Psalms 131:1
A Song of degrees of David. LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.
131:1. LORD, my heart is not haughty. The psalm deals with the Lord, and it is a solitary colloquy with him, not a discourse before other people. We have a sufficient audience when we speak with the Lord, and we may say to him many things which were not proper for the ears of other people. The holy man makes his appeal to Jehovah, who alone knows the heart: we should be slow to do this upon any matter, for the Lord is not to be trifled with; and when anyone ventures on such an appeal he should be sure of his case. He begins with his heart, for that is the center of our nature, and if pride be there it defiles everything. It is a grand thing for a man to know his own heart so as to be able to speak before the Lord about it. It is beyond all things deceitful and desperately wicked; who can know it, unless taught by the Spirit of God? It is a still greater thing if, upon searching himself thoroughly, a man can solemnly protest unto the Omniscient One that his heart is not haughty: that is to say, neither proud in his opinion of himself, contemptuous to others, nor self-righteous before the Lord; neither boastful of the past, proud of the present, nor ambitious for the future.
Nor mine eyes lofty. What the heart desires, the eyes look for. Where the desires run, the glances usually follow. This holy man felt that he did not seek after elevated places where he might gratify his self-esteem, neither did he look down upon others as being his inferiors. A proud look the Lord hates; and in this all people are agreed with him; even the proud themselves hate haughtiness in the gestures of others. Lofty eyes are so generally hateful that haughty men have been known to avoid the manner natural to the proud in order to escape the ill-will of their fellows. The pride which apes humility always takes care to cast its eyes downward, since everyone’s consciousness tells him that contemptuous glances are the sure ensigns of a boastful spirit.
Neither do I exercise myself in great matters. As a private man he did not usurp the power of the king or devise plots against him: he minded his own business, and left others to mind theirs. As a thoughtful man he did not pry into things unrevealed; he was not speculative, self-conceited or opinionated. As a secular person he did not thrust himself into the priesthood as Saul had done before him, and as Uzziah did after him. It is well so to exercise ourselves unto godliness that we know our true sphere, and diligently keep to it. Many through wishing to be great have failed to be good: they were not content to adorn the lowly stations which the Lord appointed them, and so they have rushed at grandeur and power, and found destruction where they looked for honor.
Or in things too high for me. High things may suit others who are of greater stature, and yet they may be quite unfit for us. We do well to know our own size. Such is the vanity of many that if a work be within their range they despise it, and think it beneath them: the only service which they are willing to undertake is that to which they have never been called, and for which they are by no means qualified. What a haughty heart must he have who will not serve God at all unless he may be trusted with five talents at the least! His looks are indeed lofty who disdains to be a light among his poor friends and neighbors here below, but demands to be created a star of the first magnitude to shine among the upper ranks, and to be admired by gazing crowds. It is just on God’s part that those who wish to be everything should end in being nothing. It is a righteous retribution from God when every matter turns out to be too high for the man who exercised himself in things too high for him.
The Treasury of David by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)
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