Do you know how to quiet your soul? Psalm 131-133

Psalms 131:3 (NASBStr)

O Israel, hope in the Lord

 From this time forth and forever.

You can't really understand the above, third verse in Psalm 131, if you don't read and commit yourself to the truths of the first two.   The third verse is the product of verses one and two.  Read the whole Psalm together:

Psalms 131 (NASBStr)

 O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;

Nor do I involve myself in great matters,

Or in things too difficult for me.

 Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;

Like a weaned child rests against his mother,

My soul is like a weaned child within me.

 O Israel, hope in the Lord

 From this time forth and forever.

The writer can employ us to "hope" in The Lord, only until and after we have released our pride and dependance upon ourselves.  We think we know so much.  After all, we are taught that education raises our potential.   We are told that once we get a degree or certificate of accomplishment that we can have security and even safety ... we are educated.  Yet, in this Psalm the writer realizes that God is a mystery and what is doing in the lives of His people is not always understood.   Preachers think they can explain it all to us.  They have it figured out.  Yet, here we have the writer of Holy Writ who tells us, "No, I don't know!!"   He has decided to be like the child, fully satisfied with the breast milk of a mother; sleeping in the arms of His God.   He has lost his pride and quieted his soul.  Only then can we appreciate the last two lines. We can only "hope" in The Lord when we no longer worry about "what" is happening to us, and "why" it is happening.   Instead we rest in the complete sovereign will of God and relax in His Love and His power to care for me.   We can do this now and forever because He is consistent and He is loving in His consistency.  Note how the writer of the previous Psalm tied his hope in The Lord to the Love of The Lord:

Psalms 130:7 (NASBStr)

O Israel, hope in the Lord;

For with the Lord there is lovingkindness,

And with Him is abundant redemption.