“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.”

Psalm 131:1-3 ESV

The Rare Jewel

In 1648, the Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs published a book on the theme of Christian contentment, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. Burroughs was right to call contentment a rare jewel, especially when it is so easy for Christians to be swept up by the spirit of discontentment so prevalent in our age. Christian contentment is a jewel because it is beautiful to behold when worn, and yet, sadly, it is a rare jewel.

Psalm 131 has been called The Song of the Contented. It is a song of ascents, a grouping of psalms (120-134). Most likely, Jewish pilgrims would have sung these psalms as they made their geographical ascent toward Jerusalem for the festivals. If this is true, it would make sense that there is a spiritual progression in these psalms (1). It is not without relevance, therefore, that The Song of the Contented comes after confession of sin and the receiving of forgiveness (see Ps 130).

What is contentment? It’s a good question because contentment is not easily defined or often seen. Instead of defining contentment, David, the author of the psalm, gives us an illustration:

“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

This is a beautiful picture of a Christian resting in God’s wisdom and will, content with God’s providence in their lives. It is not without relevance to consider that weaning a child is, as Sinclair B. Ferguson says, “One of the great early dramas of the first years of motherhood. It is a conflict situation. The memory it conjures up is one of fretfulness, tears, even despair! Weaning can be a major battle of wills between mother and child.” (2).

It is essential, therefore, to note that Christian contentment is a spiritual grace rather than a natural one because, by nature, our wills are not aligned with the will of God. There is a genuine sense in which, by nature, our will and God’s will are locked in battle. In Psalm 32, for example, God likens humanity to a stubborn horse or mule that won’t obey its master (see Ps 32:9). Similarly, Solomon reminds us that there is a way that seems right to a person, but it ends in death (see Prov 14:12).

“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”

Jeremiah Burroughs

This psalm, therefore, does not describe natural contentment or discontentment relating to our circumstances in life. Nobody is born possessing Christian contentment. It is something the Christian must learn. Christian contentment is ceasing the battle between our will and God’s will. This battle may be prolonged, in which we learn to submit to God’s will through various experiences and trials.

The apostle Paul writing to the Philippians reminded them of this great truth, “For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” (Phil 4:11b). The apostle Paul was not a naturally contented person. Before his conversion to Christ, he was an angry man intent on putting Christians in prison and to death (see Acts 7:57-58, 8:3, 22:4-5, Gal 1:13, 1 Tim 1:13). Paul’s words to the Philippians are even more incredible when we consider he was writing from prison.

It would come naturally to us to expect Paul to be discontented in prison and be contented when he was freed from prison. Similarly, we always connect contentment with circumstances. “If only I lived in that place, or had that amount of money, or had that job, or had married that person, I would be content.” However, Paul could say he was content because he had learned that contentment was rooted in a relationship with God and not in external circumstances.

Paul could be contented in this way because he had learned the secret of Christian contentment. It was Christ who gave him the strength to be content despite his circumstances (see Phil 4:13). Often, like the child being weaned from milk to solid food, it is the experience of loss, both small and significant, that is our best teacher (see Phil 3:7-8, 15).

Hard Lessons from an Easy Psalm

The 19th Century preacher C.H. Spurgeon said of Psalm 131 that it is a “short ladder” yet one that “raises to a great height.” The great height that Spurgeon spoke of is the “secret” of Christian contentment. How does this Psalm reveal this secret to us? How did David become content in the way he describes in verse two? Firstly, David guarded the ambitions of his heart:

“O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high.”

Psalm 131:1a ESV

This does not mean that David overlooked a promotion at work. As Ferguson again says, “The Psalmist no longer resists the will of God or prefers his own self-sufficiency. He has learned that he is not wiser, nor does he know better, than the Lord.” (3). In Alice In Wonderland, Alice was disorientated because she was always too big or too small. We have a similar problem. We become engrossed in our trivialities. We imagine ourselves to be independent and autonomous. We need to remind ourselves of our proper size and be delivered from proud self-will, which, if not dealt with, will lead us astray from God’s will.

David’s life is an illustration of this truth. As a young man, David had been promised he would be king of Israel, yet he found himself a hunted man on the run from King Saul for ten years. Opportunities to kill Saul presented themselves, but David’s ambition to be king was held back by a greater ambition – obedience to the Lord, which resulted in significant personal cost. Killing self-will is an important principle to apply to ourselves. Similarly, the apostle Paul’s only ambition was to “know Christ” (Phil 3:10). Aligning our hearts’ ambitions with obedience to Christ is the first pathway to contentment.

Secondly, David controlled his mind:

“I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.”

Psalm 131:1b ESV

David did not have to understand everything that God was doing in his life. What David had to do was to trust in God. David refused to become preoccupied with things beyond his ability to understand. The throne had not yet come into David’s hands, but he refused to be preoccupied with it and left it to God. We, too, must be careful to discipline our minds under God’s boundaries lest “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19).

There was much that David did not understand about God’s dealings with him. A King on the run. Hunted like a criminal and forced into the company of outcasts and yet able to trust in the wisdom of God. David resolved not to pursue impossible things. Like David, we must cease trying to usurp God’s control over our lives and trust in Him.

Trusting God in the frowning providences of life is an important principle to apply to ourselves (see Is 50:10). Jesus said to His disciples, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterwards you will understand.” (John‬ ‭13:7‬). We will have to settle it in our minds that we will have experiences in this life, which we do not understand, and perhaps never will. One of the most common questions we may face is, “Why?”

Ferguson again says, “Few things are more inimical to steady growth in grace than a preoccupation with problems we cannot solve, difficulties that seem to exacerbate the trials of life or sorrows that in the nature of the case can find no compensation in this world. Here we need to bring every thought captive to Christ. That takes great grace. But it is the only way.” (4). To leave what we do not understand to the wisdom of God’s providence is the second pathway to contentment.

The Contented Man

“O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.”

Psalm 131:3 ESV

Once, when Jesus was speaking to the religious leaders of his day, He said to them, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” (John 5:39). One crucial way to interpret the Bible correctly is to ask ourselves, “What does this passage teach me about Jesus?.” As Christopher Ash says, “David only sometimes lived up to what he professes in verses 1 and 2. Jesus of Nazareth was consistent. He alone can sing verses 1 and 2 as the flawless expression of His heart and life, rather than just his better aspirations.” (5).

Jesus is our great example of contentment. After a man told Jesus that he was willing to follow Him, Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matt 8:20‬). It is evident from the life of Jesus that His contentment was not dependent on outward circumstances but rooted in His relationship with His Father and his unflinching desire to please the Father and to carry out His will (see John 4:34, 5:19, 6:38, 8:49, 10:30, 14:31, 15:10, 16:28, 17:1-26, Matt 26:39).

True contentment will only be found in following His example. Like David, we will not be consistent, but as we follow Jesus, we will grow in likeness to Him, as the Apostle Paul reminded the Philippians,

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Phil 2:1-11 ESV

It is this Lord who lowered himself by His afflictions, cast all His care upon His Father, humbled Himself, became a servant and was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, so that we undeserving though we are, may know the forgiveness of sins. It is only by following Him that we will ever find true Christian contentment.

It is this Lord whom David exhorts us to hope in from this time forth and forevermore.

Notes

1. A progression can be seen throughout the Psalms of ascent. Compare 121 with 133 and 134.
2. Sinclair B. Fergurson – Deserted by God? Banner of Truth Trust, 1993, p164-165
3. Sinclair B. Ferguson – Maturity, Growing Up and Going On in the Christian Life, Banner of Truth Trust, 2019, p220
4. Ibid, p223
5. Christopher Ash – Teaching Psalms Volume 2, From Text to Message, Christian Focus, 2018, p259

All scripture quotations are from the ESV.