{"id":2496,"date":"2022-01-17T18:00:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T02:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/?p=2496"},"modified":"2022-01-14T14:24:59","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T22:24:59","slug":"20220118-psalm-131","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/blog\/20220118-psalm-131\/","title":{"rendered":"Ascending to Meet with God – Psalm 131"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

1 <\/sup><\/b>O\u202f LORD, my heart is not \u202flifted up;<\/span><\/i><\/b>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 my eyes are not\u202f raised too high;<\/span><\/i><\/b>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I do not\u202f occupy myself with things<\/span><\/i><\/b>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 too great and \u202ftoo marvelous for me.<\/span><\/i><\/b>
\n2\u202f <\/sup><\/b>But I have calmed and quieted my soul,<\/span><\/i><\/b>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 like a weaned\u202f child with its mother;<\/span><\/i><\/b>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 like a weaned child is my soul within me.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n3\u202f <\/sup><\/b>O Israel, hope in the\u202f LORD<\/span><\/i><\/b>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 from this time forth and forevermore.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)<\/span><\/i>\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Theme] True Maturity:\u00a0 Controlling My Heart<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

This short verse ends with \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/span>O Israel<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span> and \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/span>hope in the LORD\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>These are the same words as the seventh verse of the previous psalm, but the difference is that the previous psalm reflects a sinner’s cry after repentance, and this one emphasizes relying on David’s faith.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

David, known as a man after God\u2019s own heart, fully expressed his inner humility before Him.\u00a0 It is mentioned in the scriptures that he was not arrogant, nor was he arrogant before God.\u00a0 David did not dare to do anything beyond his calling, but rather, was willing to submit completely to God\u2019s authority.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Children who have not yet been weaned, as long as they are hungry, will be very anxious to drink milk as soon as they are close to their mother’s chest.\u00a0 And, a child who is completely weaned will not have the same reaction.\u00a0 What the poet expresses here is like a child whose state of mind has matured \u2013 he is no longer impatient and can be completely stable and quiet in the arms of his mother.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

David concluded this poem by calling on God’s people to look to Jehovah from now on and forevermore.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Meditation]<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s recall what David experienced:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When he was a little shepherd boy, he once challenged the giant Goliath to let him know that only by relying on the Lord could he possibly repel the enemy.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When he faced Saul’s pursuit, he knew that he should honor the Lord and be great, and he could not murder God’s anointed at will.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When he had the heart to build a temple for God, but through the dissuasion of the prophet Nathan, he immediately relinquished control and instead, tried his best to prepare the materials for the temple.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When David went to God, he still did not forget to explain his intentions to God, and he could not be arrogant or rash!\u00a0 Let us learn from David and relinquish our pride, cease our childish behavior, cease instigating unreasonable quarrels, humble ourselves before coming to God – knowing that we are below and God is above.\u00a0 Let the infinite God take control of the limited me – always look up to God’s power, control our hearts, and calmly and securely come before God so that our lives will be more mature in Christ!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Prayer]<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Almighty God, I am willing to let go of my pride.\u00a0 You are above and I am below!\u00a0 You are supreme and I am humble.\u00a0 My dear heart:\u00a0 do not act rashly, but respectfully come before God – let God be with me and satisfy all of my needs!<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[<\/b>Memory Verse<\/b>]\u202f<\/b>\u202f\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Psalm <\/span>131:2<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>But<\/span> I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 O\u202f LORD, my heart is not \u202flifted up; \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 my eyes are not\u202f raised too high; \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I do not\u202f occupy myself with things \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 too great and \u202ftoo…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ascending-to-meet-with-god","category-pastor-mickey-hsiao"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2496"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2500,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions\/2500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}