A Song of degrees of David.
1 LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty:
Neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.
2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself,
As a child that is weaned of his mother:
My soul is even as a weaned child.
3 Let Israel hope in the LORD
From henceforth and for ever.
In this sweet psalm, a great one in Israel testifies of God’s grace in his heart and exhorts his brethren to imitation. King David (see title) wrote transparently at the risk of criticism for the glory of His Savior who was the source and power for spiritual transformation. Three great virtues predominate: humility, tranquility, and hope—all the fruit of the Spirit.
Every real Christian has at least the mustard seed of these virtues. In a few, the most mature, they have grown into a great tree where birds can lodge. The candid testimony of senior saints like David should encourage every true disciple concerning the Lord’s mighty work in him and kindle our aspirations of spiritual perfection.
The Humble Heart (v. 1)
This is the language of prayer addressed to the LORD, the living God who faithfully keeps covenant with His chosen people. It is a very solemn thing to speak to God, and yet it is very comforting for the upright, since He knows their utter sincerity.
This testimony of humility moves from the heart or soul, to the face or appearance, to the manner of life. Humility permeates any who truly have it. A proud countenance and proud conduct betray the proud constitution.
But the psalmist truly says, “My heart is not haughty.” This word is derived from another meaning “high” (as the Hebrew original). It means “proud and disdainful; having a high opinion of one’s self, with some contempt for others; lofty and arrogant.”1 Only by knowing God do we really come to know ourselves. His revelation that He is most holy and that we are deeply and desperately sinful in His sight knocks the props from our arrogant boasting. The loftiest saints are lowest in their own sight. When Martin Luther had ignited a host of zealous Reformers in his wake, he mourned that some were calling themselves Lutherans. He wrote, in his own unforgettable way,
The first thing I ask is that people should not make use of my name, and should not call themselves Lutherans, but Christians. What is Luther? The teaching is not mine. Nor was I crucified for anyone. . . . How did I, poor stinking bag of maggots that I am, come to the point where people call the children of Christ by my evil name?2
The fruit of humility is to know one’s place and limitations. Proud ambition thrusts fools into spheres above them before they are ready, where vanity proves their undoing and they are humiliated at last.
The Tranquil Heart (v. 2)
The testimony of godliness continues with bald assertion and plain illustration. “Surely I have behaved and quieted myself.” “Behaved” is used with the old sense of “restrained, governed, subdued;” the Hebrew word can mean “settled” and “soothed.”3 The addition of the verb “quieted” confirms this understanding and adds intensity to the direction of the manly struggle. The exact phrasing is an oath of denial strongly affirming a positive, like this, “If I have not subdued and quieted my heart”—LORD, you would know, let me be punished, etc (implied). The arrogant person justifies being perturbed by annoyances; the humble submits patiently to vexing and painful Providence.
The weaned child illustrates his state of mind. O, how the little baby impetuously demands its hunger be satisfied immediately (1 Pet 2.2)! We expect that from the infantile, but an older child who is fully weaned takes comfort in his mother’s lap even without his mother’s breast. David’s self-mastery shows more valor than his conquest of Goliath.
It is time for us all to stop making excuses when we get so upset over relative trivialities. We would experience the blessing of heart tranquility to a much greater degree if we more deeply humbled ourselves in the Lord’s presence and assumed greater responsibility to quiet ourselves. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Prov 16.32).
The Hopeful Heart (v. 3)
With awareness that these words would be sung in the holy congregation, David exhorts his fellows to look by faith to God with confident expectancy of His inevitable and eternal blessing upon them. “Hope” is imperative, the duty of every worshipper among the Lord’s chosen people. Biblical hope fosters humility and tranquility. Who are we, that God should bless us with so great salvation (2 Sam 7.18–19; Heb 2.3)? Why should we let bumps on the road of our pilgrimage throw us into a fretful spirit when, by His powerful grace and mercy, our destination is sure and unspeakably glorious?
As Christians, you know these things are true, yet who among us would deny that we need to make more progress in them? Our Perfect Exemplar calls us heavenward, and “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1.6). Amen. Ω
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1 Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.
2 http://mluther.ccws.org/reformer/xv.html
3 Webster’s 1828 Dictionary; LH-EIB.