“My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.”
Psalm 62:5-8
Today’s passage is overflowing with important theological truth, helpful instruction, and needful encouragement for the present hour. David wants us to know, first of all, that in our trials and distresses there is only one place we can turn to for real help. The covenant-keeping God of the Bible is our source and resource. He alone is our strength and our safety. It is useless to look anywhere else, “for vain is the help of man” (Psalm 60:11). David’s inspired words are not based not on wishful thinking or hopeful speculation but on personal experience; David’s inspired psalm gives testimony to the fact that God had provided for his deep needs in spectacular ways. Notice that David moves from sharing his intensely personal experience with God and His providential care to an exhortation to us to do likewise. The sweet psalmist of Israel was hopeful that in sharing how God provided for him, others would chose to love and trust the Lord also, not just at particular times, but at all times. This exhortation is important. It is easy to say we trust the Lord when we seem to be safe and secure and relatively trouble-free. However, when the trials of life come from every angle it is easy to get our eyes off of God and onto our problems. As a result, we find ourselves in a state of overwhelming anxiousness and unrest. David would spare us, as would the Lord Himself, David’s great anti-type. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,” said the Lord, “and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Our passage includes a beautiful reference to the fact that God shows no partiality; His invitation extends to all people everywhere. David seems conscious of the fact that those who believe God’s words and choose to enter a love-trust relationship with Him form a special community of believers; “God is a refuge for us,” wrote David. The passage ends with the term “selah,” a musical term instructing us to “pause and reflect” upon what we have just read. Observing this simple command opens the mind to the deep things of God and leads to a peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:6-9). It puts our cares and concerns in their proper perspective and fills our believing hearts “with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). I pray these things will be true of all of us today, dear friends.
God bless,
Pastor John
English