Psalm 131 is a very short Psalm…only three verses. Yet it spells out the recipe for victory over fear and anxiety. Our world today is making it more and more difficult to avoid feeling turmoil within. Let me encourage you to first, read this short Psalm below, and then read Dr. David Jeremiah and Billy Graham’s encouraging words.
Psalm 131:1-3 O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. 2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.
According to medical researchers at Duke University, there is a “vicious cycle” involving insomnia, anxiety, and depression. It’s sort of a “which came first: the chicken or the egg?” scenario. Perhaps it’s the one that presents first, but once the cycle starts it doesn’t matter. Anxiety might cause insomnia, which might result in depression, which might lead to greater anxiety . . . and the cycle continues as the symptoms feed off one another.
Recommended Reading: Psalm 23:1-3
There are plenty of good reasons to be anxious, depressed, and sleepless in today’s world. But Christians have promises from God that should alleviate all three symptoms—promises that God rules over all the earth and knows the beginning from the end of history. Our task is to do what the psalmist David did: He didn’t worry about “great matters” or things “too profound” for him. Instead, he “calmed and quieted” his soul like a “weaned child” at rest in its mother’s lap—peaceful and quiet (Psalm 131:1-2).
God’s job is to guide the world. Your job is to “be anxious for nothing” (Philippians 4:6), to rest in the Father’s promises.
The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say… “Help me.” Billy Graham
Turning Point-Dr. David Jeremiah - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - Calm and Quiet