What Do You Need to Have Peace?
Coty Pinckney [This Sunday, I plan to preach on Psalms 129, 130 and 131. In 2009 I preached on Psalm 131 as part of a series entitled “The Gospel for Two-Year-Olds – Like You!” This devotion is a shortened form of the second sermon in that series, preached August 30, 2009. You can listen to that sermon via this link – Coty]
What do you need in order to have peace?
That is, what do you need in order to rest completely?
- A well-paying job, in your preferred field, with a good boss?
- Good grades, a respected degree?
- A sense of accomplishment, of usefulness, of being needed?
- A loving spouse, with a satisfying sex life?
- Happy and obedient children?
- A certain level of income – and a house, a good car, nice clothes?
- Respect from others? Love?
Or to put it another way: How would you complete this sentence: “I would be content if I just had _____”
In Psalm 131, David gives a beautiful picture of the peace we can have with God:
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.
David Powlison says this psalm is “show-and-tell for how to become peaceful inside,” while Charles Spurgeon notes, “It is one of the shortest Psalms to read, but one of the longest to learn.” So let’s begin to learn how to relax and rest in God like a well-fed two-year-old with her mother.
The Psalmist at Peace
David describes his peaceful condition through three negative statements:
- His heart is not lifted up
- His eyes are not raised too high
- He does not focus on what is beyond him.
In Hebrew, the word “heart” refers to the entire inner being: Emotions, intellect, and will. So the first statement refers to what David is thinking of himself. He does not exalt himself.
The second statement refers to where I think I am going: My plans, goals, ambitions, desires, worries, pressures, and fears. In effect, he is saying: “I have no plans to exalt myself in the future, for I have no need to prove myself.”
These first two statements together describe a man who is humble, not self-centered.
What do these have to do with peace?
When you are not at peace, you are not humble. You are saying, “My status is more important than anything else. No matter who God is, no matter what promises He may have made, I cannot have peace unless I have X.”
Two-year-olds are like this, aren’t they? He sees cookies just out of the oven cooling on the counter, and asks for one. When told no, they are for later, he becomes upset and declares, “I need a cookie!” Regardless of how loving and giving his parents might be, he has no peace because he doesn’t have a cookie.
In effect, he is saying to his parents, “You say you provide, but you’re not giving me this cookie. I can’t be happy without it! So you must not be loving parents! If you really loved me you would give me what I want!”
Contrast that with David’s attitude. He is saying, “I’m not magnifying my perception of needs, my plans, my schemes. I am not worried about my present state or my future. I am not driven by what other people think of me now, or what they will think of me in future. I am at peace, resting on God.”
In David’s third negative statement, he declares that he does not occupy himself or walk around in “things too great and too marvelous for me.” This too is a statement of humility. He admits there is much that is beyond his ability to understand – that God knows, and he does not. The point is not, “Don’t think about such things!” David was king! He certainly was concerned about perplexing events in his country. But he did not say, “I cannot have peace unless I know the answer to these questions!” We can be concerned, we can weep with those who weep, and still have peace, still be at rest, trusting in the One Who knows all things, Who controls all things. We can be like a two-year-old who experiences a deep sorrow – yet rests in his loving parent’s arms. He can’t understand – and doesn’t have to.
How do we – as two-year-olds before God – come to that state?
How to Become Peaceful
After the three negative statements in verse 1, David makes a positive statement in verse 2:
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
Note that David is active, not passive. As the NAS renders the verse, ”Surely I have composed and quieted my soul.” He has worked to bring about this state.
What has he done? The first verb literally means “made level,” while the second connotes being still, being at rest. Then note that “soul” in Hebrew refers not to the immortal or immaterial part of you, but more to the part of your being that has desires and passions.
So David says here: “I have taken initiative. I have made level my passions and desires. These things I want do not control me. I am tempted to let my passions and desires run my life, not to have peace unless they are fulfilled. But I have resisted those temptations.”
Note that he is not saying, “I have stifled all desire. I am hardened to whatever happens. I have no more passions.” Scripture never commends that attitude. We are to rejoice, to love, to mourn, to weep.
Rather, what David has done is to level out those desires, to knock them down to size, to quiet their cries and to put them in their proper place.
David then compares this state to the two-year-old on his mother’s lap. While the word translated “weaned” can mean a child who no longer nurses, it can also mean a child who has just finished nursing. I think that’s the image here. The child has nursed. She has all she needs. She has satisfied her hunger. She feels safe and secure and loved on her mother’s breast. She is completely at peace.
This is the picture of all who are in Jesus before God – loved, provisioned, protected, peaceful. For He promises us His love (1 John 3:1). He promises us protection (2 Timothy 4:18). He promises us the food and clothing we need to fulfill His purposes (Matthew 6:31-33). And He promises us His constant presence (Hebrews 13:5).
So we can rest peacefully on Him. Yes, we will be perplexed at times; we will weep at times; we will often have deep concerns. But we don’t live lives dominated by those concerns. We still and quiet our souls; we make level our passions; we rest in His love, in His provision.
Therefore we won’t say, “I can only have peace if I have _____!” We have Him. We have all that we need.
The Source of Peace
In the first two verses, David does not make explicit the source of his contentment. He does that in the final verse:
O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.
Here David calls on all God’s people to do what he has done. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus, everyone who is part of God’s holy nation (1 Peter 2:9) must hope in the Lord!
This exhortation is both what we must do and why we can rest.
That little child hopes in his mother and father. He doesn’t understand much about what is going on, but he trusts them. He isn’t able to provide for himself, but he believes they will provide. He sees, perhaps, dangers in the world, but he trusts their protection.
Just so with us before God.
And note that this is to go on forevermore! We never outgrow sitting on that restful lap!
How do we put this into practice? What is the spiritual dynamic at play here?
When we are tempted to fret, to worry, to lack peace, we are to calm and quiet our souls by reminding ourselves of God’s character, of His plan of redemption, and of His promises: He promises to work all things together for our good and His glory; He promises to redeem all of creation, creating a new heavens and new earth; He promises to right every wrong, to wipe away every tear; He promises to make us like Jesus – forever and ever.
Consider in particular the overarching promise of Luke 12:32. Jesus says,
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
This is what God wants to do! If you are in Christ, He wants to give you His kingdom! He wants to bring you into His presence. He wants to shower you with His love. He wants you to be His precious child, His heir. He wants to grant you a new body in the new heavens and new earth. He wants to use you for His glory, so that you play a role in the greatest accomplishment of all time.
And remember: Whatever God pleases, He does (Psalm 135:6). Nothing can stop Him.
So how can you rest? What do you need in order to have peace?
We can make long lists of things we think we need. We can allow ourselves to get all worked up and upset and fretful because of what we lack.
But really there is only one thing we need.
What we need is Jesus – and nothing else.
Every other good in this life – everything we lack, everything we think we need – fundamentally Is not valuable in and of itself. Rather: if received, it is most valuable because it is a token of love from the One who loves us more than we can imagine. And if God withholds it from us – then He has something better. Even that withholding – painful as it may be – is for our good.
So away with all thoughts of, “I would be happy if …” or “I need answers to life’s questions before I can be at peace.”
The only question that matters is: Do you have Jesus?
Apart from Him – you cannot trust any of His promises. You cannot rest on God’s lap. You cannot know His love. For we all deserve punishment (Psalm 130:3). We need someone to pay the penalty for us. We need someone to stand in our place.
Those who are in Jesus have peace with God because He took on that penalty at the Cross (Romans 5:1, 8).
So believe in Him. Trust Him.
He is the one thing you need for peace. Not a house. Not a job. Not fulfillment. Not recognition. Not status. Not a spouse or sex or children.
Having Jesus: Fight the fight to believe. Remind yourself of Who God is. Meditate on His promises. And know: If you have Jesus, peace is yours. Rest in Him.
“O Israel: Hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.”