Trusting God is at the heart of the gospel, but it often seems an irritatingly simplistic solution to complex problems. Ps 131 concludes with the words ‘Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.’ (Ps 131:3) Prov 3:5-6 tells us we must trust in the Lord with all our heart and learn not to put our weight on our own understanding. So often, however, we chafe at the passivity implied in trusting God.

The human tendency is to want to take things into our own hands and sort things out through our own ingenuity and skill. The Bible constantly warns us against this, showing us many examples of what happens when we do just that: Sarah and Abraham thinking God needed help in producing this promised son, coming up with the solution of Abraham sleeping with Hagar to hurry things along (Gen 16); Jacob plotting and scheming to get his birthright (Genesis 25); David plotting with Joab to cover up his adultery and thereby stooping to murder (2 Sam 11). What God requires is a child-like trust in Him all the time; trust is not something we start with and then discard as we progress. Jesus said, ‘unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’ (Matt 18:3) Don’t despise the simple things: trusting and hoping in God truly are the way to satisfaction and contentment.

There comes a time in a baby’s life (usually around six months old) when milk is not enough to sustain growth and solid foods have to be gradually introduced. Food still has to be pureed, but this is the time when new tastes and textures can be introduced into a baby’s diet.

Not all babies respond well to this initially, often spitting out the new food at first because it’s unfamiliar. Gradually, however, all babies will move on from milk to solid food.

In the same way, Peter urges new Christians ‘like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation’ (1 Pet 2:2), but this milk is not enough to sustain us throughout life. The writer to the Hebrews says ‘anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.’ (Heb 5:13-14)

The process of weaning us spiritually from milk to solids is often not pleasant. When we’re first saved, it feels as though we live in a haze of wellbeing and a glow of grace. God seems to answer our every prayer and provide evidence upon evidence of His blessing and benevolence. But there comes a period, often known as the ‘dark night of the soul’, when we no longer feel God’s presence and can even doubt His love. Well-meaning people may tell us that if we’re no longer feeling close to God, it’s not God who has moved and we can become extremely worried, anxious and even despairing. Perhaps, though, all that is happening is that God is weaning us. He does not want neurotic dependency on Him; He is looking for child-like trust which will follow Him even when we cannot see where He is going. Is 45:15 talks of the God who hides Himself, and sometimes in those dark times, it’s not that we’ve moved away from God or that God has actually moved away, but that there is a weaning, a denial, a waiting period which we find tremendously difficult to understand but which is designed to help us to trust. God promises that He will never leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5), but there will come a time in every Christian’s life when we have to believe that promise by faith, rather than because of our feelings or because of the visible things we can see. Just as the baby may have to wait longer than it wants for its meal and then be given food it would really rather not have to digest, so too God may make us wait longer than we want for His answers or bring circumstances into our lives that don’t seem at all good, but He is looking to shape us into the image of His Son and bring us to maturity.

Maturity means we turn to God, having nowhere else to go (see Jn 6:67-68); we nestle into His arms; we rest in contentment in Him even when we have no idea what to do about the storms that rage all around, even when we are as confused and as worn out as that screaming baby.

This morning’s sermon looked at Ps 131, a psalm which deals with the topics of humility, satisfaction and contentment, qualities which are sorely in need in today’s acquisitive, dissatisfied society. Its simplicity (only three verses long) may cause us to skip over its truths, but we need to linger here because these are such important topics in a world where arrogance, dissatisfaction and frustration seem to dominate.

The psalmist’s heart is not proud nor his eyes haughty. (Ps 131:1) Pride is one of the deadliest of all sins, but is often commended nowadays in the guise of ambition. Pride was at the heart of Satan’s downfall (Is 14:13-14) and many proverbs comment on how pride goes before a fall (Prov 16:18, 29:23). Paul reminded the Corinthians that arrogance can easily lead to our downfall (1 Cor 10:23) and Jesus told a parable about a proud Pharisee and a humble tax collector to illustrate that we must never allow self-righteousness to replace dependence on God (see Luke 18:9-14). The reason pride is so dangerous is that it steers us away from God and makes us believe that we can manage adequately without Him, thus creating an illusory reality which has no real substance.

The psalmist freely admits that he doesn’t know everything and that some things are beyond his understanding or his comprehension. Nowadays, that view is highly unpopular as we seek to increase our knowledge and understanding (no bad thing in itself), but we must understand that there will always be things we can’t fathom (see Deut 29:29, Job 42:3). Paul reminds the Corinthians that now we only know in part (see 1 Cor 13:12); we have to ‘surrender the hunger to say you must know/Have the courage to say “I believe”’, as Michael Card puts it in his song ‘God’s Own Fool.’

The psalmist likens himself to the contented state of a weaned child at its mother’s breast (Ps 132:2). Weaning is not a particularly comfortable process, as babies often react against the unfamiliarity of solid food and cannot understand the parents’ motivation in moving them on from milk! We too often rage against God when things don’t go our way or answers to prayer aren’t immediately forthcoming, but (as C. H. Spurgeon said) ‘It is a blessed mark of growth out of spiritual infancy when we can forgo the joys which once appeared to be essential, and can find our solace in Him who denies them to us.’

Paul tells Timothy that godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Tim 6:6) Contentment comes as we realise God is in control, no matter what the visible evidence around us may tell us. Contentment comes as we realise God is faithful and His love endures forever (Ps 136:1). Contentment comes as we realise God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). Contentment comes as we realise that God is working for the good of those who love Him and that nothing can separate us from His love. (Rom 8:28-39) We can lie down and sleep in peace because God makes us dwell in safety. (Ps 4:8) All we have to do, the psalmist reminds us, is ‘put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.’ (Ps 131:1)

We don’t live in a vacuum, but in a world that desperately needs peace and godliness. Our prayers that God’s ways will prevail (over the manipulation and misuse of power in politics) are crucially important. All the politics we know in the natural realm require the exercise of power (usually either through the manipulation of force or the manipulation of words), but God’s kingdom operates in entirely different ways. Let’s pray for those who have authority over us, that they may learn to govern wisely and well so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

Pray for:

• our local councillors (Charlotte Johnson, May Noble & Ralph Sixsmith) and all working with BMBC to help people in this area
• all those working to improve our community (the local Council, residents, voluntary groups and businesses)
• those involved in caring for families (GPs, healthcare workers, social services, nurseries and schools) to have wisdom in helping those in need, especially the vulnerable
• MPs and all in authority to govern wisely and to help the needy and marginalised in ways that reflect God’s heart.