Psalm 62:
To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
How long will all of you attack a man
to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse. Selah
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
Once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work.
Since only the Lord can deliver us from our enemies, we ought to quietly wait on the Lord, just like Jesus did. Very frequently in the Psalms, David describes his experience in terms of “crying out.” In Psalm 130:1 the psalmist opens by saying “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!” Likewise, Psalm 40 begins with “I waited patiently for the LORD; \ he inclined to me and heard my cry.” And Psalm 61, the psalm that directly precedes our text in this chapter, opens with the fervent plea “Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer.” But, here, David doesn’t open his Psalm this way. Instead of crying out to God, he opens the Psalm with a description of how his soul is silenced before the Lord.
According to the Bible Knowledge Commentary verse one could literally be translated “only to God is my soul silence [sic].” So there is sort of a double meaning here. On the one hand David’s soul is silenced because he has peace with God who has delivered him from his enemies. But, his soul is also silenced because he is left absolutely speechless by God’s unspeakable justice and steadfast love. When we consider the awesome love that God has displayed to us in granting us a relationship with himself, we should be absolutely dumbstruck. The phrase “only to God is my soul silence [sic]” means both that God is the only one worthy of a quieted soul, and that he is the only one who is capable of quieting our souls.
Jesus is the perfect model of a quieted soul. This Psalm in particular is titled “A Psalm of David.” The phrase “A Psalm of David” is one that communicates authorship. Now some people claim that that phrase merely means the Psalm was about David. I respectfully disagree. When we read other Psalm titles that say things like a “A Psalm of Asaph” or “Of Solomon” or “…of the Sons of Korah” we generally understand those titles to be communicating authorship. Since most of us understand those titles to be communicating authorship, we should understand it to be communicating authorship when it says “of David” too. Jesus himself understood that the titles were to be interpreted this way when he attributed Davidic authorship to Psalm 110 in Mark 12:36.
But, in addition to these things being written by the individual, I think these Davidic psalms should also be understood as generally representative of the throne and Kingship of David. Since this Psalm gave us a little glimpse into the way King David thought about things, it also gave the people of God a rough idea about how the coming Messiah who would reign on his throne would think. This Psalm functioned as a description of how the Davidic King was to live and what the people were to expect from him. When Jesus came he modeled perfect silent submission to the Father and established “a kingdom that cannot be shaken.”
Since only Christ can protect us from our enemies, we should follow his example of humble quiet submission to the Father. The Psalm says “How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?” These men “esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted… He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” He came down from heaven, not to do his own will, but the will of Him who sent him. And yet “they mocked him, saying “Hail king of the Jews!” These men hated Christ and “they only plan[ed] to thrust him down from his high position.” “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” As enemies of Christ, they took “pleasure in falsehood.” These are the kinds of men Isaiah prophesied when he said “this people draw near with their mouth \ and honor me with their lips, \ while their hearts are far from me”
Jesus modeled for us silence in suffering. This “silence” that the Psalm speaks of is not merely an emptying of ones mind. Rather it is, as John Calvin put it:
The word [silence] implies a meek and submissive endurance of the cross. It expresses the opposite of that heat of spirit which would put us into a posture of resistance to God. The silence intended is, in short, that composed submission of the believer, in the exercise of which he acquiesces in the promises of God, gives place to his word, bows to his sovereignty, and suppresses every inward murmur of dissatisfaction.
Jesus would regularly stow away to pray and be with the Lord. He did not display any resistance towards God, but rather said “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Likewise, we should, as it says in Ephesians “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Only God can silence our souls. Psalm 18:31 says “For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?” And again in Isaiah 44:8 it says “Is there a God besides me? \ There is no Rock; I know not any.” The Rock is a hiding place, a source of security, a place of provision and a firm foundation. But there is only one Rock. To him alone belongs power and steadfast love. He promised us that when he said in Isaiah 42 “I am the LORD; that is my name; \ my glory I give to no other, \ nor my praise to carved idols.” What a hope and assurance we can have in that fact. What a glorious resting place. Only God can quiet our souls, because he alone is God.
Since God is the only one to whom belongs all power and authority and steadfast love, he is the only one who can give us lasting and true peace. Because of this, David stakes his reputation on God by saying “On God rests my salvation and my glory.” David again encourages us to lean on Christ in Psalm 20:7 when he says “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” We may endure sufferings in the midst of our faith, but if you are in Christ, he will be faithful to complete the work he began in you. For “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.” It is from God Alone that our salvation comes.
Recall what happened at the Exodus. When being pursued by Pharaoh after fleeing from Egypt the Israelite’s found themselves stuck between Pharaoh’s army and an impassible sea. They began to be very afraid for their lives and cried out to the Lord and to Moses saying that it would have been better if they had stayed in Egypt. But Moses said to the people “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
God is both the source of our salvation, and our salvation itself. Notice this, in verse 1 it says David’s salvation comes from God, and then in verse 6 David writes that God himself is his salvation. Salvation is not just something that God gives, it’s who he is. John 17:3 says “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” So we do not only silently wait for the things that God can do for us, we wait for God himself.
Only Christ can quiet our souls. In John 6 Jesus rebukes the crowd that had followed him across the sea by saying “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” These individuals were not interested in who Jesus was, but in what he had to offer. We also see Jesus rebuke the Pharisees and Sadducee for failing to see what was right in front of them by saying “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” – that is, his resurrection. Jesus Christ is not only the source of our salvation, but he is our salvation itself.
That alone is incredible, and I could just stop there and be content. You simply cannot beat the fact that God himself is our salvation. But remember that this Psalm also teaches that he is the source of our salvation. The fence that is the Christian heart may be beaten on every side. It may endure fiery darts and temptations from the devil that seek to destroy it. But, since Christ is upholding us with His steadfast love, we know that these enemies are but a delusion.
Only Christ’s holiness can leave us in silent faithful awe. When we realize just how huge God is, the things of earth grow strangely dim. He is the one that will defeat His enemies. I love the description that David gives in verse 9. He says that if you were to take a scale, and on one side of the scale have nothing but air, and on the other side of the scale put all of humanity – both the rich and the poor – the entire mass of humanity would float up like a balloon. It says “Those of low estate are but a breath; \ those of high estate are a delusion; \ in the balances they go up; \ they are together lighter than a breath.” All of Christ’s enemies weigh less than nothing. All of the concerns that we have about the culture and where it is headed are a vapor and a striving after the wind. Christ will render to a man according to his work.
And since he will render to a man according to his work “let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” If you want to have peace with God you must place your trust in Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. We must be striving to enter into the Sabbath rest that Christ offers us by trusting in his promises and pouring out our hearts to him. The command to pour out our hearts to God, does not mean to simply loose control of our emotions. Rather, it means that we must open up all of our requests to God, and trust him to provide what we need. It is what we do when we pray “Give us this day our daily bread.” The work that is being discussed in this Psalm is a failure to possess the free gift of faith. If you are trusting in him at all times, and pouring out your heart before him, then you can be sure that he will be a safe and secure refuge.
Power belongs to only Christ. In 1 Chronicles 29, after the Temple had been constructed, when David was nearing the end of his life, he blessed the LORD in the presence of the entire assembly saying:
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.
David understood that everything that he had was from God. The greatness, the power, the glory, the victory and the majesty all belong to him. Why? Because he made absolutely everything. Even though David was the king, David looked to God and effectively said “I’m not really king, God. You are King. The Kingdom actually belongs to you.” Power belongs not to riches or those of high estate, but only to Christ.
Because only the Lord can be a refuge from our enemies, we ought to quietly wait on the Lord, just as Christ did. As we have discussed, the Sixty Second psalm teaches us that Christ alone is our reward. He is the only one that can deliver us from our enemies. Because he alone is Lord, we should recognize that Jesus is the only way to have peace with God, and be in awe of his justice and steadfast love. God is both the only one worthy of a quiet submissiveness in our souls, and the only one who can produce that kind of faith in the first place. In defining what it looks like for a soul to be silent before the Lord, there is no better example that we can look to, than to the life of Christ. Jesus Christ modeled perfect quiet submission as he was esteemed by us “stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” Yet “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” Christ is placing every enemy as a footstool for his feet, until he delivers the Kingdom over to God. Let us imitate him, by walking in obedient love and give ourselves up for one another. Christ is the only one who can bring our souls true silence. “For he himself is our peace.” Who is a Rock, but Christ? To him belong all glory majesty power and dominion. So whatever enemies come our way, we know he can take it. Recall the hymn How Firm A Foundation based on Isaiah 41 which says:
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
for I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand,
upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
that soul, though all hell
should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake.
When we are presented with Christ’s all surpassing holiness, our jaws should drop. Isaiah 40:15 says “the nations are like a drop from a bucket, \ and are accounted as the dust on the scales” All of our concerns about where the culture is headed are nothing to him. He’s got this. Be sure that a day is coming when he will render to each man according to his work. Christ will win. Our enemies may treat us like a tottering fence, but we will not fall over. He possesses a kingdom that will not be shaken. Let us silently wait on Christ alone – our only refuge from our enemies.
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