Reading through Psalms

Psalm 131:1
O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty...

At first glance, this seems to read along the same lines as our sarcastic humor regarding humility.  We often joke that we are the most humble person in the room, or our humility is unsurpassed, or you need to be as humble as I.  This hit me in a different way this morning though, especially coming off Psalm 101, which was the preceding Psalm in my exercise of reading 5 Psalms a day, 30 chapters apart (today I read 11, 41, 71, 101 & 131.

Psalm 101:5
...No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.

David understands the LORD does not want a proud king, a proud man--a proud heart.  David understands the penalty is separation from God--death; so he sought God's heart and not his own.  I think we can relate these Psalms to today's vernacular a bit better than the NASB in this case--don't take me for being proud of this, as that would negate this entire entry!

The rest of 131:1 in the NASB reads:  ...Nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me.

I think this is the case of David, leading his family, the Israelites, on a life journey and getting lost in the land of Bathsheba, child-rearing issues and war.  The cliche' joke of men not wanting to ask for directions is a valid concern because men leading their families don't want to give any impression of stupidity, waywardness and insufficiency.  A man wants his family to trust in him, so he acts like he knows where he's going, refusing to seek direction from the lowly inhabitants of the land.

A man of God, though, says, "I ain't proud.  Let's stop for directions."

If you are a man and have stopped for directions, this has got to be the attitude of your heart whether you verbalize in true southern style or not.  The way I would translate 131:1& 3 in the language of the Southeastern United States is:  "God, I ain't proud...I'm counting on You to get me to my final destination."

David is not bragging about being humble; his statement of humility is one of admission of his position as a man compared with the position of God who created David along with the universe.  Many times, we won't have the answers to struggles in life, which direction we should go, why God set things up this way--but God has direction to give.  He asks that we model David's pursuit of God's heart and instead of trying to have it altogether, turning down whatever road looks best; He wants us to simply stop and say, "I ain't proud, LORD.  Direct my steps because you are my only hope of getting to my final destination."

Earlier, I mentioned that a man wants his family to trust him.  A man after God's heart, though, wants his family to trust Him--God.  Don't be too proud to stop and ask for directions.  Jesus humbled Himself to ridicule, spit, torture, and death by being nailed to a cross.  After going through that, He is not going to make fun of you, slap you around or give you faulty directions.  He wants you to get there (2 PET 3:9, 13); just stop, don't be proud and ask Him for your next step.