Can we be calm and peaceful and at rest on the inside when all around us is chaos and noise? One of the greatest examples in the Bible of a quiet soul is David, the most famous king of Israel. He was a warrior, politician, family man, visionary, musician, and songwriter. If anyone knew what it meant to face constant stress and pressure, it was David. This ancient king understood something that our frenetic twenty-first-century culture desperately needs. He knew how to have a quiet soul. This week we are going to look at Psalm 131 and see that only God is utterly worthy of our hope and will never disappoint us.
1. When you imagine yourself in a calm and peaceful environment, what does it look like for you? When, if ever, did you last find yourself there?
2. Read Psalm 131. Two times David said he was like a “weaned child.” What is the difference between a child that has been weaned and one that has not?
3. Weaning isn’t easy, but it results in allowing God to calm and quiet our noisy, restless souls. In Psalm 131, God revealed that if we want to get to a place where we can quiet and calm ourselves, we have to learn to be weaned. What do you need to be weaned from? What thoughts come to your mind that is so noisy that you can’t find rest?
4. Why do we find it so hard to remove destructive habits and thought patterns from our lives?
5. Psalm 131:1 says, “My heart is not proud, LORD.” Read 1 Peter 5:6-7. Humbling yourself and casting your anxiety are connected as cause and effect -- casting our anxiety on God requires humbling ourselves first. Talk this through with your group. Why do you think it works this way?
6. When you put yourself at the center of every story, you are going to be stressed out. The more you’re willing to immerse yourself in God’s grand story, the lower your anxiety will be. When people’s lives become about serving God through serving and loving other people, greater peace will enter their souls. If you want to find yourself, lose yourself in the story that is greater than you. Serving other people has been a theme in this series. Why does it take humility to serve other people?
7. Read Psalm 131:1b "LORD, my eyes are not haughty” What does it mean to have haughty eyes?
8. Read Proverbs 14:30. How could you state this verse in another way?
9. The third part of Psalm 131:1 says, “I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me." Essentially David is saying, “There’s a lot I don’t know. I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know all the facts. I don’t understand everything. And I’m okay with that. I am okay with not having to feel the weight of controlling everything.” How does thinking you have to be in control of all things lead to stress and anxiety in your life?
10. Read Isaiah 30:15. We can find rest for our souls in quietness and confidence. Faith is about allowing God to set the direction of your life - even when you don’t know the details. Do we actually believe God is in control and that he loves us? If so, then why do we feel we have to play God? Why do we think we have to be in control?
Sermon Notes
• (Psalm 131:1 NIV) "1 My heart is not proud, LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me."
• (Psalm 131:2 NIV) "2 But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content."
• (Psalm 131:3 NIV) "3 Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore."
• (Psalm 131:1 NIV) "1 My heart is not proud, LORD,”
• Wean your focus off of you.
• (Proverbs 4:23 NIV) "23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."
• (1 Peter 5:6–7 NIV) "6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
• (Psalm 131:1 NIV) "LORD, my eyes are not haughty”
• Wean yourself from comparing.
• (Psalm 131:1 NIV) “I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me."
• Wean yourself from desiring to control.
• (Isaiah 30:15 NLT). “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength”
• (Daniel 5:23 NLT) "23 You have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!"
• (Psalm 131:3 NIV) "3 Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore."