm 131

A Song of Ascents.

1  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.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
    like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child is my soul within me.
3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
    from this time forth and forevermore.

I think Psalm 131 might be the sweetest psalm in the scripture.

The imagery is simple:

I’m not allowing my mind to wander into fears or worries, and I’m not trying to be somewhere else—I’m just totally present and totally calm. In fact, I’m like a little child, sleeping on his mother.

I’m trusting the Lord, and things are going to be okay.

When’s the last time you had that sense of calm?

SOME HOUSEKEEPING:

Matthew begins on Monday!

Starting on Monday, 8/21, we will begin reading through the Gospel of Matthew. Each particular day’s passage is short—less than 5 minutes. I’ve divided Matthew into 3 parts, and Part 1 runs for 4 weeks. The Part 1 books are out now. Asburians can pick them up at church this week.

Live out of town but want a book?

Email Sandie Tomlinson ASAP and she’ll mail you however many copies you want. If you live in Dallas, please let Sandie know—we’ll arrange a central pick-up spot in the M Streets (East Dallas) for East Dallas folks.

WHAT ABOUT THE PSALMS?

All along, I’ve intended the psalms daily reading to be something that carries on, indefinitely, from now until forever: one psalm a day, every day—when you reach Psalm 150, start all over again the next day with Psalm 1. There is a simplicity and a clarity to that plan that’s been helpful to me the past 4 years I’ve been doing it.

So, we’ll keep reading through the psalms every day. BUT, once we get to the end of this batch of psalms, I won’t be posting daily commentary on them. The Matthew reading plan will overlap with the Psalms for a couple of weeks, and I’ll just post that day’s psalm at the bottom of my Matthew commentary.