Psalm 131:2,3
Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): David was as a weaned child.
WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): Weaned from what?
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): From the world―the riches, honours, pleasures, and profits of it; as well as from nature, from self, from our own righteousness, and all dependence upon it.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): God’s design is to wean us from everything down here, to bring us to the place where we have no reliance upon material and human resources, to cast us completely upon Himself.
CHARLES BRADLEY (1789-1871): Let us inquire now into the sources of this frame of mind―how we get it. One thing is certain: it is not our work. We do not bring ourselves to it. No infant weans itself. The truth is, it is God that must wean us from the world. We shall never leave it of our own accord. It is God’s own right hand that must draw us from it.
JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): His daily providential dispensations are suited to wean our attachment from everything here, and to convince us that this cannot be our rest.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Who does not see how trials wean us from the world, and purify us from our dross? Nothing tends more to wean us from the world, than the opposition we meet from worldly men.
WILLIAM JAY: We love the world, and it deceives us. We depend on creatures, and they fail us, and pierce us through with many sorrows. We enter forbidden paths, and follow after our lovers; and our way is hedged up with thorns.
CHARLES BRADLEY: At other times the Lord removes from us the thing we love. But He weans us most from the earth by giving us better food.
WILLIAM JAY: The enjoyment of a greater good subdues the relish of a lesser.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): All that is true. But there is something more than that.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Indeed there is.
CHARLES BRADLEY: Weanedness of soul differs essentially from that disgust with the world, to which its ill-usage and meanness sometimes give rise. It is one thing to be angry with the world, or ashamed of it, and another to be weaned from it. Alter the world, ennoble it, and many a proud mind that now despises it, would court it. It is different also from that weariness of spirit which generally follows a free indulgence in earthly enjoyments. There is such a thing as wearing out the affections. Solomon appears to have done this at one period of his life.
JAMES VAUGHAN (1774-1857): A mere apathetic state is the very opposite of obedience.
CHARLES BRADLEY: This weanedness of soul pre-supposes a power left in the soul of loving and desiring. It is not the destruction of its appetite, but the controlling and changing of it. A weaned child still hungers, but it hungers no more after the food that once delighted it; it is quiet without it; it can feed on other things: so a soul weaned from the world, still pants as much as ever for food and happiness, but it no longer seeks them in worldly things, or desires to do so. There is nothing in the world that it feels necessary for its happiness―it knows that it can do without them, and it is ready to do without them whenever God pleases.
THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): Though the weaned child has not what it would have, or what it naturally most desireth, the milk of the breast, yet it is contented with what the mother giveth: it rests upon her love and provision. So are we to be content with what providence alloweth us: Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have;” and Philippians 4:11, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” With such a simplicity of submission should we rest and depend upon God.
ROBERT HAWKER: Yet it is a long time before they are fully weaned.
JAMES VAUGHAN: Observe, the “child”—which is drawn for us to copy―is “weaned:” the process is complete; it has been truly disciplined; the lesson is learned; and now it rests in its “weaning.” The whole image expresses a repose which follows a struggle.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): I was once conversing with a very excellent aged minister and while we were talking about our attitude and feelings, he said, “When I read that passage in the Psalm, ‘My soul is even as a weaned child,’ I wish it were true of me, but I think I should have to make an alteration of one syllable and then it would exactly describe me at times—‘My soul is even as a weaning, rather than a weaned child,’ for,” said he, “with the infirmities of old age, I fear I get fretful and peevish and anxious. And when the day is over I do not feel that I have been in so calm, resigned and trustful a frame of mind as I could desire.”
WILLIAM JAY: The very form of expression, “I have behaved and quieted myself,” reminds us of some risings which were with difficulty subdued. The task to the mother is trying and troublesome. The infant cries, and seems to sob out his heart. He thinks it very hard in her, and knows not what she means by her seeming cruelty, and the mother’s fondness renders all her firmness necessary to keep her at the process; and sometimes she also weeps at the importunity of his dear looks, and big tears, and stretched-out hands. But it must be done—So it is with us.
C. H. SPURGEON: Why is it desirable to be even as a weaned child? It is excellent in every way―for when you are weaned, your desires will no longer worry you. Curb desire and you have struck at the root of half your sorrow! He smarts not under poverty who has learned to be content. He frets not under affliction who is submissive to the Father’s will and lays aside his own. When your desires are held within bounds, your temptations to rebel are ended. You wanted this and you wanted that, and so you quarreled with God—and your Lord and you were seldom on good terms. He did not choose to pamper you and you wanted Him to and so you fretted like a weaning child. Now you leave it to His will and you have peace. The strife is over. Your soul is quieted and behaves itself becomingly. Now also, your resentments against those who injured you are gone. You were angry with a certain person, but your pettishness has ended with your weaning—you see that God sent him to do this which has troubled you and you accept his hard words and cruel actions as from God—and by His Grace, you are angry no more. You do not kick and struggle, now, against your condition and position. And you no longer murmur and complain from day to day as if you were harshly dealt with.
OCTAVIUS WINSLOW (1808-1878): Now the soul trusts in God; trusts Him at all times and under all circumstances; trusts Him in the darkest hour, under the gloomiest dispensation; trusts Him when His providences look dark and lowering, and God seems to hide Himself; yes, trusts Him “though He slay.”
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): This is a hard lesson, and a high attainment, but it is what Christ has called His people to.
