Somewhere in our misplaced system of values, we find ourselves coveting the front-page status of public figures, as if their lives are of greater value than our own, their work more significant than ours. The star status that is afforded athletes, politicians, and actors, among others, often seems to create a different class of person, based solely on public notoriety, as if that makes them more valuable than others. The reality of life is that most of the work that is done which keeps this world in operation is often done by folks whose names are unknown to the masses and whose actions are little noticed on the grand scale of life.
The New Century Version of our text today translates this brief Psalm in the following manner:
Lord, my heart is not proud; I don't look down on others.
I don't do great things, and I can't do miracles.
But I am calm and quiet, like a baby with its mother.
I am at peace, like a baby with its mother.
People of Israel, put your hope in the Lord now and forever.
The writer notes the significance of calm and peace in the shadow of the great things others might do. John Durham, in his commentary on this text writes, "The poet has come to the fulfillment of knowing himself as Yahweh knows him and of seeing his potential in Yahweh's perspective instead of in the world's and in his own."
To a great degree, isn't that what the cross does for us? In seeing the power of God's great love at work in the willing servant, Jesus, we see what we can become...cross-bearing followers of Jesus Christ. The world won't recognize the cross as a place of power and influence, nor will it be seen in the context of calm or peace. But in the eyes of God, it is the bridge between sinful human beings and the Creator who calls them...you and me, to salvation and hope.
So, brothers and sisters in Christ, put your hope in the Lord now and forever. May that hope guide your journey, not the recognition of the world around you.
Jim Abernathy
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