God Alone
Psalm 62
Sometimes God brings us to a place where we find that God alone is our only hope. It could be you arrive at such a desperate place through a devastating circumstance or an internal crisis where all other comforts fail, and other hopes disappoint. In that place, you feel weak and vulnerable, and almost everything seems to be against you. It’s a place you feel overwhelmed by despair and grief.
But with God, it can also be a place of mercy and salvation. In the crucible of that testing place God forges enduring faith in us. If it were not for that place, how could we ever know that God truly is our only Rock and that our only abiding hope is found in Him? When God bring us to that place, and we find that God alone is all we need, that dreadful place becomes a beautiful place. Our desert becomes an oasis where we are refreshed by God alone. It becomes a place where we can say with David,
1 My soul waits in silence for God only;
From Him is my salvation.
2 He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold;
I shall not be greatly shaken. (Psalm 62:1-2 NASB95).
David determined to wait and trust in God even though he was in a desperate place when he composed this psalm. We don’t know the particular place where David was when he wrote this Psalm, but we know from David’s history in the scriptures that God brought him to many desperate places during his lifetime. He lived for years as a fugitive, fleeing King Saul’s paranoia with the threat of death looming like a shadow over him. He faced aggressive enemy nations and kings who plotted against him. And worst of all, he endured the anguish of watching trusted friends (Psalm 55:13–14), and even a son (2 Samuel 15:10), become treacherous enemies who conspired against his throne and his life.
In Psalm 62:3-4 David describes the adversity that he faces as he writes this psalm:
3 How long will you assail a man,
That you may murder him, all of you,
Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
4 They have counseled only to thrust him down from his high position;
They delight in falsehood;
They bless with their mouth,
But inwardly they curse. Selah. (Psalm 62:3-4 NASB95)
In these verses, we do not find David full of strength and power. Rather, they show that he was feeling weak, vulnerable, and fragile. He felt like an old stone wall, bowing out and ready to crumble under its own weight. He felt like a rickety old fence that could easily topple over at the slightest push. Are some of you here today feeling that way? Are you weak and fragile, like you will crumble under the burden? What do you do in that place?
Here is what David did: He preached the truth about God to his troubled soul and to us. In Psalm 62:5-8 he says,
5 My soul, wait in silence for God only,
For my hope is from Him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God my salvation and my glory rest;
The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.
8 Trust in Him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah. (Psalm 62:5-8 NASB95).
David is telling his soul to remember the source of his hope: God alone. The word “only” or “alone” is a recurring theme in Psalm 62. It occurs six times, four in reference to God (62:1, 2, 5, 6; also in 4, 9). Each time, it begins the sentence for emphasis. David hammers home the concept that we will enjoy God’s peace in the midst of life’s most threatening moments when God only—God alone—is our salvation and refuge. David piles up description after description of who God is. David knew God personally as his hope, his rock, his salvation, his stronghold, his strength, and his refuge. In your desperate place, remind yourself who God is, rehearse His attributes, cling to His promises. As David exhorts us in Psalm 62:8, “Pour out your heart before Him.”
In Psalm 62:9-10 David contrasts his trust in God alone with the inadequate resources of the world without God.
9 Men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are a lie;
In the balances they go up;
They are together lighter than breath.
10 Do not trust in oppression
And do not vainly hope in robbery;
If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
(Psalm 62:9-10 NASB95)
God alone is our refuge and strength. People, even seemingly powerful men, are hopelessly useless. Riches and possessions will never give us hope and peace when the world around us is crumbling.
Finally, David says,
11 Once God has spoken;
Twice I have heard this:
That power belongs to God;
12 And lovingkindness is Yours, O Lord,
For You recompense a man according to his work.
(Psa 62:11-12 NASB95)
David affirms, “God has spoken.” God has revealed Himself, spoken to us in His written word and through His living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The “once, twice” formula is a Hebrew poetic way of saying that God repeated the answer or impressed it upon David more than once to drive the point home. David relies on God’s word. And here is the word God spoke: First, God is powerful; second, He is loving. In our trials, Satan will tempt us to think that either God is not powerful, or that He is not loving—that either God can’t help, or that He doesn’t care. David affirms the truth God has spoken: that “power belongs to God” and that “lovongkindness is Yours, O Lord.” Far from causing David to doubt God’s power and love, his affliction confirmed them. How could we ever know what a powerful and loving God He is, if He did not allow us to go through hardships that prove His power and love?
The psalm concludes, “For You recompense a man according to his work.” The word “recompense” or “reward” here is the Hebrew word shalam. It is the verb form of shalom, the Hebrew word for peace and rest. God bring “shalom”, peace to each of His children according to the things they have done. God will bless you with peace and rest for our soul. Jesus put it this way, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28-30 NASB95).
Can you say with David today? …
1 My soul waits in silence for God only;
From Him is my salvation.
2 He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold;
I shall not be greatly shaken. (Psalm 62:1-2 NASB95)
When all around you the world is devastated by the ravages of sin, when it grieves without hope in the face of death, when it trembles from the earthquake of affliction—trust in Christ, your rock and salvation. Run only to Him. Cling to Him alone. Then, with hope in God alone, you can say with David, “I shall not be shaken” (Psalm 62:6 NASB95).
