Is the Lord Great and Marvelous Enough for You?

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore. (Psalm 131 ESV)

Dragging two little kids and two little dogs across the country was, my husband and I believe, obedience to God. But the losses were brutal: beloved church family of fifteen years left behind; sacred ministries handed off; mold discovered in both our old and new homes; failed electrical, plumbing, and inspections; buyers who walked . . . I could go on. We gained a tsunami-sized grief whose waves would push me back into bed, the undertow extreme and life-draining.

In sinful moments, I sought relief by working to shape outcomes, predict tomorrow; make the waves stop. But girls don’t control waves. Attempting that is to “occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me” (Psalm 131:1).

What’s not too great and too marvelous for me? The psalmist in Psalm 131:2 points us to the weaned child, who has done the nursing and is on the other side of it. A newer nursing baby roots and searches; no respecter of persons, he wants what he wants and will latch onto anything—a stranger’s earlobe, a dirty finger—and will pull off screaming when no milk comes.

By the time a child is weaned, though, he knows who has sustained his life. He has heard her heartbeat over and over as he’s lain on her chest; she is precious to him. He’s content. Mommy is his first love, his haven; she’s great and marvelous enough for him.

Our psalmist is like that weaned child. His heart and eyes are not lifted to things he can’t understand, and definitely not to any waves. Why? He’s heard his Father’s heartbeat and has received life there. So, too, can we. Listen. Hear it now in Jesus’s sweet words: “Because I live, you also will live . . . I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:19–20 ESV). God is the Christian’s haven because Jesus has brought us into him by his Spirit. When the waves crash, he has already poured himself into us and surrounds us. We’re wrapped up in God like a weaned child in Mom’s arms.

All are invited to lift eyes and hearts, but only as high as the cross, where we can fall in love with a person, feeding on that richest gospel milk. Being so nourished leads one to hope in the Lord (Psalm 131:3). And hope does not disappoint the Christian. Why? Because God’s love has been poured into our hearts by his Spirit (Romans 5:5). When one has drunk deeply of this love, he has tasted the One who is love, who has given him life and then new life.

What hinders Christians, then, from being as the weaned child? We run around seeking to calm and quiet ourselves, but worldly offerings satisfy as much as the earlobe or dirty finger. This searching, for those who have been weaned on the good stuff, the gospel milk, leads us back to our Father.

Paul was such a one when from prison he wrote to the Philippian church: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11–13 ESV).

Weaned child. The glorious milk of the gospel has gone into his marrow and has spoiled him for any worldly offering. Paul can preach only Christ and him crucified, a message great and marvelous, but not too much so for Paul, for any who would have it. And to those who have it, it won’t matter if your current frame has waves or still waters, because also in the frame is the One who holds you.

That’s what the psalmist is saying in Psalm 131: You know God through Jesus, weaned Christian, so be satisfied with him and the future hope of him. See the world through his eyes as you devour his Word and hear his still voice over the crashing waves; be content as you drink and eat again of the One you love. And after you’ve tasted deeply again, stay in that peaceful place, for he covers and surrounds you. That is great and marvelous enough for you.

Courtney Ritter is a wife, mom and teacher whose flat-out, favorite subject is the Bible. She has a masters in education and loves to share, chew on and savor God’s word with women and children. Courtney desires that God’s heart be tickled as she seeks Him and helps others do the same!

Photograph © Peter Chamberlain, used with permission