Lately I’ve heard about numerous difficult providences in a variety of believers’ lives. They include things related to marriage, parenting, singleness, childlessness, joblessness, just to name a few. Far too often for my comfort level I grope for explanations to bring encouragement in the face of such gargantuan hurts.
Frequently I find myself pointing folks to a pertinent text in the psalms when all else fails – Psalm 131.
[A SONG OF ASCENTS. OF DAVID.]
[131:1] 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.
Not everything, but more than we might like to think in life, qualifies for the categories of too great and marvelous. So many things belong to the secret things of God and not for us (Deut. 29:29). What are we to do in such instances? Calm and quiet ourselves. Don’t miss the word picture. Calm and quiet like a weaned child who no longer clamors for milk from its mother’s breast.
How do we do that? Verse 3 – Hope in the Lord, always. Matthew Henry said it well: Thus does a gracious soul quiet itself under the loss of that which it loved and disappointment in that which it hoped for, and is easy whatever happens, lives, and lives comfortably, upon God and the covenant-grace, when creatures prove dry breasts.
Creatures prove dry breasts more than not, especially in the hard providences of life. Let us live comfortably, calm and quiet upon God and the covenant grace of His Son, Jesus, in the gospel.
curtheffelfinger.com 
This verse has been more than a comfort for me in recent days. Life has been very difficult with all the loses, demands and stresses God has been so gracious to allow Olivia and me to endure. Olivia has endure with a gracious spirit that can only be described as “angelic”. I, however, am ashamed to admit but have struggled with God to see His hand of loving grace flowing in my life. Pastor Curt challenged me recently to memorize these verse in Psalm 131 and things haven’t been the same; the Holy Spirit has been good to me and lit in my soul the gospel’s flame. I can’t figure out jobs, security for my family, how to be a great hubby all the time, etc. but God can! So, all of this rambling to say, like a child is filled with good from his mother’s supply and thus secure and calm, so am i LEARNING to be satisfied with all the good that my Father supplies – even when my foolishness perceives them as bad, or maybe just not God’s best. No matter what He is for my 100% good and that is quite comforting!
Thanks, friend, for the vulnerable and substantive comment. You make me want to be a better pastor.