Cultivating A Child-Like Faith: Sunday Devotion

Psalm 131:1-3 Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk.  Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord— now and always.

This psalm of King David seemed to be out of character, for David had slew lions and bears to protect his father’s sheep, and he had slain the giant Goliath with just a slingshot and a stone. He had every right to be proud and haughty as God’s chosen king of Israel.

Yet, he writes that he is neither proud nor haughty. The absence of these traits derived from his awareness that his faith and hope in the Lord God of Israel enabled him to succeed in all his endeavors. Indeed, David wrote that he didn’t even worry about situations that arose in his life.

Like a child weaned from his mother’s breast, David remained calm in the face of matters too great or too awesome to grasp. With a child-like faith, David always placed his hope in the Lord God of Israel and encouraged his people to do likewise.

Children don’t worry about where their next meal will come from or if they will have everything they need. Instead, they trust that their parents will provide for them. Children don’t ask their parents about bills or issues that concern only adults. They just live each day, leaving things in the hands of their parents.

It is this type of child-like faith and hope that the Lord requires of the people of God who confess that He is the Lord of their lives. In Matthew 18:3, Jesus told His disciples, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

As adults, we often come to believe that all our successes happened on our own strength, and we can become proud, arrogant, and haughty, thinking we are superior to others. But, as people of God, all that we have and all that we have become is because of the power of God in our lives.

So, today, no matter what we are facing or how crazy the world seems in its divisions and disasters, let us be like children, not overly concerned about the outcomes of life’s ups and downs. Just keep believing there is nothing too hard for the Lord God, acknowledging He is still in control. People of God, place your hope in Him, now and always.

Amen.