Psalm 131:2-3 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. In the same hour in which the soul of man is by grace weaned from itself and-its own high thoughts, it begins to hope and rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, for a man to have the Lord alone for his confidence seems, to the unrenewed mind, the highest presumption; to put a present, an immediate trust in the Lord for all the future, in time and in eternity, is thought to be unhallowed boldness, and not humility or weanedness of heart. The whole dealings of God with man bring us back to the ever memorable words of the Lord Jesus (Matthew 11:25, 26). I. THE FIRST WEANING OF THE SOUL THE GRAND EVENT OF A MAN'S HISTORY. When God begins to deal with you in saving grace. He weans you from self, in its various forms, according to our Lord's teaching (Matthew 16:24). This self-denial includes weaning from the world, from your own will, from your own strength. II. THE JOY IN THE LORD THAT SPRINGS UP IN EVERY WEANED SOUL. The Lord your is now ransom, your righteousness, and the well of living joy within you. III. THE DAILY WEANING OF THE SOUL THROUGH LIFE. The soul has to be weaned from all that must be forsaken, from that which may be either granted or denied, and from its own wisdom and way in the kingdom of heaven on earth. IV. THE EARNEST DESIRES AND THE FRUITFUL WORK OF EVERY WEANED SOUL. 1. The weaning of the soul from self and from its own earthly affections neither stupefies the mind nor quenches the fire of all nobler desires. 2. The gracious weaning of the soul prepares and fits us for fruitful work. In grace, the helplessness of the child is combined with the strength and energy of the man. Except we receive the kingdom of heaven as a little child, we cannot enter therein; yet it is the same kingdom of heaven that suffereth violence, and which the violent take by force. (A. Moody Stuart, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. |
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