DUNCAN/Content to fill a little space, If thou be glorified

If you’d take your Bible in hand, I invite you to turn with me to Psalm 131. This is a psalm about submission to the Lord’s providence, even when the circumstances of your life are tumultuous and difficult to bear. David has recorded this psalm because this battle of submission to the Lord’s will and contentment is one that all of us fight. We may have never been secretly anointed by Samuel to be the king of Israel, but we have been called to live as Christians in the world having been given promises from God that we sometimes have a hard time believing that He’s going to fulfill. And so, we are at the same juncture of trusting in God for a promise that has not been fulfilled in the same way that David is having to wrestle with that in his own experience. 

David’s Struggle for Contentment

Let’s begin at verse 1. David tells us three things that he hasn’t done that have been crucial to his contentment. Look at what he says, “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.” In other words, David is saying here, “I have not presumed to know things that only the Lord can know. I haven’t done those things.” The fact that he records that as his testimony in this psalm lets you know that he struggled with those things. 

Pride never aids contentment and submission. Pride manifests itself in various ways — Thinking that you know better than God knows. “Lord, I don’t like the circumstance I’m in. If I were doing things I wouldn’t do it this way.” What are you saying? You’re saying you’re smarter than God. That’s pride. Very often when we are in circumstances that we do not like one of the things that gets us is we can’t figure out what God is doing and so we begin to meditate on a different plan. And in so doing, we are presumptuous because we don’t understand what God is doing in that providence, in His wisdom and kindness and love for us. We just know that we don’t like the situation that we’re in and so we’re plotting to get out of it, whatever it takes, whatever we have to do.

If you’re struggling with submission to the Lord’s will — If you’re struggling with contentment — You need to be able to put a label on the thing that is making you struggle. And David’s able to do it here. Pride, an overreaching ambition, and presumption — He knows the things that are at work in his heart that make it a struggle to be content and to submit to the Lord’s will. Do you? David’s telling you a very, very practical thing about the Christian life. You’ve got to know what it is that’s keeping you from embracing God’s good purposes for you and it’s different, it’s distinct, and it’s specific to all of us. All of us have a different combination of temptations in us. Some of us are overconfident. Some of us are insecure. That means that each of us will battle different things in submitting to the Lord’s will. 

David’s Description of Contentment 

And then there’s the second thing. David, in this passage, describes for us exactly what his submission to God’s will looks like. Look at verse 2. It’s a beautiful picture. “I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.” You know how it is for a child who’s not been weaned. There are times when there is an almost desperation to have his mother or to have his bottle. But the weaned child knows, “I’m going to get fed. I’m okay. I can rest. I can relax. I’m not going to starve. They’re going to feed me. It’s going to be alright.”

And David’s saying, “That’s how my soul is. I know God’s going to feed me. I know God is going to give me what I need. I know God is going to care for me.” In other words, David is saying that he has a calm, quiet, content soul, trusting in God’s providence. The humble man is content to be handled and dealt with as the Lord pleases. That’s how David is depicting his submission to God’s providence here. “Lord, I know You’re going to take care of me. Handle me however You want to. Dispose of me however You please.” It reminds you a little bit of Mary’s response to Gabriel. After the shocking announcement that she’s going to be the bearer of the Son of God, her response is, “Behold, I’m the handmaiden of the Lord! Be it done to me according to Your will.” In other words, Mary is saying, “I’m in Your hands, O Lord. I don’t understand this, it’s overwhelming, but I trust You.” David is looking God in the eye and saying, “Lord, You’re asking me to do something that’s quite hard. But Father, I trust You.” Because of that, David can say, “I have a calm, quiet, content soul. I trust in God’s providence.”

David’s Exhortation to Hope in God 

One last thing in the third verse. David says to all of us — He turns to the rest of his people, and he turns to you and me, and he gives us an exhortation. He’s told you about the things, the sins that he’s fought against in order not to lose this repose, his resting in God’s providence, and now he gives us this exhortation. “Hope in the Lord. All his people, always and forever.” It’s an exhortation to find your peace in God, not in your circumstances, not in your solution to your circumstances, not into your circumstances going in the direction of your hopes and dreams and prayers but hoping in the Lord.

Jesus, of course, taught His disciples to trust in His Father’s providence, but we’re also told that because Jesus is King, He is looking out for us in His providence. He, at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, is ruling the world by His word and Spirit for the wellbeing of His people. And David is saying, “You’ve got to hope in that, friends, you’ve got to hope in the Lord. Your Father is caring for you. Your Savior is caring for you. The Spirit is indwelling you to comfort and strengthen you. Hope in the Lord. Look in the right direction for your repose and your rest and your comfort. If you look at your immediate circumstances, you won’t find it there. If you look at a solution to your circumstances, you won’t find it there. If you look to the Lord, you will find it.” And David said that to us three thousand years ago and it’s just as true today.

J. Ligon Duncan III is Chancellor & CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in Jackson.