I have recently been enthralled by a choral piece based on Psalm 131. It is composed by Margaret Rizza, and has a haunting simplicity which speaks to me deeply. The text as it appears in the piece is:
O Lord, my heart is not proud,
nor haughty my eyes.
I have not gone after things too great,
nor marvels beyond me.
Truly I have set my soul
in silence and peace;
at rest, as a child in its mother's arms,
so is my soul.
David asserts that “I have not gone after things too great, nor marvels beyond me.” He shows humility about his personal goals; they are not his, but God’s. “[T]he right of the kingdom was not sought or coveted by him, but freely conferred upon him by the unexpected and undesired favour of God.” (Poole).
David “sets his soul in silence and peace.” He is patiently waiting on God’s time by being still before the Lord, praying and meditating. Furthermore, he is at rest in his “mother’s arms,” There could be no better metaphor for quiet and patience than a baby resting in its mother’s arms; the mother as a metaphor for God.
Many of us feel conflicting forces, much like David, in our current situation. A pandemic continues to rage, the political scene is fractured more than at any other time in my short span of life, and climate change wreaks havoc with evermore powerful storms and devastating fires.
This is a time when we, like David, need to “set our souls in silence and peace.” Only as we sit in silence and reflect with gratitude on the goodness of God while resting in her everlasting arms, can we find "peace." Not only do we need to rest in silence and peace, but we need to surrender our “proud and haughty” opinions to God’s purposes and not our own.
Here is a link to the beautiful choral piece to which I refer.
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