1 Jehovah, not haughty is my heart,
And not lofty are mine eyes;
And I go not into great things,
Nor things too wonderful for me.
2 I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with its mother,
Like the weaned child is my soul with me.
3 Let Israel hope in Jehovah,
From now, even for evermore.
A quiet, because self-quieted, heart speaks here in quiet accents,
not unlike the "crooning" of the peaceful child on its mother's
bosom, to which the sweet singer likens his soul. The psalm is the
most perfect expression of the child-like spirit, which, as Christ
has taught, is characteristic of the subjects of the kingdom of
heaven. It follows a psalm of penitence, in which a contrite soul
waited on Jehovah for pardon, and, finding it, exhorted Israel to
hope in His redemption from all iniquity. Consciousness of sin and
conscious reception of redemption therefrom precede true lowliness,
and such lowliness should follow such consciousness.
The psalmist does not pray; still less does he contradict his
lowliness in the very act of declaring it, by pluming himself on it. He
speaks in that serene and happy mood, sometimes granted to lowly souls,
when fruition is more present than desire, and the child, folded to
the Divine heart, feels its blessedness so satisfyingly that fears and
hopes, wishes and dreams, are still. Simple words best speak tranquil
joys. One note only is sounded in this psalm, which might almost be
called a lullaby. How many hearts it has helped to hush!
The haughtiness which the psalmist disclaims has its seat in the
heart and its manifestation in supercilious glances. The lowly heart
looks higher than the proud one does, for it lifts its eyes to the
hills, and fixes them on Jehovah, as a slave on his lord. Lofty
thoughts of self naturally breed ambitions which seek great spheres
and would intermeddle with things above reach. The singer does not
refer to questions beyond solution by human faculty, but to worldly
ambitions aiming at prominence and position. He aims low, as far as
earth is concerned; but he aims high, for his mark is in the heavens.
Shaking off such ambitions and loftiness of spirit, he has found
repose, as all do who clear their hearts of that perilous stuff.
But it is to be noted that the calm which he enjoys is the fruit of
his own self-control, by which his dominant self has smoothed and
stilled the sensitive nature with its desires and passions. It is
not the tranquillity of a calm nature which speaks here, but that
into which the speaker has entered, by vigorous mastery of disturbing
elements. How hard the struggle had been, how much bitter crying
and petulant resistance there had been before the calm was won, is
told by the lovely image of the weaned child. While being weaned it
sobs and struggles, and all its little life is perturbed. So no man
comes to have a quiet heart without much resolute self-suppression.
But the figure tells of ultimate repose, even more plainly than of
preceding struggle. For, once the process is accomplished, the child
nestles satisfied on the mother's warm bosom, and wishes nothing more
than to lie there. So the man who has manfully taken in hand his own
weaker and more yearning nature, and directed its desires away from
earth by fixing them on God, is freed from the misery of hot desire,
and passes into calm. He that ceases from his own works enters into
rest. If a man thus compels his "soul" to cease its cravings for what
earth can give, he will have to disregard its struggles and cries,
but these will give place to quietness; and the fruition of the
blessedness of setting all desires on God will be the best defence
against the recurrence of longings once silenced.
The psalmist would fain have all Israel share in his quietness of
heart, and closes his tender snatch of song with a call to them
to hope in Jehovah, whereby they, too, may enter into peace. The
preceding psalm ended with the same call; but there God's mercy
in dealing with sin was principally in question, while here His
sufficiency for all a soul's wants is implied. The one secret of
forgiveness and deliverance from iniquity is also the secret of rest
from tyrannous longings and disturbing desires. Hope in Jehovah
brings pardon, purity, and peace.