Have you ever felt the need to be an expert in something that you are clearly not qualified to be an expert about? Do you do a little research on the internet and then declare your rock-solid position?
I want to help take the pressure off of you and the feeling that you need to have that expert opinion, by looking at a very simple verse from Psalm 131.
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. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. (Psalm 131:1–2, ESV).
Ancient Israel sang this on their way up to Jerusalem during the feast to worship God. It speaks to our tendency to feel that we need to be experts about things that we have no business proclaiming ourselves experts in.
To say, "God, I'm not going to occupy myself with things that are too great and too marvelous for me. Instead, I'm going to be like a baby nourished by its mother -- as I cling to you, as I depend upon you. But you, God, are the expert. You are the one who knows what I need. You are the one that is all-wise and all-knowing, that's not me. And certain things are too high and too wonderful for me."
Some have said it like this, "Stay in your lane. Know who you are and know who you aren't."
I remember a day where I was running at a local track. There were six lanes. I was doing a bit of track work. I had to decide what lane to run in. The slower a runner is, the further they should go to the outside lane. Faster runners run on the inside lanes.
When I got to the track that day, no one was around. I was contemplating and feeling kind of good about my running ability at that time. I thought, "I think maybe I'm a lane two, or maybe even a lane one kind of guy."
But I thought about it. I pondered it. And I realized, "No, I think I'm a middle lane guy. I think I'm a lane three or lane four. I don't want to try to aspire to a lane that's not mine."
I'm glad I made the middle-lane decision because after I got a few laps into my workout, a true lane one runner got out of his car and came down to the track. And pretty soon he was just burning miles up, passing me over and over again. I'm glad I didn't have to get humbled and move over for him and his speed. I was already in the correct lane! I was saved the embarrassment because I had said to myself, "I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me."
Hey, let's know our lane. Sometimes our opinions -- medical, governmental, ecclesiastical, parental, educational, eschatological, or otherwise -- are wrong. Sometimes they are beyond our lane.
Let's occupy the lane that God has for us, refusing to occupy ourselves with things too great or too wonderful for us.
