Let’s take our Bibles and turn to Psalm 62. Psalm 62. I’m wrapping up today a series we started several weeks ago entitled Statements of Faith. We were in a series on heaven, then the coronavirus struck and I decided to take us for several weeks to look at what I call Psalms of Trust, statements of faith given by the writer of individual psalms.
These psalms were written to encourage faith in God. They were written to build confidence in God in the midst of trials and troubles. I hope they’ve done that. We’re come to look at a wonderful psalm this morning, Psalm 62, where we find a calm, resolve to wait for God for salvation.
Keep your Bible open. I hope, as I said last week, you’re not sitting so much back on your couch with your legs crossed. I hope you’re sitting on the edge of your seat with your Bible open, asking God to speak into your life. There’s not only expository preaching, there’s expository listening. I hope you’ve an ear to hear what the spirit of God wants to say to our church.
Psalm 62, truly my soul, silently waits for God. From him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved. How long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you, like a leaning wall in a tottering fence.
They only consult to cast him down from his high position. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth. But they curse inwardly. My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved.
In God, my salvation and my glory, the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Surely men of low degree are a vapor. Men of high degree are a lie. If they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor.
Do not trust in oppression, nor vainly hope in robbery. If riches increase, do not set your heart on them. God has spoken once. Twice I have heard this. That power belongs to God. Also to you, oh Lord, belongs mercy. For you render to each one according to his work.
Psalm 62, a message I’ve entitled Our Only Hope. The Theologian and Old Testament scholar, Bruce Waltke, tells the story of a man attempting to cross a frozen St. Lawrence River in Canada. He wasn’t sure if it could hold him. He got to the edge of the river which had been frozen over and he tapped it with his foot and then he got down and he pressed it with his hand and then he began to cross the river. But he did it on all fours.
He began to crawl across the river. He was anxious to know that the river could hold him up. The last thing he wanted to do was drown as the ice might crack and the river might swallow him up. He was about halfway across, still very nervous when he heard a thunderous noise behind him. When he looked back he noticed there was a team of horses drawing a carriage that was coming down the road towards the river.
To his astonishment, when they got to the edge of the river, they didn’t stop and they came thundering across the St. Lawrence River and passed him as he was on all fours. As they passed him, he looked up and with growing embarrassment realized that he had shown so little trust in the ability of the ice to hold him. There he sat turning a deep crimson red.
Now the reason I tell you that story is because as we come to Psalm 62, this psalm is an embarrassing lesson on faith because you and I are going to be introduced to a man whose life is under threat, where circumstances are crippling. Yet he says that indeed he will not be moved. He declares an unshakable trust in God.
Four times he will tell us that his trust is in God alone. To borrow the words of the New Testament, he expresses a peace that passes human comprehension. Or to borrow the words of Isaiah the prophet, he expresses a peace because his mind is fixed on God.
I want us to come and look at Psalm 62 and perhaps we will be embarrassed by the depth of this man’s trust in God. That’s the point of one of these Psalms of trusting. It’s challenging us not to despair. It’s challenging us to go from faith to faith in God.
Let’s come to Psalm 62 and here we have a psalm that’s calculated to help us in the matter of trusting God in troubling times. This is the testimony of King David. He’s expressing trust, confidence, and hope centered in God alone. Verse 1, alone, my soul silently waits for God. Verse 2, he only is my rock and my salvation. Verse 5, my soul waits silently for God alone. Verse 6, he only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved.
If you study this psalm, there’s no lament. There’s no complaint. There’s no protest. There’s no confession of sin. This is a psalm singularly focused on God and singularly calculated the challenge you and I to put our trust in God alone.
Ron Dunn, a Christian writer, says that Christians are a people of the only, a people of the only. Our only hope is in God. We recognize that and we live that. It’s faith alone and Christ alone through grace alone that secures our eternal happiness. Christian people are a people of the only, and I trust that this psalm will challenge us to that and I.
As to the background, the contacts, we can’t be sure. I think the majority of commentaries that I read and commentators that I consulted would make an argument that it probably fits well within the time of Absalom’s rebellion. We’re going to see from the language here in a moment or two that David is facing some court intrigue.
His enemies are his friends that are working behind his back. In the context of political intrigue, a coup d’etat under his son, Absalom, David has to show a trust in God that’s unmoved and unshakable and he does. He trusts a powerful God, a loving God, and a just God to deliver him.
Now before we jump right in, we’re coming to the end of this little mini-series in the Psalms. It isn’t the first series I’ve done. If you remember back, we did an extended series in the Psalms. This is my story. This is my song. We did an extended series in Psalm 23.
But as we come to the end of this series, Statements of Faith, I’ve been reminded and I think you have, too, given your feedback that the Book of Psalms, the Psalter, is a blessing to God’s people. It has been true across history. Martyrs have died with it upon their lips. The Scottish Covenanters who were butchered on the hills of Scotland died in the confidence of the truths of the Book of Psalms.
As I thought about that, I thought about three things just quickly about the Psalms. They speak to us, they speak for us and they help us speak. Write that down and think about it. The Psalms speak to us for us and they help us speak. The Psalter is inspired profitable instruction in a number of fields. It speaks to us about the doctrine of God.
God has put on wonderful display in the Book of Psalms, his majesty, his power, his mercy, his faithfulness, his governance, his providence. Not only did we have the doctrine of God, we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many messianic psalms Jesus makes reference to that. Does in Luke 24. Beginning with Moses and the prophets and the Psalms, he spoke the things concerning himself.
We saw Psalm 22, the Good Shepherd, he lays down his life for the sheep. Psalm 23, the great shepherd who equips his sins onto every good work and the chief shepherd, First Peter 5, who comes back for his faithful servants.
Psalm 22 speaks about Jesus crucifixion, need I say more? The Psalter speaks to the doctrine of God. The Gospel of Christ, speaks to the nation of Israel and it gives us the purpose of creation. Again and again we are reminded that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
The psalms remind us, they speak to us that the bird was made to fly, the fish was made to swim and man was made for God. God is man’s environment. There is no life without life in God. But it not only speaks to us, it speaks for us. They accurately reflect human life. There is no better study in humanities than the Book of Psalms.
There’s no joy that you and I will experience. No sorrow that you and I will enter that this Psalter doesn’t capture, unaddressed. I love the psalms. We love the psalms because they equip us to handle our emotions, to express those emotions to God. They help us to interpret life. They give us a lens through which to look a human experience.
The old Scottish pastor, John McNeill, said of Psalm 23, just as an example, I feel sometimes I wrote it myself. But not only do the Psalms speak to us, not only do the Psalms speak for us, but the Psalms help us to speak. They give us a vocabulary. They give us a liturgies and language by which we can express our heart to God.
Growing up in Northern Ireland in a Rathcoole Baptist Church and in among Irish Baptist, I’m thankful for that heritage. As I listen to people pray, they spoke in the language of scripture and often the words of the Psalms. They prayed back to God what God had spoken to them. That’s what the Psalms do.
They give us a vocabulary by which we can express our fears, confess our sins, and describe our love for God. It’s beautiful. Think about this. As we grow in our knowledge of God, we will grow into the words of the Psalms. I think it was Basil the Great who said the Psalms are the voice of the church. The Psalms are the voice of the church. They give voice to the people of God.
Okay. Having said that, let’s jump right in here. In the 30 minutes or so that remains, I want us to look at three things. We’re going to break the Psalm down as it’s broken down by the poetic punctuation, Selah. It’s verses 1 through 4, verse 5 through 8, verse 9 through 12.
The Psalm breaks up well and there’s three things. The attack, verses 1 to 4; the affirmation, 5 to 8; and the admonition, 9 to 12. Let’s just look at the first thought, the attack. Having made his open name statement, truly my soul silently waits for God. From him comes my salvation. Having made that statement, that declaration of dependence upon God, something he’ll come back to in verses 5 and 6.
David goes on a terror. David goes on a tirade against his enemies, those who are attacking him, those who are assaulting him. Look at verse 3, how long will you attack a man? An interesting Hebrew word at its root is a word that speaks to shout. It’s the image of a mad cried of people who are running towards someone shouting and hollering.
It’s intimidating. It’s frightening. David is feeling that he’s under attack, he’s under assault, he addresses his enemies. You know what? This is just one of the many Psalms in the Book of Psalms where David is facing his enemies.
Psalm 23, picturing himself as a sheep, like sheep, he lives in the presence of his enemies. David was rarely out from under the shadow of trouble and trial. In fact, I was reading a list of Murphy’s laws just the other day, kind of the Murphy law idea of what can go wrong, will go wrong.
Here’s a couple of the ones I read. Nothing is as easy as it looks. Everything takes longer than you think. If anything can go wrong, it will. Inside every large problem is a series of small problems struggling to get out. Whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed. That’s another Murphy law.
I like this one. Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate. That’s what’s going on in Psalm 62. Enemies are accumulating. Now as we look at Psalm 62 in the opening verses 1 to 4, you can see that the language of verse 3 tells us that this attack was damaging. This attack was damaging.
Now, my preferred translation, the new King James translates the Hebrew in a way that David is pronouncing a judgment on his attackers. How long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you, like a leaning wall and a tottering fence. But there is an argument and a justified translation and most other translations actually don’t translate the Hebrew in a way in which David is pronouncing judgment on his attackers. But the text is speaking about what they’re attempting to do on him.
If you’ve got an ESV, it’ll read something like this. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him like a leaning wall and a tottering fence? What an image. Now I like that translation. I think it can be justified. David’s like a leaning wall. He’s like a tottering fence. One more push and he’s over. The implication of the image is he’s on the edge of defeat and despair.
The hour is lit. The noose is tightening. The problem is really, really bad. What an image. It’s an image of weakness. It’s an image of vulnerability. If we were to put it in modern language, it’s about kicking a man when he’s down. The wall is leaning. The fence is tottering. You just push it over. When a guy’s dying, you add your boot to the issue.
David’s getting a hammering. The language of verse 3 tells us the attack is damaging. The language of verse 4 tells us the attack is deceitful. Look at verse 4. They only consult to cast him dying from his high position. Probably speaking about the fact that this is Absalom and some within David’s court, Ahithophel would be another that are working against David. They’re going to bring him down.
How are they doing it? By deceit. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth but they curse inwardly. It would seem that David’s enemies are his friends turned enemies. This is a story of political and palace intrigue. David was the target of envy and duplicity. David was surrounded by two fierce deceivers.
In fact, you see this in the language of Psalm 52, which may be a psalm addressing Absalom’s rebellion and especially Ahithophel’s treachery against David. I want you to notice the language of David in Psalm 55. It plays into the language of Psalm 62. In verse 12 he says this, for it is not an enemy who approaches me then I could bear it, nor does one who hits me, who’s exalted himself against me, then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my acquaintance, my friend.
If you go over to verse 21, the words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. Betrayal is afoot. Treachery is a foot. David is the target. This attack, this assault is damaging and it’s deceitful. If you ever visit Belfast, and I hope many of you will, and someday … I know some of you have, somewhere around the center of the city is a clock.
It’s our Little Ben ban of London. Every time I drove home from the aircraft factory I worked and I would pass this clock. It was known as the Albert Clock and it had four sides and four clocks and four faces and it produced a little statement about people that you and I will encounter in life. Two-faced. They say one thing to your face and they do another thing behind your back.
When we discovered people like that in Northern Ireland, we used to say of them they had more faces than the Albert Clock. There are people like that in life, deceitful who present themselves as a friend and an ally, but it’s all worked out. They’re an enemy.
Remember when I said the Psalms speak to us for us and help us speak? Are you tottering on the edge of despair like a leaning wall and a tottering fence? This psalm is for you. Are you feeling the sting of betrayal by a false friend? This psalm is for you. Are you under assault and under attack by an enemy? This psalm is for you.
Let’s move on. We’ve not only got the attack, verse 1 to 4, now we’ve got the affirmation, verses 5 through 8. These verses are confessional in tone. Remember we said in verses 1 to 3, David makes an opening statement about his trust in God. Now he comes back and doubles down on it in verses 5 and 6 and then he adds to it in verses 7 through 8.
In the midst of the betrayal, in the midst of the battle, David confesses and affirms his rock solid trust in God alone. Although his life resembles the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it hasn’t yet toppled. He hasn’t surrendered to the circumstances. His enemies haven’t been able to defeat him.
Why? Because if you look at his language, God is his rock and God is his salvation and God is his defense and God is his refuge. He just piles metaphor on top of metaphor to speak about the fact that God has been his security and his shelter. He remains unmoved. I can identify with that image.
As many of you know, for six years I worked out of North Belfast in the RUC during the troubles in Northern Ireland and we had a station there called Antrim Road, RUC station. If you’d ever seen it was a fortress. It had large blast proof walls. We had electronic surveillance. It was a fortress more than a police station.
When we went out on a foot patrol when we left it, you were leaving security in a sense of safety. After maybe four or five hours pounding the pavement on a foot patrol in North Belfast, I’m telling you, when you were heading back in about 11:00 or 12:00 at night, it was a sight for sore eyes.
I often prayed and whispered under my breath, Lord, if I’ve got this far, get me through the gates. Because that was a fortress, that brought a sense of security and safety. That’s the language of the psalmist and God is that to him. He’s find his shelter in God. He is expressing a quiet in the midst of a storm.
The question is how did he do it? I think there’s several contributing factors. Let’s begin with one. What I call the persuasion, look at verse 5. He’s speaking to himself. Now remember in verses 1 to 4, he speaks to his enemies. How long will you attack a man? But now he speaks to himself in the midst of his enemies. My soul, wait silently for God alone for my expectation is from him.
This is what I call the persuasion. He persuades himself. He has a conversation with himself. He educates himself about God. He preaches the gospel to himself in the midst of this trial. What we have here is self- exhortation. That’s not the first time David will have done this.
Many of your Bible and you know First Samuel 30:6 where it says, David encouraged himself in the Lord. Now it’s not what we seek to do every morning when we get our maybe spurgeons morning and evening or we open our Bible and our work through our Bible systematically with machines once a year program or whatever it is.
We seek every day to speak to ourselves and love the word of God to speak into our conversation and it’s so important. This is one of the keys to enjoying quiet in the midst of a storm. It’s so important. I mean listen, he has talked about his enemies who are his friends and the issue is real and the threat is overwhelming.
David is like a wall that’s leaning. One more push and it might be the end of him. But here’s what I noticed. Although he addresses them, he doesn’t brood over his problem. So important. He didn’t brood over his circumstances. He didn’t go in on himself. No. He started speaking to himself about God’s glory and majesty and the nature of God’s love and the promise of God’s mercy.
Oh my soul, wait silently on the Lord. Listen, the human soul cannot remain constant in its confidence in God without exhortation. That’s just a fact. It’s not like one sermon will do you for a week. It’s not like one daily reading will do you for three days. I want to tell you something. You might read your bible in the morning and by lunchtime you need to keep exhorting yourself in terms of your confidence with God.
You need to keep preaching the gospel to yourself. You need to keep reminding yourself of the nature of God’s covenant with his people. The wonder of God’s sovereign love in Jesus Christ, the promise of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit where he has sealed us on the day of redemption. That’s the stuff you got to keep going back to when the enemy assaults.
Isn’t that what the psalmist did in Psalm 42:5? He speaks to himself. Why are you cast down on my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? In Psalm 103:1 to 2, bless the Lord, oh my soul. Come on, let’s worship. Let’s sit down and forget not his benefits. Because as I look under the past and see God’s faithfulness, can I not trust him for the present and does not give me promise for the future? That’s a fact.
I’ve quoted it before. I’m going to quote it again, the words of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his book on Spiritual Depression. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?
Now, this man’s treatment of Psalm 42:5 and 11 tells us that instead of allowing his self to talk to him, he started talking to himself, why are you cast down on my soul? he asks. His soul has been depressing him, crushing him so he must stand up to it and stand up to self and speak to self. But just bear those words in mind.
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you were listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? The old worries have come back from yesterday? But you need to speak to yourself. Don’t allow yourself to speak to you. Don’t let that negativity. Don’t let that lack of trust in God. Don’t let that forgetfulness about his promises and his providence lead you to a place of discouragement.
No. George Muller is right, dead right, that the first business of the day is to make your soul happy in the Lord and then the business of the rest of the day is to keep yourself centered there. But you know what? We’re on the internet. We’re listening to the radio and we’re watching television and we are allowing the birds of media and political thought and the scare mongers out in our culture.
We’re allowing those birds, according to Matthew 13, to come and take away the good seed of the word of God. It’s a mistake. How can David stay still in this storm? Number one, what I call persuasion. He speaks to himself what God has spoken. Number two, let’s look at the patience, not only the persuasion but the patience.
In verse 1, he says, truly my soul silently waits for God, from him comes my salvation. Look at verse 5. My soul wait silently for God alone for my expectation is from him. He is my rock, my salvation, he is my defense. I shall not be moved. God is my salvation, my glory, the rock of my strength, my refuge, it’s in him.
David shows patience here and he believes expectantly that God will deliver him. His expectation is from the Lord. That’s where he’s focused and it’s striking. In the midst of all of this and right now there’s palace intrigue going on. To the background of verses 5, 6 and 7, his enemies are hard at work.
But in many ways, David is being still. David is not overreacting. You and I tend to react in the midst of trouble. We put things in high gear. We make alliances. We go looking for help in human figures and human resources. But too often, let’s be honest, but there is a place for seeking help. There are means of grace that God puts around us.
But I think if we’re honest, often our reaction to trouble, it’s too quick. It’s too man-centered. Our creativity and activity is often a form of self-reliance and you don’t see that in David. He quietens his soul. He submits his will to God’s will. He looks beyond the moment to an everlasting God who’s implementing an everlasting plan and David’s part of it.
David was not moved by the machinations of his enemies because he believed strongly and repeatedly that God was on the move on his behalf. Now, I want you to understand, in one sense his waiting was passive, but another sense it wasn’t passive. It was passive in the sense that he didn’t rush to cobble together some political alliance, to build some kind of bulwark against his enemies.
No. His first and natural or maybe supernatural reaction was, okay, be still and know that he is God. Remember that God can do more than you can. Remember that little bit more of God makes up for a great deal less of us. God’s plans for us are always better than our plans for ourselves and God can take care of our enemies when he wishes any way he designs.
I think that’s what was going on. While it was passive in one way, it wasn’t passive in another way, it was active faith in God’s ability to deal with the problem and it was founded upon an expectation that salvation would come from God. Deliverance would come from God. When we read about salvation here, I think at least in its context, it has got more to do with political salvation, circumstantial deliverance, personal rescue.
But his expectations from the Lord, the Lord can and will get me out of this. Doesn’t mean that he didn’t have things to do in faith and in tandem and in concert with God’s providence, but at his best he trusted God alone. Remember four times he says, only my soul, silently waits for God. From him comes my salvation. He only is my rock. He only is the one from whom I find my expectation.
He believed that God was working on his behalf while he was still. I love what Amy Carmichael who’s a daughter of Ulster and someone from my home country. She wanted to be a missionary in India. She says this, this is very beautiful, joys are always on the way to us. They’re always traveling to us through the darkness of the night. There is never a night when they’re not coming.
Isn’t that good? I think David, that may not be his language, but it was his perspective. He’s under attack and he takes shelter in God alone. That’s his first line of defense. Not political alliances, not human help, although there may be a place for some of that, but that’s somewhere down the list.
Right now, it’s God alone and right now he believes that joys and deliverance and salvation is coming to him through the night because it always is. Let’s be still and know that he is God. I don’t know if time to develop this. But I’ll just give you the bullet points. Warren Wiersbe who’s all was good speaking on Psalm 62 and this idea of waiting silently on God.
He says, this is what it means practically. Just write these thoughts down or listen to them later and begin to think them out yourself. Here’s what that means. Be patient. Don’t run ahead of God. Okay. Don’t jump the gun. We hadn’t see what God might do. We hadn’t see what the word of God says. We hadn’t see what godly counsel advises. Be patient. Don’t run ahead of God.
Number two, be silent and don’t give God orders. Isn’t God wiser than you and me? At some point Job put his hand over his mouth and shut up and that was the turning of the tide. Isaiah 40, who has been God’s counselor? Be patient. Don’t run ahead of God. Be silent. Don’t give orders to God.
Thirdly, be calm and don’t interfere with God. Give him time. Let him show himself strong on your behalf. Here’s the third thought, what I call the prayer. The prayer. We’re here in verses 5 through 8. He’s affirming his trust in God alone in the midst of the attack. We see persuasion. He talks to himself. Then we see patience as he waits on God.
Now we see what I call the prayer, verse 7 and 8, in God my salvation and my glory, the rock of my salvation and my refuge is in God, trust in him at all times, you people, pour out your heart before him. God is our refuge. He has talked to his enemies. He has talked to himself. Now he talks to others about what he himself is doing. He’s trusting God. He wants them to trust God and he calls them to pour out their heart to God because he has poured out his heart to God.
That’s what we do In the midst of problems. We turn our problems into prayer and prayer turns our problems into peace. Day by day they were to trust in God and find faith fortified through believe in prayer. In fact, I want you to notice that the language of this text makes trusting and praying synonymous. It makes trusting and praying synonymous.
If you say you have faith in God that will put itself in display on believing prayer and a waiting upon God silently, expectantly, believingly. You know what? The puritans used to say, prayer is the slender nerve that moves the omnipotent arm of God. It’s true. A little bit more of God will make up for a great deal, less of us in prayer when it’s offered by our righteous man, fervently works if facts, life and circumstances.
I love this idea of poured out. Poured out, pour out your heart before God. It’s beautiful. It’s a reminder again. Before David went and talked to other people who might come to his aid or on his side, before David talked to those who weren’t part of the rebellion, he realized he can’t talk to anybody better than talking to God.
He can go and pour out like water poured out of a jug. He can go in and talk to God about his fears, his apprehensions. He can share his concerns with God. I love that thought. In Matthew 14:12, when John the Baptist dies, disciples gone collect his headless body. It says that they took him and buried him and they went and told Jesus. Go tell Jesus. That’s what they did and that’s what our text is telling us to do.
It’s telling us to pour out our hearts before God. That would be Hebrews 4:14 to 16. If you want to New Testament version of this where we are invited through our great, high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ to come before the throne of grace and find mercy and help in a time of need. What are we told? We’re told to come boldly.
The Greek word there is come and speak frankly. Come and be candid. It’s a Greek word that spoke of free speech. You don’t need certain Ps and cues. You don’t need a theological dictionary. You don’t even need a liturgy before you can speak to God, just pour out your heart to him, cry, lament, confess, ask, seek, and God will bless you. God will help you.
That’s a wonderful promise. You and I need to embrace all what peace we often forfeit and all what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. I think I’ve told you this story before. For a time, my father was the mayor of a large borough just outside the city of Belfast.
We were proud of that. We celebrated that high mark in his life and he tells a story about that one time he was the mayor of the city when there was to be a royal visit. Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth, was to come to Newtownabbey Borough Council. She was going to open a disability center.
My father and mother were told, here’s the royal protocol. As you stand the line there and with your chain of office, most likely Princess Anne will stop and as she comes down the line you say, “Your majesty, welcome to the Borough of Newtownabbey.”
After that, if she says nothing, you say nothing. But if she speaks to you, you can speak to her. You can imagine my father was all excited about the possibility of speaking to Princess Anne. My mom had worked out her curtsy and what she might say to this woman of stature and royalty.
To their great disappointment, Princess Anne came down the line, my father said, “Your majesty, welcome to the borough of Newtownabbey.” She said nothing and just walked on down the line. I remember him calling me about that. I can understand the disappointment for a human point of view.
But I did remind him and remind myself, and I’m reminding you anywhere, anytime about anything, the king of kings and the Lord of Lords bids us come and pour out our hearts and find a piece that passes all understanding.
We don’t have time to develop the last thought, but I’ll squeeze in the main point of verses 9 through 12, what I call the admonition. The admonition. You’ve had the attack, versus 1 to 4. You’ve had the affirmation, 5 through 8. Now you have what I call the admonition, 9 through 12.
Here’s what you’ve got going on in verses 9 through 12. David has told us where his trust is. It’s in God alone. God is refuge. God is salvation. God his deliverance. He’s told the people of God, trust in the Lord at all times and pour out your heart before him. Having told them where his trust is, having told them where to put their trust, he now tells them and reminds himself what not to trust.
He has told them what to trust or who to trust. Now he tells them what not to trust. Don’t trust men because men of a low degree are vapor, men of a high degree are a lie. You put them in a scale and they weigh nothing, nothing. You go to Isaiah 40, the nations are nothing in comparison to a majestic, sovereign and glorious God.
Do not trust in oppression. Do not trust in robbery. Do not trust in money. If riches increased, don’t set your heart on them. What’s the point? Do not trust in human figures, schemes, resources. Men are vapor. Violence is wrong and riches are uncertain.
What are you to trust? Well, this is being said once and twice. That’s idiom in the Hebrew, for I’ve heard this a thousand times. Verse 11, this has been said a thousand times and we need to be reminded a thousand times that power belongs to God. He’s merciful and loving, and he renders to every man according to his work. God keeps books. God is just powerful and loving and you and I must trust him.
Don’t allow our trust to be shifted to money or wealth, powerful people, government, military might, deceit, scheming or aggressive tactics. As we close, I’m reminded of a letter that Adoniram Judson, the Baptist missionary Burma wrote. He wrote it to Luther Rice who was back in the United States trying to raise funds for missions in Burma.
You know what? Rice was finding it hard. It was only a trickle of funds coming in because as people looked what Adoniram Judson was doing, they thought it brazen. They thought it hopeless. They thought it pointless. They didn’t have the faith that he had in a glorious God who’s committed to winning the nations to the glory of his son.
Judson wrote to rice and he said this, “If they ask again what prospect of ultimate success is there, tell them as much as there is in Almighty God and his faithfulness, a God who will perform his promises, that’s where our trust is and no more.”
Father, we thank you for our time and your word this morning. We thank you for these psalms of trust that have challenged us to exercise a greater faith in God. We read in Mark 4 of those who have no faith. We read in Matthew 6 of those who have little faith. We read in Matthew 8 of the centurion who had great faith.
During this coronavirus, wherever you are in the world today help us as your people not to be found on our hands and knees surrendering to the circumstances. Psalm 62 has embarrassed our lack of faith, challenged us to trust God more, to preach to ourselves the greatness of God and the promise of his work, to pour our hearts out before him, to wait on him, to do what he alone can do.
Lord, help us to repent of those things we have put our trust in on certain riches, human power, our own ingenuity and creativity. Help us realize that faith is life without scheming. Help us to realize that faith is a refusal to panic. Help us center our complete confidence in Jesus Christ, your son, because indeed he is a wonderful and trustworthy object of our confidence.
Our expectation is from you this morning. Bless as we pray. Watch over as we ask, in Jesus’ name, amen.