Prayer of Quiet Trust

This is an excercise we did on Wednesday 2 May 2018. You can follow it through on this web page, or download the pdf via the link below.

Prayer of Quiet Trust

Our exercise is going to be based on Psalm 131 ...

1 Lord, my heart is not proud;

    my eyes are not haughty.

I don’t concern myself with matters too great

    or too awesome for me to grasp.

2 Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself,

    like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk.

    Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord—

    now and always.

(New Living Translation)

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 marvellous for me.

2 But I have calmed and quietened 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 for evermore.

(English Standard Version)

Here’s a picture of the kind of quiet trust that we’re seeking – the kind we might observe in a young child who is content just to be with his or her mother after weaning.  Try to imagine or visualise this picture of complete contentment – not worrying about anything …

As we hold this picture in our minds we see a picture of utter dependence and complete trust. How does that feel?

How do we get to that place of utter dependence on God and complete trust in God?

The prayer of quiet trust is a silent prayer. We need to be still before God.  It’s about letting go.  Many people find it helpful to stretch out their hands palms downwards as a sign of surrender and letting go – we may want to do this – or we may want to adopt some other position which signifies surrender to God.

Psalm 31, verse 1:

1.     My heart is not proud (lifted up)

2.     My eyes are not haughty (raised too high)

3.     I don’t concern myself with matters that are too great for me to grasp

My heart is not proud … we need to let go of the desire to be “in control” or to “take credit”. Sometimes this can be very subtle.  We all have mixed motives.

In the silence ask God to help you let go of these things.

My eyes are not too haughty … to be haughty means to look down on others … thinking of ourselves more highly than we think of others … thinking that we know best.

In the silence ask God to help you let go of these things.

I don’t concern myself with matters that are beyond me … we need to not be preoccupied by the things to which we don’t have answers … we need to let go of the things that worry and distract us … hand each over to God as we feel it bubbling up in our mind.

In the silence ask God to help you let go of these things.