Ps 130 and Ps 131 are among my favourite psalms. They look so inconsequential: C. H. Spurgeon said of Ps 131 that it is ‘one of the shortest psalms to read, but one of the longest to learn.’ Yet, as Michael Wilcock summarises it, ‘To be careful not to rate others low and ourselves high; to recognise our limitations; to have grasped, like a child weaned from the breast, that even without what we thought we needed, we are still loved and cared for, to have a confidence in God which will be as sure tomorrow as it is today – these are lessons worth learning.’ (Michael Wilcock commentary on the Psalms Volume 2, P 240)
Our modern society places little value on humility, but the Bible is adamant that humility is the pathway to honour (see Prov 29:23). Pride (being ‘haughty’, as Ps 130 puts it) is the sin that puts ourselves in God’s place and leads us away from Him (see Luke 18:9-14). Humility is not having a low opinion of oneself or being inferior; it is recognising our position in relation to God (we are His servants; He is our Lord.) It means trusting God even when we do not understand His ways (see 2 Cor 12:8-10). That trust is outworked through the dual means of waiting and hoping. We often don’t like doing either: we live in a society that wants instant gratification and despair is so much easier to embrace than hope. But the journey from tempestuous frustration and holy defiance and despair to a place of focussed attention on who God is to a place of contented submission and confidence in God’s timing and purposes is a journey worth taking. As we learn to wait and hope in God, we find a place of quiet contentment. (1 Tim 6:6)
