The way kids show up – Part 2

Psalm 131 continued. See part 1 here.

My eyes are not haughty

Have you ever let your success get in the way of your relationships? This is a problem many of us deal with. Even the phrase, “if I can do it, anyone can” lends itself to making us feel better about ourselves, and look down on others. Haughtiness is a supercharged form of pride. The word actually means to lift up, or in this case, to lift ones self up and therefore be looking down on others. 

In the context of Psalm 131, “my eyes are not haughty” David is saying something like “I’m not looking down on others because of where my life has taken me. I’m not concerned with where I’m at. I’m grateful for my experiences and what I have been able to do, but it’s not changing how I view other people.”

There are many reasons that we think we are better than others; we work harder, or come from a better family of origin. We believe our ethnicity or the language we speak is better. On and on, the human race has no end to the ways we lift ourselves up at the expense of others! 

In this psalm, David is taking a stand and saying, “I have not, and I will not let my experiences and the choices I’ve made get in the way of my relationship between me and you God. Neither will I allow them to let me look down on others who have not had the same opportunities or whose life journeys have led them down vastly different paths.” David is declaring that he is going to continue to focus on his pursuit of God. 

I can be proud of my accomplishments and yet I do not have to let them change how I see my role in the world as a servant. My accomplishments do not have to change my view of God or my belief that I do not deserve His grace. I have not let them change the way I value other people. 

I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me 

I don’t know about you, but I grew up in America. I grew up hearing that I could do whatever I wanted. As long as I worked hard. I could accomplish anything, I could do anything. It turns out that is just a bald-faced lie. There are certain things in your life you will never be able to do. Now this line is not saying that you should remember your position or station. That because you were born with this color skin you can only get so far in life or that because you are a certain gender you are disqualified from certain positions. What I believe David is saying here is there are jobs, positions, and activities in this life that are good, but they are not for him. Psalm 131 is a Psalm of Ascents and those were sung as pilgrims approached the city of Jerusalem. So in being drawn to God, we need to realize that good things can and will get in the way of our approach to him.  Activities and enjoyments in life can block us from reaching our destination of meeting with God in a posture that allows us to get the most from God. Some of those things might be fine for other people who are also pursuing God, but He has said those things are too great for me. I can’t handle them because they’re going to distract me from my relationship with God.  

The human journey quite often includes hearing about wonderful and great people who have accomplished wonderful and great things. They are held up as heroes and we want to be just like them. We set a goal to be wonderful and great and when we hit our first level of success we are disappointed that everyone around us isn’t as proud of us as we are of ourselves. Our feeling of accomplishment quickly fades and we aren’t satisfied with what we’ve done anymore. The feeling of success escapes us and moves to another level. We now have to accomplish bigger wonderful and great things to recapture the feeling of success again. Every time we think we’ve made it, we realize it was a trap, the markers have moved. Will we ever feel fulfilled in this life?

It has helped me to avoid this trap by seeing success as doing my best in any given situation. Anything I am doing I can be successful at. However, as a follower of Jesus, my sense of accomplishment is tied to Jesus. If I am seeking his fullness, I can be fulfilled in anything I do. This also helps me stay in a place of gratitude. When I’m fulfilled in Jesus, and not in my accomplishment, I am free to do the things others find beneath them. Pride will no longer have a hold on me. To be honest, I don’t always get it right. I still struggle with comparing myself to others. I still complain about the tasks that I think are below me or too simple, but I am on a journey of following Jesus. I’m learning to move forward, towards everything I do giving me fulfillment because I’ve let His fullness guide me.

How about you? Where are you on this journey? I’d love to hear from you, leave a comment below!

You can view the sermon this post was derived from here.

My next post will dive into moving on from this type of thinking into the posture of a child as we approach their parent.