With a Child's Heart

Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I do not get involved with things too great or too difficult for me. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself like a little weaned child with its mother; I am like a little child. Israel, put your hope in the Lord, both now and forever. (Psalm 131:1-3) (HCSB)

"I am like a little child." As the writer of this psalm, what was King David trying to express? What was he trying to say to the nation of Israel? I believe that he was both warning and encouraging his readers with this short psalm. He was warning them, and ultimately us as well, to beware of pride and haughtiness, and encouraging us to keep our proper perspective so that we can worship the Lord with our heart in the right place. As we grow and mature we become more independent. We learn how to do more and more things on our own until we don't need help from our parents or others, and we ultimately mature to adulthood. We come to a place where we achieve total independence and we take pride in that. But many of us go beyond that, and instead of growing up and becoming independent from just our parents, we also outgrow our need for God. We become proud and haughty, and we believe that all that we've achieved was by our own power, and so, we have no real need for God. Our hearts grow hard, and we lose the ability to simply trust in the Lord even when there's mountains of evidence all around us. Like Pharoah we harden our hearts and don't respect or revere God even though He's doing miracles right before our eyes.

Keith Green, one of the pioneers of contemporary Christian music, wrote a song with his wife, Melody, called "Soften Your Heart". The song conveys a message of hope and salvation that he's trying to get across to his listeners. Take a look at some of the lyrics:

So many times I've tried to tell you
but I don't think you've been listening
There's nothing I wanna try and sell you
'cause His love is free
You're so proud of saying you're a seeker
but why are you searching in the dark
You won't find a thing until you soften your heart
The message is oh so very simple
you gotta be like a child to see
'cause Jesus said, "Let the little children come unto me."
You try to make things too complicated
but you really don't have to be so smart
You won't learn a thing until you soften your heart

I think Keith got it right. We try to make everything too complicated, we try to figure out how to do it ourselves, but the real message is so simple. Jesus loves us and gave His life to pay for our mistakes so that we can be reconciled with Father God. He wants us to turn away from our sins and simply trust Him, humbly coming to Him with the pure faith of a child. Let's look at what Jesus said:

(Mark 10:13-16) Some people were bringing little children to Him so He might touch them, but His disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw it, He was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to Me. Don't stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you: Whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." After taking them in His arms, He laid His hands on them and blessed them. (HCSB)

(Matt. 18:1-4) At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Then He called a child to Him and had him stand among them. "I assure you," He said, "unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child--this one is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (HCSB)

So let's all soften our hearts, be converted and become like children. Let's humble ourselves and keep the right perspective--that God is Lord of all and we need to trust in Him, not in our own strength, because we are nothing without Him.

Singing His Praises,
Joey C.