Psalm 131--I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul

Psalm 131
English Standard Version

I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
131 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.
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.
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3 O Israel, hope in the LORD
    from this time forth and forevermore.

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David is having trouble worshiping the LORD.  The LORD knows David's heart and what's going on in his life, so David just opens up to the LORD in a very brief song asking the LORD to help him not to worry.  There are things that are too big for David to spend time and energy thinking about, because they are God-sized problems.  David chooses to put those things out of his mind and says that he has done what he can to quiet his soul.

David compares a soul in distress to a nursing child.  As long as you keep responding to its demands giving it what it wants, it will keep making more noise so that you will pacify it (like a nursing mother who gives milk to the infant not only to feed it, but also to make the baby go to sleep or stop having a tantrum).  The process of weaning the child is hard, but once that supply of milk has been shut off, the child learns a little more self-control.  David compares the situation he's going through to weaning a child like this.  He needs to stop giving attention to the negative thoughts and feelings he has--he needs to stop feeding them whenever they "make noise."  He needs to choose to be calm and a peace and rest in who the LORD is what He can do, because David is unable to handle all of life's problems.

David then turns to the nation of Israel that he leads and tells them that this is good advice for them.  They need to hope in the LORD from now forevermore.  Fear and faith should not occupy the same space.  That is, when we are afraid we are putting faith in the things that we see and can't control, but when we have faith, we can be at peace and rest because we put our trust in the one who big enough, powerful enough, good enough, wise enough and strong enough to take care of all of our concerns in the right way at the right time.  This is why we have so many commands in the Bible to "fear not" or "fret not" depending on your translation.  "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." (2 Timothy 1:7)