God Alone

In life’s most threatening times, you will be at peace if God alone is your salvation and refuge. - The main theme of the psalm is the right and wrong objects of faith.

• If we trust in God, we’re secure.

• If we trust in men or in things, we’re depending on that which is lighter than breath (62:9).

Interestingly, even though David was in a life-threatening situation, the psalm contains no prayer. The word only, which translates a little Hebrew particle, is also a recurring theme in this psalm. It occurs six times, four in reference to God (62:1, 2, 5, 6; also in 4, 9).

This psalm is about the COMPOSURE of DAVID

1) In threatening times, you can be at peace if God is your salvation and refuge (62:1-4).

a. YOU WILL FACE TIMES WHEN YOU’RE UNDER ATTACK (62:3-4).

b. WHEN YOU’RE UNDER ATTACK, MAKE GOD ALONE YOUR SALVATION AND REFUGE (62:1-2).

The key word there is submission. When difficult things happen to us, we can either angrily complain to God, “I don’t deserve such treatment!” Or, we can submit to Him, agreeing with His promises, giving supremacy to His will

2) When God is your only source of salvation, you can rest secure in Him (62:5-8). - In verses 5-7, David repeats what he already said in verses 1-2, with a few variations. Why does he do this? In verses 3 & 4, he has been thinking about his enemies and the extreme threat that they represented. So, he may have been a little bit shaken (not, greatly shaken, v. 2). In Verse 6 he states I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN

REPEAT THESE TRUTHS AS OFTEN AS YOU WAVER DUE TO THE ATTACKS OF THE ENEMY (62:5-7). - Don’t miss the pronoun my (9 times in vv. 5-7!). Also, God is either directly named or referred to with the pronouns Him or He five times in these verses. God personally as his hope, his rock, his salvation, his stronghold, his strength, and his refuge. If we want His peace in severe trials, we must know God personally and experientially as our God and remind ourselves of who He is.

He says, ‘God said once, I heard twice’ (11)

3. Do not trust in men, in crime, or in riches, but rather trust in the God of power and love (62:9-12). - In the first stanza, David looked at his enemies primarily The main reason that we should “fight” for God’s peace in threatening times is not so that we will be at peace, but so that God will be glorified and others will be drawn to Him through us. God’s peace comes to us in life’s threatening times when He alone is our salvation and refuge.