By David ReayFriday 15 Dec 2017LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Psalm 131
1 Lord, my heart is not proud;
my eyes are not haughty.
I don’t concern myself with matters too great
or too awesome for me to grasp.
2 Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself,
like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk.
Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
3 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord—
now and always. (NLT)
We can cry out to God in desperation, seeking his help. And that help is forthcoming. Yet our dependence on God may take on different forms as we grow and mature. The psalmist refers to this as he describes himself like a weaned child. Such a child seeks his mother’s comfort and presence not because of some insistent and urgent need, but out of sheer love and trust.
An unweaned child will want what its mother offers to meet its immediate needs. A weaned child will simply want its mother. A Christian who primarily seeks God to get out of a tight spot or to meet an urgent need is missing out on a deeper relationship with God. Not that God won’t respond to our cries for help. Rather that we are seeing God as a piece of emergency equipment, a means to an end.
Beware of developing a neurotic dependence on God, viewing him chiefly as a ‘get out of jail’ card. Come to a position of trustful resting, believing God can do great things for you, but believing he is to be treasured for who he is and not just what he does.
After all, how would we feel if those we believed to be our friends only ever turned to us in times of deep trouble? We would certainly want to help at such times, but we would also hope for time together simply for the sake of being together.
Blessings
David Reay