LISTEN ONLINELiam had pastored a church in London for 12 years, but sensed that God was calling him and his family to move to another place “without knowing why”. Although he thought this new unknown would be terrifying, he found that wasn’t so: “We got to a point where we felt that disobeying God would have been scarier.”
During this time, praying through Psalm 131 helped Liam to trust God while also not closing off his emotions. Although the psalm is short, he received God’s peace through it, namely this verse: “But I have calmed and quietened myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content” (Psalm 131:2). As Liam looked to God as his loving Father, he put his hope in Him (v. 3). He found peace as he waited for God to lead them to a new place to live.
We too can join David in this song of ascents, part of a collection of psalms the pilgrims sang as they travelled to Jerusalem. And we might agree with the Victorian Baptist minister Charles Spurgeon when he noted that it is “one of the shortest Psalms to read, but one of the longest to learn.” But God will help us in this also. When we affirm that we won’t puff ourselves up (v. 1) while we seek His guidance, He will lead us to contentment, understanding and peace.