Weaned to Trust: Humility and Rest in God

Devotional

Day 1: A Heart Not Lifted Up

David’s confession reveals humility as a heart posture – not self-inflated, but grounded in honest self-awareness before God. A proud heart elevates itself above others and even God, while a humble heart acknowledges its dependence. This humility isn’t self-deprecation but a sober recognition of our place as creatures before the Creator. Like David, believers must regularly examine their motives, asking if their inner life reflects the quiet confidence of one loved by God rather than the restless striving of self-importance. True humility begins when we stop performing and start confessing. [42:32]

“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.”
(Psalm 131:1, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you noticed your heart subtly “lifting itself up” this week – in conversations, hidden thoughts, or unmet expectations? How might confessing this pride today open space for God’s grace?

Day 2: Eyes Not Raised Too High

Haughty eyes reveal a heart measuring itself against others, scanning for superiority. David contrasts this with eyes that rest contentedly in God’s sovereign care. Like a child who stops squirming to meet a parent’s gaze, humility trains our vision to receive rather than grasp. The psalmist’s lowered eyes aren’t about false modesty but focused attention – refusing to covet God’s role as Judge, Provider, or Controller. When our eyes fixate on horizontal comparisons, we lose the vertical awe that grounds humility. [45:31]

“For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.”
(Psalm 18:27, ESV)

Reflection: What situations tempt you to “raise your eyes too high” – scrutinizing others’ lives or resenting God’s assignments? How might lowering your gaze cultivate gratitude?

Day 3: Not Occupied With Things Too Marvelous

Humility recognizes the boundary between God’s secrets and His revelations. Like Job covering his mouth, we surrender the need to dissect providence or demand explanations. This isn’t intellectual laziness but trust – a weaned child doesn’t understand mealtime preparations but rests in the parent’s care. Wrestling with mysteries beyond our pay grade breeds anxiety; receiving disclosed truth breeds worship. The humble heart asks, “What has God clearly said?” rather than “Why has He hidden this?” [47:55]

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
(Deuteronomy 29:29, ESV)

Reflection: What “secret thing” have you been demanding God explain? How might focusing on His revealed promises in Scripture shift your posture from frustration to peace?

Day 4: A Soul Quieted Like a Weaned Child

A weaned child no longer frantically seeks milk but rests content in the mother’s presence. Spiritual weaning transforms our relationship with God from transactional desperation to trusting intimacy. Anxiety reveals unweaned areas – places where we still cry for immediate relief rather than seeking the Comforter Himself. Quieting the soul isn’t passive resignation but active surrender, exchanging our inner chaos for Christ’s “easy yoke.” The humble heart finds its rhythm in His heartbeat. [59:56]

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.”
(Psalm 131:2, ESV)

Reflection: Where is your soul still “rooting around” for immediate comfort rather than resting in God’s presence? What one step could help you shift from demanding to receiving?

Day 5: Hope in the Lord From This Time Forth

David’s final command roots humility in future-facing hope. Pride clings to control; humility leans into trust. This hope isn’t wishful thinking but covenant certainty – the God who carried Israel through deserts will sustain His people today. Like Eric Liddell sensing God’s pleasure in running, we’re called to active obedience fueled by quiet confidence. Eternal hope shrinks temporal pride, anchoring us in the story bigger than our egos. [01:05:22]

“O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.”
(Psalm 131:3, ESV)

Reflection: What practical decision (relationally, vocationally, spiritually) would look different if you exchanged self-reliance for hope in God’s steadfast love?

Sermon Summary

Psalm 131 gives a short word that takes a long time to learn. Pride is the common sin that lies behind so much other sin, and humility is the grace that belongs on the other end of that spectrum. Humility is not pretending to be nothing. Humility is a true heart relationship before God, and a right way of living before others, with the heart focused most of all on Christ.

David comes honestly before the Lord and says, “My heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high.” The lifted-up heart is the proud heart, the heart “in love with its own shadow,” blown up with its own importance. God looks first at the heart, not at the outside, and David knows that prayer cannot come strutting into heaven. Prayer comes “warts and all,” as the person really is before God.

David’s eyes also show humility. The haughty eye goes with the haughty heart, and the Lord brings such eyes down. The humble eye can be lifted up in worship, but it is not raised too high in pride. Wisdom knows that there is a line between thinking on great things and meddling with things too great and too marvelous. Deuteronomy 29:29 makes that line plain: the secret things belong to the Lord, but the revealed things belong to God’s people. Job learned the same lesson when God asked questions no creature could answer, and Job finally put his hand over his mouth.

David also shows how humility is attained. The soul must be calmed and quieted, like a field made level or a lake made smooth. This quietness is not laziness or indifference. It is acceptance before God, a peace that stops disputing and complaining long enough to hear Him. The soul must learn to be still and know that He is God.

The picture of the weaned child gives the heart of the matter. The child no longer panics for milk, but rests content in the mother’s lap. So the humble soul learns satisfaction in God Himself, not in the shiny things of life. Christ says, “Come to me,” and the adopted child of God learns to crawl, as it were, into the Father’s arms.

David’s final word turns to Israel: “Hope in the Lord.” Hope is trust in God’s steadfast love and plentiful redemption. True humility knows its place before God, rests in Christ’s finished redemption, and finds deep contentment in being still before Him.

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Key Takeaways

1. Pride creeps in quietly. Pride does not always announce itself with loud boasting. The proud heart can hide inside ordinary reactions, private comparisons, and the quiet desire to be seen as important. Humility begins when the heart lets God tell the truth about its condition, rather than defending its own shadow. [38:45]
2. Secret things belong to God. The revealed will of God gives enough light for faith and obedience, but the secret will of God remains His own. Humility refuses to demand answers that the Lord has not promised to give. Such restraint is not weak thinking, but creaturely wisdom before the infinite, holy God. [47:55]
3. Stillness makes room for peace. The quieted soul is not empty. The quieted soul has stopped disputing with God long enough to receive His presence, His Word, and His will. Peace grows where acceptance replaces the restless need to control what only God can govern. [56:30]
4. A weaned soul rests content. The weaned child no longer comes only in panic and hunger, but also in trust and nearness. The mature believer learns to seek God not merely for relief, but for God Himself. Satisfaction in Him becomes the deep cure for anxious striving. [59:56]
5. Hope commands humble trust. “Hope in the Lord” is not a suggestion for better feelings, but a command from God. Trust becomes humility because it admits that God’s promises are firmer than personal understanding. Christ’s redemption is plentiful, sufficient, and permanent, so the soul has a place to stand.

## [65:22]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[32:48] - Psalm 131 Read
[34:36] - Pride and the Grace of Humility
[39:08] - Humility Described Before God
[42:12] - The Heart God Sees
[44:56] - Haughty Eyes Brought Down
[46:41] - Things Too Great and Marvelous
[49:26] - Job and Unanswered Questions
[53:07] - Humility Attained in the Soul
[56:30] - Quietness, Acceptance, and Peace
[59:56] - The Weaned Child Picture
[63:09] - Satisfaction in God Himself
[64:28] - Israel Commanded to Hope
[67:21] - Eric Liddell and Be Still My Soul
[70:54] - Humility in an Age of Boasting

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Psalm 131
“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. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.” [32:48]

Deuteronomy 29:29
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” [47:55]

Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

Isaiah 30:15
“For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.’ But you were unwilling,”

Observation questions

In Psalm 131, what three things does David say about his heart, his eyes, and his concerns? [39:27]
What picture does David use in verse 2 to describe a quiet soul, and what details stand out in that image? [59:56]
According to Deuteronomy 29:29, what belongs to the Lord, and what belongs to His people? [47:55]
In Psalm 131:3, who is being addressed, and what command is given to them? [01:04:28]

Interpretation questions

David says his heart is not lifted up and his eyes are not raised too high. What does that suggest about the connection between inward pride and outward attitude? [44:47]
Psalm 131 says David does not occupy himself with things too great and too marvelous for him. How does that help draw a line between thinking deeply about God and demanding answers God has not revealed? [46:41]
David says he has calmed and quieted his soul. What kind of stillness is being described here, and how is it different from indifference or passivity? [56:30]
The image of the weaned child points to a soul that rests near the mother without panic. What does that picture teach about learning to seek God Himself and not only relief from trouble? [01:03:09]

Application questions

Pride often hides in ordinary reactions rather than open boasting. Where does that tend to show up most in daily life right now—in defensiveness, comparison, the need to be noticed, or something else? [38:45]
Prayer cannot come strutting into heaven. What would it look like this week to come to God more honestly, as things really are, instead of trying to sound stronger or more spiritual than reality? [42:12]
Some things belong to God’s secret will, and humility leaves those things with Him. Is there a question, disappointment, or unanswered burden that needs to be placed back into the Lord’s hands? [51:23]
A quieted soul has stopped disputing and complaining long enough to hear God. What kinds of noise, hurry, or inner argument make it hard to be still before Him, and what might help make space for that stillness? [57:30]
A weaned child rests in nearness, not in panic. When anxiety rises, what usually is looked to first for comfort, and how could that moment become a way of drawing near to Christ instead? [01:02:17]
Satisfaction in God is deeper than satisfaction in the shiny things of life. What good gift has been in danger of becoming a substitute for contentment in God Himself? [01:03:26]
“Hope in the LORD” is a command to trust His steadfast love and plentiful redemption. Where is trust being tested most right now, and how does Christ’s finished redemption give solid ground in that place? [01:05:22]

Sermon Clips

47s

“``There are things in this life that you and I cannot grasp. There are things that are going to happen to you for which god's not going to give you an answer that would would satisfy what you'd like to know. If you really needed to know it, he'd tell you. In fact, he really has told you all you need to know. The better you know the Bible, the better you'll know how God works in his people's lives. And you'll know the limitations of what God wants you to know and what he doesn't want you to know. And humility is required in order to say, Lord, I leave it to you.”

42s

“And when he says hope in the Lord, it is a command. This is a command ultimately from God. God commands us to hope in him. And the closest word to what hope means is trust. Trust in God because his promises are reliable, and you can hope in the sense of you can be certain that what he promises will be fulfilled. Humility is an essential expression of your trust in god.”

61s

“A proud heart is an inflated heart, blown up large by a sense of its own importance and by its own desires. And those who who have experienced the saving power of god's grace, however, are no longer ruled by that by that pride. No. We're not ruled by it, but we still have to deal with it because we're still sinful, and we're still growing. We're still seeking to become more like Jesus. And believers have been humbled to see their sin and their guilt and their helplessness and their smallness in comparison the infinite almighty and holy god. Therefore, David could truly say in the presence of god that his heart was in a right condition.”

61s

“Such is the humble soul when God is at work. And then the other word here, quieted, is closely related to that first word. The idea here, though, seems to be of acceptance. Lord, I am accepting what you are doing in my life. There's a an aspect of peace because of that. And when we submit to the lord's will, like David is doing here, there's peace. Peace is a fruit of that. There's no desire for disputing or questioning or complaining before god. When your soul is quiet, that's when you can really hear god.”

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