Expository - Songs of Degrees

Psalm 131

Psalm 131 is the twelfth of the Songs of Ascents (or Degrees). Now we have come to understand that, in the Bible, twelve is a number that is associated with government. There were twelve tribes of Israel and twelve apostles of the Lord. There are also twelve months in the year and so on. This idea of God's government is what we find here in the twelfth Song of Ascents. The soul has stopped saying, "I want to be in control of my life," and now desires and affirms that God should rule. It is the only way to know full and constant communion with Him.

Humility

In Psalm 131, by contrast, there is a scene of humility as the Psalmist confesses: "My heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me." This place was reached through the events of Psalm 130. The brokenness led to humility and no confidence in the flesh any more, but every confidence in the Lord whom we trust. Compare that with the character of our present age, as foreseen by Paul: "...in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God;" (II Timothy 3) It is self, self, self and more self. Oh, that we might know that place of true humility, where God is Lord of all.

Philippians 2 is a favourite passage of Scripture for me, which brings out, in a glorious way, the humility of our Lord Jesus Christ. From verse 5 we read, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, though it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Let this mind be in you.

Before His death, Jesus prayed, "Not my will but Thy will be done." Then in Matthew 11 we find Jesus issuing the invitation for all those that labour and are heavy laden to come to Him so that He could give them rest. He invited people to take His yoke upon them and learn of Him, "For I," said He, "am meek and lowly in heart." Why is there pride and arrogance in human experience? Because the route to humility is not through effort or trying, but through meekness and brokenness, and that is what God does.

God's Dealings With Us

Jeremiah perceives truth in Lamentations 3: "I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. He has led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is He turned; He turns His hand against me all the day." Jeremiah had done nothing like David. He was God's servant, but as God's servant he must be one that lets God have complete control. So God dealt with Him in this way until all was yielded to God. Even his prayers seemed to be shut out. The catalogue of calamities continues but, and here is the blessing, in remembering those things his soul is humbled. He realises that, but for the mercies of God we would have perished long ago. Therefore we have a glorious hope. Therefore we rejoice.

We are all very familiar with that Scripture in II Corinthians which assures us that, if we are in Christ Jesus, we are new creations; old things have passed away and all things have become new. However, we have to be taught to walk in the truth of that by faith. There is a learning process. It is by treading this pathway that we have been considering in the Songs of Degrees, the pathway of God's dealing with us until we learn to let go of all that is of self and to put our full faith and confidence in Him.

Lofty Eyes

In Isaiah 14 a word is spoken to Lucifer: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning; how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations? for thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God... I will ascend above the most high..." It is all going on in the heart and it is I,....I,.....I. Self is being exalted. On the other hand, humility, such as we see in the Psalm, is the absence of self. It is where the cross has been applied, where brothers and sisters can say, "It is no longer I that lives but Christ lives in me."

Let us walk in the good of these truths by faith, reckoning self to be dead, dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It may have taken a path of brokenness and being broken to get us into the realisation of it. In the end we shall, as Paul, be able to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. (Galatians 6).

The Single Eye

In Proverbs 30 from verse 11 there is a revelation of the worldly generation which it mentions four times. Four often indicates that which is universal. "There is a generation that curses their father and does not bless their mother. There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! There is a generation whose teeth are as swords...to devour the poor..." Do you see the focus? It is self, self, self, while everyone else is trampled underfoot. Praise God that He delivers His people from that condition, so that they can say with the Psalmist that their heart is not haughty, nor their eyes lofty, neither do they exercise themselves in great matters or in things too high for them.

These exercises are of the mind. How haughty are the thoughts of some! But Paul exhorts us with these words in Philippians 2: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..." That was a mind of complete humility. The mind that is not like that, the mind that is full of self, will always want to be in control. It will always want to understand everything or else reject it. There is, therefore, no room for faith or for yielding to God, or for receiving that peace of God which passes understanding. Understanding something gives the person control. The person who says, "When I understand what God is doing, then I will do what He asks," will never move in faith and, therefore, will never walk in full communion with God. We walk by faith, not by sight. All we need to understand is that God has promised and God is faithful. We are satisfied to know that God is in control without understanding all the details of how He will keep and direct.

May your eye be single, looking only to the Lord. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding."

Like a Weaned Child

However, although there had to be a new beginning, although in the first stages of these Songs of Ascents the soul was really being nourished on baby milk, now we can see that progress is being made. He is now like a weaned child. He has moved from just milk to solid foods as well. We too must grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. There must come a time when we stop being spoon-fed by others and begin to feed ourselves. In Hebrews 5 v 12 we have that same comparison where Paul says, "For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

Paul said to the Corinthians that he had fed them with milk because they were not spiritual. They were arguing like little children. We must progress from that childish idea that the whole thing centres on us, the attitude that selfishly looks for blessings for me all the time. We need to move on and see that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Our hope is in the Lord.

So the Psalmist, as the result of his experiences of discipline, has learned humility. He is not trying to be humble: that would be a work of the flesh. He is letting God be in control. The New Testament exhorts us to let the mind of Christ be in us. That mind was a mind of humility, of making Himself of no reputation, of stooping lower and lower for the sake of others. Move by faith into the realisation of it. Then the Lord can and will rule and reign in your life.

Then we shall have that glorious hope in the Lord: "Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forever." In Lamentations chapter 3 v 21 onwards, as a contrast to the painful scenes depicted before it, Jeremiah suddenly says, "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion says my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." What is this hope based on? Its foundation is that God is faithful. He will never fail us. He will always be with us, even though the way may seem dark and difficult.

The Psalmist, in the same awareness, can say that he has now matured (been weaned). When we were children, for most of us in this society, life was pleasant. Parents protected us from hardships and difficulties and even in the poorest families sacrifices were made to ensure that children enjoyed their childhood. Our parents did their best to protect us as children from the nasty things of the "real world". However, there must come a time when children have to grow up and face reality. If by the time they reach their teens, they still expect all that fuss, always wanting their own way and so on, we tell them it is about time they grew up. God says to us that we must mature spiritually. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life. The going may seem tough at times, but if we have learned to trust the Lord, our hope is in Him.

Conclusion

Let this hope be ours from henceforth and forever. Psalm 132