The Book of Psalms is an interesting book. Basically it’s a book of ancient Hebrew poetry. I’m not one who was every really into poetry. I dreaded the section on poetry in English class. I’ve never been much on symbolism. I had an English teacher in high school who saw symbolism in everything, but I could never see it. We would read a poem, and she would point out all the symbolism. Winter symbolized death. Spring symbolized birth, and on, and on. I would always be puzzled about that. I would wonder things like, “Could the author have used winter because he like snow, or that it rhymed with another word?” Poetry is something I could never really grasp. So it is with some caution that I have elected to be in the Psalms for this week and next week.
There are many beautiful passages in the Psalms. This is basically an ancient Jewish hymnal. We think of the incredible comfort of Psalm 23. We think of the incredible remorse of Psalm 51. The Psalm that we will look at today is a song. I will spare you the agony of singing it to you. Let’s look at Psalm 62.
You will notice that at the very beginning there are some musical commands. Also note that at the end of verses 4 and 8 there is the word Selah. Now no one is really sure what the word Selah means. It’s likely some sort of musical instruction. It may mean, “pause,” “repeat,” “get louder,” or some other musical term. Either way it seems to serve as a breaking point. It seems to perhaps mark the verses of the song, to put it in contemporary lingo.
Let’s look at Psalm 62. We will pause as the “Selah” and look at each segment individually and then tie it all together. There are three S’s to look at today: Salvation, Security, and Steadfast Love.
Read Psalm 62:1-4.
Salvation
At the outset the psalmist proclaims that salvation comes from God. Verses 3 and 4 indicate that the author is under some sort of attack from his enemies. It is not clear who the enemy is, but the point is that God has saved him from his enemies. He says that with God, he will “not be greatly shaken.” (Verse 2.) The psalmist is under stress here. He feels like a leaning wall or a tottering fence.
Have you ever felt that way? Sometimes it seems like things can’t get worse, they do. It’s that old “out of the frying pan into the fire” cliché. We get hit on one side, and we turn around and get smacked again. Maybe it’s a co-worker lying about us, or blaming us for crashing the computer system. Like that airline commercial where the lady is sitting at here computer at the office and opening e-mails. The computerized voice declares, “Congratulations, you have just launched the pink-slip virus. They will soon trace it back to you. Good luck finding another job.” It goes from bad to worse.
This is one of the beautiful things about the Psalms, and the Bible as a whole. It is the fact that no matter what we are going through, someone has gone through it before. And we can find encouragement through these passages. The psalmist here is telling of being beaten on continually until he was leaning like a wall.
This last summer we were in Haiti on a Work and Witness trip. Our job was to build and addition on a building at the Nazarene Seminary there. Inside the building they wanted a wall knocked down. I’m sure why they didn’t give me the sledgehammer. This one guy stood there and beat on the wall with sledgehammer. Pieces of cement block crumbled off and fell. Sections of the wall then leaned. They cracked and eventually fell. My job was to clean up the mess and haul it off.
We are often like that wall. Our enemy, whoever it may be, batters us, but it is often from the devil. Sometimes we think we are going to be tough and strong and stand there and take the abuse. We say things like, “If it doesn’t kill me, it will make me stronger.” That is pure nonsense. The wall that was battered in that Haitian building certainly did not grow stronger by standing there taking blow after blow from the sledgehammer. We will not grow stronger by standing around taking blow after blow from the enemy.
God is our salvation. He is there to protect us. He is there to shield us from the blows of the enemy.
The very first thought of this passage is so instructive, “For God alone my soul waits in silence.” Silence is an incredible. We talked last week about Samuel listening to God. Samuel said five words and then listened to God. Do we take time to listen? It’s easy to take our laundry list of needs to God. We pray like, “God, be with the wife, kids, and parents. Help the missionaries. Be with the service Sunday. See you tomorrow. Amen.” It is only when we listen to God that he exercises his power in our life and offer his protection.
We often have to remind ourselves of this. The psalmist himself was not super spiritual man himself. He had to remind himself. He had to tell himself to be still before God. Verses 5-7 amount to a pep talk to the psalmist, himself.
Read Psalm 62:5-8.
Security
We see in these verses a sense of security. Verses 5 and 6 closely parallel the first two verses. There is a difference though. In a way we see a progression of faith on the part of the psalmist.
It would seem that after the battering of his enemies in verses 3 and 4 that the psalmist is somewhat downcast. He tells himself, “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.” Verse 6 continues, “He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.” At first glance there, verse 6 seems to repeat verse 2. But notice that verse 2 says, “I shall not be greatly shaken,” and verse 6 says, “I shall not be shaken.” In verse 2 the psalmist is expecting some shaking. He is allowing his enemies to shake him.
Now it appears that his faith has grown. From saying that he won’t be greatly shaken to he won’t be shaken at all. This deeper faith is not brought about by standing in there and taking a beating. It comes from deepening his faith and strength in God. He has deepened his faith through silence before God. He has entered a fortress that cannot be penetrated by his enemy.
The snow this week reminded me of my childhood. Growing up in South Dakota, I was accustomed to snow on the ground from the end of November through early March most years. We would consistently have 10-12” on the ground, sometimes more. After my dad would scoop the sidewalk the piles would be higher right along the sidewalk. I would come out and dig little tunnels through the snow. They weren’t big enough for me to crawl through, but I could stick my arm in there. I could play with my G. I. Joe’s in there. They were mini fortresses of snow. They were easily smashed.
God is an eternal fortress that cannot be destroyed like a snow fortress.
The snow also called to me the memory of a story that happened at MidAmerica Nazarene University a few years before I arrived there. As I heard it, there was a student who came to Olathe, Kansas from Texas. The Kansas City area received a rather significant snowfall, and the young Texan and of his dorm-mates headed out to have some fun in the winter wonderland. They trekked out to an open field. They played some football in the snow. They had a snowball fight. Then one of the guys got the idea to build snowmen and knock them over. They were having a blast pelting each other with snowballs, and toppling snowmen. The Texan was having the most fun, as he had never seen this much snow at one time. Well, as the afternoon wore on they started to get cold and hungry. They decided to head back to the dorm. On the way back the Texan saw a small snowman that someone had built on the side of the road. He thought, “Man, I had so much fun tackling the snowmen. I’ll take a shot at this one.” He took off running. Before anyone else knew what was happening, he was airborne heading for the small snowman. Much to the surprise of the Texan, underneath the small snowman stood a fire hydrant. Lying on the ground in considerable pain, the inexperienced Texan realized that a snowman built around a fire hydrant is slightly sturdier than your conventional snowman.
The fire hydrant was firmly planted in the ground, and would not be moved no matter how hard anyone tried. When we are firmly planted in God, we will not be moved no matter how hard anyone may try. God is our security. He is our protection.
In verse 8, we see the psalmist proclaiming to others to put their trust in God. He tells us to “pour out [our] heart before him.” We must be open before God. There is nothing wrong with admitting spiritual weakness or shortcomings. The psalmist did here. He encouraged others to trust God the way he did.
The psalmist now turns his attention in the third section to the foolishness of not trusting God, and the reason for trusting God, namely his steadfast love.
Read Psalm 62:9-12.
Steadfast Love
The psalmist starts the last section off with a startling statement. It’s startling to us at least. We live a society that focuses a great deal on status and class distinction. We drive and strive for greater wealth and status. Some people will do anything to attain a higher status. They find out that it is greatly disappointing.
There was a movie called Can’t Buy Me Love. It is the story of a nerdy high school senior who is dying to get into the “in crowd.” I can relate to the nerdy high school kid part. He has mowed lawns all summer and saved his money to buy a telescope. While shopping for the telescope, he sees an opportunity to get in the group. One of the most popular girls in school is in a crisis. She has ruined her mom’s very expensive suede outfit. She doesn’t have the money to replace it. So our nerdy guy says that he will use the money he has saved to replace the outfit if she will pretend to be his girlfriend for a month. His plan is that by dating the head cheerleader, he will get into the group and be popular. It works, and he gains entrance to the group. He rejects his former friends. In fact he winds up vandalizing his former best friends house just to be accepted by the group. He is eventually exposed as a fraud. He winds up without a friend. He realized that the status he sought was empty and meaningless. He sought fulfillment through being in the right social group.
We kind of chuckle and laugh at that because it’s a movie. How often do we try to gain fulfillment through status? If I just get that new car. If I can just get this thing or that thing, then I will have arrived.
You will also notice that the psalmist says there is no virtue in poverty. Poverty is not, in itself, a virtue. Just because we are poor, doesn’t make us closer to God. Our socio-economic status means absolutely nothing in our relationship to God.
Our status weigh less than a breath in the balancing scales of God.
Verse 10 says that we should not trust extortion or robbery. We have no problem excepting that. Look at the last half of the verse, “If riches increase, set not your heart on them.” If we gain wealth through legal means, we are not to put our trust in them. So we made a wise investment that too is worthless to God.
Our trust should be in God. Our trust should be in him only. God has power and steadfast love. The love that the psalmist speaks of is that of covenant love. Israel had an understanding of God’s love that flowed out of the covenant he had established with them. It is a love that is constant and dependable.
Because of God’s love, he will use power in the best way. He will bring about justice. God will reward us as he sees fit.
Conclusion: Pulling It All Together
We see the progression here. God is the source of salvation. From his salvation comes security. The security is rooted in his steadfast love.
I want to say a quick word about his security. We are secure as long as we are with God. When we leave the fort, we are opening ourselves up for attack.
Is our hope in God today? Where is our hope? Is our hope in something else?
When we were in Kansas City, we noticed an incredible fan base that the Kansas City Chiefs had. There are a ton of people who are wrapped up in the success or failure of the local football team. It always amazed me that people would sit in the stadium for over three hours in near zero-degree weather to watch the Chiefs choke again. There are always excuses with attending church, but the truth of the matter is that we will support what is important to us and where our hope is.
If our hope isn’t in God, then it is in something else. But, as the psalmist says all of that weighs less than a breath. Now, we have a little postage type scale at home, and I tried to weigh my breath. It doesn’t weigh anything.
Is your hope in God today? Are you battered my an enemy? Are you tired of fighting? Do you want a refuge?
God is dependable. Times may be rough, but when we are anchored in God, we “shall not be shaken.” Our God is a mighty fortress.
Let’s sing that classic hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God. It is page 30 in your hymnal.
