Psalm 131 is a wonderfully humble prayer written by the man after God’s own heart, David. It begins like this:
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me. (Psalm 131:1)
Oh, how I would like to be able to say that I do not occupy myself with things too marvelous for me! How about you?
I’m learning, but I’m slow. God’s ways are not our ways. Nor are his thoughts our thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8) And, if we are honest, aren’t we glad for that? As much as we would prefer to have it otherwise, we are not in control. We are unable to know the intricate, minute details of all that God is doing at any moment in time. David acknowledged our limitation when he penned these words, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” (Psalm 139:6) We can grasp only a tiny fraction of God’s infinite work with our restricted eyesight.
An aperture is a circular opening in a camera lens and is a tool used to properly expose an image. A photographer controls the amount of light that hits the camera sensor by adjusting the size of the opening—wide, very narrow, or anywhere in between. The aperture also affects the level of focus within an image, called depth of field. The wider the aperture, the more limited the focus; the smaller the aperture, the greater the range of focus. A wide open aperture gives a mere sliver of focus—all that is on that linear plane of depth is sharp and can be clearly seen, while everything else is blurry.
Mastering depth of field is a great technique for creating interesting images, but it also reminds me of our limited perspective on life’s circumstances. As finite, fallible, fallen creatures we see life as through a wide open aperture with a narrow line of focus. We don’t see much and what we think we see remains mostly blurred.
I wonder if, in our practical day-to-day walk, we forget that God is not like us, that his view is not limited as ours is. God has full, perfect knowledge of all things—this is his omniscience. He is fully present everywhere all the time—this is his omnipresence. He is powerful enough to do whatever he pleases for his glory and his children’s good—this is his omnipotence. He is beyond our understanding.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”
How often have you and I bemoaned our circumstances with “Why?!”, “How long?!”, and “If only I knew….”? How often have we run to the world with our troubles in an effort to find a quick solution? How often, in our difficult times, have we forgotten the one who holds us in his hands?
Peace comes not in our complaints, nor in our striving to control the problem. We will not find peace sleuthing Google for answers. Peace only comes as we trust in God. What if, instead of occupying ourselves with things too marvelous for us to understand, we put our “hope in the LORD from this time forth and forever more”?(Psalm 131:3)
What if we learned to rest in the everlasting arms of the LORD Almighty and leave the secret things to him, as we do what we are called to do: simply trust and obey? (Deuteronomy 29:29) - God is everywhere.
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
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