But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. (Psalm 131:2 ESV)
Weaned
A calm and quiet soul… that sounds great, but how do we have that? It might seem that the Psalmist is telling us to be like a child, trusting our God like a child trusts well-known parents.
But there is more here.
A calm and quiet soul is not like any old child. But rather a weaned child.
A child who has grown used to being fed by mother. Never going without. Never in fear of being hungry. So often, and so regularly, that the child does not doubt.
And now, with that as a backdrop, the child is done being fed so obviously by the child’s mother.
Now they are weaned. Now they are more on their own. Now they are responsible, to some degree, for the work of feeding themselves.
That kind of child, weaned, goes out with knowledge of what food is like. That kind of child, weaned, goes out with confidence because of the nearby mother. That kind of child, weaned, goes out with calmness because fear is far away.
God has weaned us. Not that He has cut us off… but He teaches us, nurtures us, feeds us… and now, weaned, we have calmness and peace. Because we know He enabled and enables us. He guided and guides us. He fed and feeds us.
We are not on our own, of course.
But He makes us willing and able to live for Him, out in the world.