Weaned and Loving It

This past weekend I had the opportunity to preach on the book of Judges at Parkview, which was one of the more challenging tasks I've had to face up to. It was good and renewing but today my voice is tired so the hot tea is flowing.One of the key lessons we learn from Judges is that a cycle of destruction and dysfunction begins and is kept alive when we cease to believe that God is enough to satisfy us. We go into dark, life-robbing areas when we decide that God isn't enough and try to make our own way forward instead of trusting God for the "ancient paths." (Jer. 6:16a)

A text that brings this home is Psalm 131. The image the psalmist uses is one of a child who has been weaned - a child that no longer needs to be breastfed and who can feed themselves. When you think of that image, this psalm sounds different:

My heart is not proud, O Lord,my eyes are not haughty;I do not concern myself with great mattersor things too wonderful for me.But I have stilled and quieted my soul;like a weaned child with its mother,like a weaned child is my soul within me. (NIV)

Think about that for a moment - my soul is like a child that can feed itself, but still stays with it's mother. The soul, which for the audience of the Psalms is the whole of life, has the ability to strike out and get more for itself on its own but lives in the desire to be with the source of its life.

This is the definition of God being enough. The desire to be with Him when we think we can take our own path and be fine, that is contentment.

Is your soul quieted by being near the source of its life today? If not, do you believe God is enough to quiet your soul today?