je suis apaisé

Psaume 131
Seigneur, je suis sans prétention,
mon regard ne manifeste pas d’ambition.
Je ne vise pas la grandeur, ni ce qui est trop haut pour moi.
Au contraire, je reste calme et tranquille,
comme un jeune enfant près de sa mère.
Comme cet enfant, je suis apaisé.
Israël, compte sur le Seigneur, dès maintenant et toujours.

Psalm 131
O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me.
Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
my soul is like a weaned child within me.
O, Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.

My first (and only) language is English. I've studied french and spent some time in France learning the language, but I'm far from fluent. I've studied even less of spanish, german, latin, and greek, but I like to read the psalms in these other languages sometimes. I often don't understand what I'm reading unless I read the English too, but I'm o.k. at pronunciation and can at least sound out the words. A silly thing to do perhaps, which is probably one reason why I do it:) Included in my reasons for multilingual-psalm-reading is a meager academic attempt to keep up with the vocabulary and grammar I've learned in each of those languages, but more so I think it helps me to appreciate the fact that the word of God is not bound by words, language, or culture. It helps me to visualize the reality being spoken, and not get distracted by the familiarity of the English words being spoken. For some reason the image of a child resting on her mothers breast in Psalm 131 is more vivid when the letters, words, and sentences are foreign to me.

And the image is beautiful! I've looked on as my sister has nursed each of her three daughters. When a baby wants to eat, no matter how chubby and well fed she may be, she cries and kicks and almost panics until she latches onto her mother. The baby's affection is based on what she can get from her mother. But a weaned child no longer needs breast milk, and yet the psalm depicts that child resting on her mother's breast nonetheless - not because of what her mother will give her, but simply to be near her. The child's affection is based on appreciation and love, irrespective of what her mother will do for her.

The psalm of course is comparing the child's relationship to her mother with that of the christian's to her Lord. And I find it a very accurate comparison. O, that I would give up such infantile behavior and relax - just rest and enjoy His presence.