Having calmed his soul, David describes his quieted soul as a “weaned child” within him. This depiction of the calmed and quieted soul as a weaned soul serves as additional proof that the calming of the soul is a miraculous work of Christ. Just as no child ever weans itself, no child of God ever weans his own soul. It is the mother who must wean her child. Likewise, it is the Heavenly Father who must wean the souls of His children.

Weaning her child is a most trying and troublesome task for the mother. The child will cry big tears with outstretched arms at what appears to be the uncaring and calloused cruelty of its mother. Still, though the mother’s heart is flooded with pity, she will persevere, knowing that she is doing what is best for her child.

When divine benevolence denies their desires, babes in Christ cry and whine, as well as prove themselves peevish and petulant. Still, God perseveres until spiritual infants are finally hushed into submission and contentment. God knows that this weaning of the soul is necessary for the good of His children, who will never find satisfaction and contentment in Him alone until their souls are weaned from worldly desires.

Just as the end of physical infancy marks the beginning of a battle, the mother’s battle to wean her child, the end of spiritual infancy also marks the beginning of a battle, the Heavenly Father’s battle to wean the souls of His children. When the spiritual weaning process begins, babes in Christ fly into fits, pucker and pout, and sink into sulks, all of which serve as sure signs of spiritual immaturity. On the other hand, a sure sign of maturing beyond spiritual infancy is a soul that is quiet under all of life’s afflictions, irritations, and disappointments. 

A mature soul is a quiet and weaned soul; one that has hushed its childish and selfish complaints. As a child is proven to have matured beyond infancy when it finds solace in its mother who has denied it what it most wanted, so also are the children of God proven to have matured beyond spiritual infancy when they find solace in their Savior who denies them what they want.

Unfortunately, today’s church is filled with infants rather than fathers. It is filled with those needing to be bottle-fed and taught the spiritual ABCs rather than with those on a solid diet of sound doctrine who are skilled in God’s Word and capable of teaching it to others (Hebrews 5:12-14). This explains why my father in the ministry taught me that every pastor’s pockets should be filled with pacifiers, in order to pacify all of the unweaned whiners so prevalent in contemporary congregations.

The calm soul is a weaned soul whose affection for the Heavenly Father is unaltered by whether or not it gets its way.