This is my superstar:
A couple of weeks ago, my wife was unquestionably my superstar, but now she has some intense competition. (I mean, look at this guy!) But this guy is my superstar, at least for the moment, because he’s teaching me lessons about life I couldn’t learn if it was still just my wife and me. As an example, consider this passage from Psalm 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.
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.
(Psalm 131 ESV)
OK, that is the entire Psalm and not just a passage. The power of the message remains. While my child is not weaned, I like to use the image of my child after he is just fed as a metaphor for a weaned child. If you have not seen a hungry child transition to a full child, you are missing one of the most interesting lessons God has to teach us. A hungry newborn (at least my hungry newborn) becomes very agitated and makes quite a bit of noise until you pick him up. After picking him up, he calms a bit, until he realizes that you have not committed to feeding him just yet, but are surveying the reason for his cries. The hungry newborn then resumes his cries, sometimes much louder than originally, until his mother is prepared to give him his milk and he is on the breast (literally, he cries until he has a good latch on the breast). All this excitement notwithstanding, as soon as he has a good latch and is assured a good feeding, his agitation ceases and he no longer has any cares.
My son can then rest peacefully both while he is on the breast, throughout his changing, and afterwards while both mother and son are sleeping. He does not concern himself with how he will clothe himself, the temperature of the house, which family members are visiting him this weekend, or even when his next feeding will be. Even these small things are “too great and too marvelous” for him, and his soul is calmed and quieted in the security and provision of his mother’s bosom.
I have a feeling this is what is meant by this Psalm. Before God, we do not need to concern ourselves with a roadmap for our sanctification, the various approaches to satisfying our ambition, or even how God will deal with that sin in our hearts that we cannot seem to let go of. We simply need to rest in the security and provision of God’s presence, and allow Him to address His plans for our lives and our souls.
Bless God for using children to teach us the deep things of His kingdom.