My heart that is like a weaned child
[Psalms 131]
We know that God looks more on the heart than our appearance (1 Sam. 16:7). The basis for this fact is the Bible story when God abandoned King Saul and sent Samuel to the house of Jesse, David's father, to make David king (1 Sam. 16). When Samuel arrived at Jesse's house, looking for a king to whom God would anoint, he saw Eliab, the first son of Jesse's eight sons, and said, “Surely the LORD'S anointed is before Him” (v. 6). At that time, God said to Samuel, “… Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (v. 7). Considering this truth that we humans see appearances, but God sees the heart, I am taught that we should focus on ‘the heart’ that God sees rather than the appearance. What, then, should be our hearts? I find the answer to this question in the heart of David, a man after’s God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). The heart of David, the man after God’s own heart, was, in a word, ‘the heart that is like a weaned child’ (Ps .131:2).
Look at Psalms 131:2 – “But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.” In order to understand the saying, “like a weaned child is my soul within me,” we need to think about the stages of growth of the Hebrew children. We see that growth stage as five stages (commentary): (1) The first stage of growth is “suckling” stage. This stage refers to about 30 days from birth. (2) The second stage of growth is the “weaned one” that we are talking about in Psalms 131:2. This phase seems to point to a month to a five-year period. It is said that Hebrew children were weaned only when they were 3-4 years old. (3) The third stage of growth is the “toddler” stage. It is said that this stage refers to the age of 5 to 20 years old. (4) The fourth stage of growth is puberty. This stage is said to be called “elem or almah” in Hebrew. It refers to a sexually mature young person. Perhaps this step refers to 20 years of age or older. (5) The next stage is probably the stage of adulthood and aging. Reflecting on this stage of growth when the psalmist David said that he was like the weaned child, it reminded me of the weaned child in his mother's arms. I imagined a child who was satisfied with seeing the mother's face while crying for no more breastfeeding and being held in her arms. This is exactly what David compared to the child who was weaned. In other words, the reason David compared his heart to the weaned child was as if the weaned child didn’t cry for more milk and was satisfied with the fact that he just owned the mother (Park), the psalmist was satisfied with only the Lord.
When we look at the lyrics of the gospel song ‘I am satisfied with only the Lord,’ it says: ‘I am satisfied with only the Lord. Praise the Lord, who is my everything. Jesus, who is my eternal life, raise your voice and praise the great love of the Lord. Praise my strength and my power the Lord who has changed all my life. Praise the love of the great Lord.’ This song is said to be written based on the Bible in 2 Corinthians 3:5 – “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” (KJV). That's right. Our satisfaction comes only from God. David, who knew this, was satisfied with only Heavenly Father, like the weaned child. Our hearts must be like this. In other words, our hearts should be like the weaned child like David. We must be completely satisfied with the Lord alone. However, many times we are not satisfied with God alone. Often our eyes are no longer focused on God alone and look at other people or other things. One of the reasons is because of the ‘a jealous eye’ in 1 Samuel 18:9 – “And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.” “And from that time,” that is, when David killed Goliath the Philistine and returned, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing (v. 6), and said “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (v. 7). Saul was very angry and said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom” (v. 8). “And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David” (v. 9). These sinful eyes of jealousy eventually make us look at other people and other things besides God alone. How must we overcome this sinful jealousy? I found the secret in Psalms 73. The psalmist Asaph overcame the worldly, lustful, and devilish jealousy when he came into the sanctuary of God and realized the end of the wicked (vv. 17-20) and the end of the righteous that “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth” (v. 25). In other words, when we look only at the Lord with God's jealous eyes, we can overcome the sinful jealousy of Saul. Then, like the apostle Paul, even though we have thorns in the flesh, we can live with satisfaction with the sufficient grace of God (2 Cor. 12:9).
What does it mean to be satisfied with the Lord alone? Look at Psalms 131:1 – “My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.” The heart like the weaned child who is completely satisfied with the Lord alone is not only proud, but also it cannot. In other words, the weaned child-like heart is humble. As for how to know it, David’s eyes weren’t haughty. In other words, David didn’t admire the glory of the world (Park). Why didn’t he do that? The reason is because his eyes were always looking at the Most High Lord. What will be higher than the Lord to those who are satisfied with only the Most High Lord? David didn’t look to the world as the proud ones, but looked to God who is the Most High Lord (Park). Therefore, he was not interested in or related to the great matters or things too wonderful for him (v. 1). In other words, David proudly didn’t try to do something big with vain, that wasn’t his mission (Park). Like David, we shouldn’t be drawn to this world by vain greed. We must not seek vain glory in the world. In other words, we must be wary of vanity. Like David, there is stillness and quietness in the heart of those who are satisfied with the Lord alone. In other words, since the heart like the weaned child is satisfied with only God, there is stillness and quietness in that heart. This stillness and quietness is a life acquired by quitting all ambitions and other hot turmoils that arise in one’s heart and looking only at God (Park). The reason why David was able to live such a still and quiet life was because he was satisfied with the Lord alone, and he wasn’t proud of his heart (Park). He wasn’t drawn to the greed of the world. But because he believed and obeyed the word of God, he enjoyed still and quite heart. Therefore, he exhorted the Israelites as well as us: “O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore” (v. 3). Why should we look to God from now to eternity? This is because the Lord is our Shepherd, and we shall not in want (23:1). Let us all be satisfied with the Lord alone with the same heart as the weaned child. Let’s never be driven by greed to pursue the things of the world because it can never satisfy our souls. Let’s not be proud in our hearts, but humble ourselves before the Lord. Then God will still and quite our souls.
Wanting to live with satisfaction with the Lord alone,
James Kim
(As I pursue the wean child-like heart)