Psalm 131

³ O Israel, hope in the Lord
From this time forth and forever.

This psalm though short, highlights the underlying qualification of David as “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14)—to wit: that, despite his sins and imperfections, he understood clearly and accurately who he was in relation (and contrast) to God, and how he was therefore to relate to God. — Wechsler, page 312.

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The biblical concept of “pride” … simply entails recognizing (and affirming) what is true of oneself.  The second part of verse 1 not only continues this honest self-assessment, but also implies the contrasting assessment of God (and hence qualifies as worship)—i.e., that what is too great (i.e., incomprehensible, not more important) or too difficult (lit., “too wonderful”—i.e., unattainable) for David, as a created being, is not too great or too difficult (i.e., it is exclusively comprehensible and attainable) for God. — Wechsler, page 313.

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By comparing his soul to a weaned child upon (i.e., resting upon) his mother, David underscores not only his humility and contentment with what is given to him (just as a weaned child is content with the more solid food given to it in place of the mother’s milk), but also his relationship with God, of which one of the most poignant images in any culture is that of a mother and her child. By this imagery is thus portrayed a faith that has matured beyond infancy and which therefore ceases to “cry out” for “great things” and “wonders/signs” and rests content with the more mature “food” of God’s Word. It is this same notion—if not this very psalm—that underlies the comparison of the immature church of Corinth to “babes in Christ” who are not yet ready (i.e., weaned) to receive “solid food” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3; note also that the spiritual gifts emphasized in this church include all the “sign” gifts, whereas those of the more mature Roman church include none of them [Romans 12:6-8]). — Wechsler, pages 313-314.

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Just as in the concluding section of the previous psalm (Psalm 130) the psalmist widens the scope of his personal hope to include Israel as a while, so too her—with the shift from the personal to the collective scope signaled by the same opening words (“O Israel, hope in the LORD”)— David exhorts his people to share with him in the privilege of experiencing the same filial relationship to their Heavenly Father, fraternally reinforced by the same childlike (as opposed to childish) faith. David’s closing qualification serves to compensate for the limitations of the simile in the previous verse, for though a weaned child eventually grows up and leaves his mother, Israel’s filial trust and dependence on God is to (and will) endure from this time forth and forever, commensurate with God’s own paternal solicitude and love. — Wechsler, page 314.

Williams’ take:

The Spirit here paints [Messiah] in beauteous colors. Neither haughty nor proud, neither self-confident nor willful but gentle, submissive, and resigned, He is subject to God’s will and government as a weaned child accepts and submits to the wise and loving action of its mothers in changing its food. …

In Psalm 130:7 the nation is encouraged to set her hope on Jehovah because He was about to redeem her (v.8). In this Psalm she is invited to continue setting her hope upon Him “from henceforth and for ever,” because the promised redemption shall have then become a reality. — Williams, page 404.