March 2
‘Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.’ Romans 12:16a
Bible reading: Psalm 131 (Go to the Bible passage)
What delightful peace renders this little psalm by David!
There may be people who - reading this - will think David really fancied himself, when he said, ‘I have calmed and quieted myself.’ But I think they have misunderstood David. David did not boast out of false humility. No, David had tasted the salutary peace that is the share of everybody who lets himself be satisfied by the true source of life: God.
Therefore the image David uses here is so wonderfully apt. Hopefully, we all were once granted the privilege to see a child at his mother’s breast. I really cannot stand it when a mother - nursing her baby - does not dedicate herself completely to her child.
For this is a precious, sacred moment, every time, and we should not disturb it by all sorts of small talk. But the most beautiful moment is - in my opinion - when the baby has drunk its fill and lets go of the breast. Completely relaxed, content and satisfied, it lies in its mother’s arms… That is the moment we should remember when we read this psalm of David.
For likewise, God wants us to be satisfied by the spring of living water that He wants to be for us; to the point of saturation. Then, just as with a weaned baby, all restlessness - so characteristic of a baby that needs to be fed - is gone. Then all becomes quiet inside and nothing can drive away this peace.
What a beautiful metaphor of the life that is to be found in the shelter of the living Lord. Is this not the peace the Bible speaks of: the peace of God which transcends all understanding?

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