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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Ps. 131
The statement in this Psalm that slapped me in the face this morning is, “I do not get involved with things too great or too wondrous for me.” (Ps. 131:1b). That is David saying, “God, I know my place. You are God; I am not.” It made me think of Job, demanding an answer from God for his unjust suffering. God’s answer to Job was that he did not know what he was talking about. Job was getting involved with things too great and wondrous for him.
This statement also made me think of all the times we, as humans, try to take matters into our own hands. Instead of quietly trusting, as David says in this Psalm, we get anxious and take steps to try to hurry God along, as if He can’t handle things by Himself or isn’t doing things the way they should be done. When we do that, we put ourselves above God, which is a ridiculous thing to even think about. This is why the apostle Paul said, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” (Phil. 4:11b). Content. Like a weaned child with its mother.
Ps. 138
In this Psalm, David writes about God’s promise, which is, of course, Jesus. David says of Him, “Though the LORD is exalted, He takes note of the humble; but He knows the haughty from a distance.” (Ps. 138:6). When I read that, a short passage from John 2 that I have pondered on in the past popped into my head. That passage in John mentioned many who believed in Jesus when they saw His miraculous signs. Then John said of Jesus that He would not entrust Himself to those people because He knew what was in them.
I have wondered about these verses often. However, putting them together with this verse in Psalm 138, it seems clear to me that, though these people believed because of the signs, they did not understand what they believed. That is, they did not humble their hearts before God’s exalted promise and surrender themselves to Him. Thus, he knew them from a distance.
Ps. 139
When I stop to think about how intimately God truly knows me, as David does in this well-known Psalm, it honestly blows my mind. I can’t possibly even know myself the way God knows me. David goes on to dwell on God’s absolute presence. God is everywhere. He saturates our very existence. Then to think that such a BIG, ever-present, all-knowing God carefully put every intricate detail of me together – I, like David, don’t know what to make of it.