Psalm 62
Sermon preached at Barclay Church, Edinburgh by Rev D. Graham Leitch
21 July 2002

No day passes without countless decisions to be faced and made. Most of them, of course, aren’t all that important - “Will I have an extra five minutes in bed or get up now?” “What will I have for breakfast this morning?” “Should I wear this skirt or that one...my flowery tie or my patterned one?”

FINDING A RELIABLE TRADESMAN
Other decisions, though can have an important bearing on the future. One of the things its sometimes seems harder to do nowadays is finding a reliable tradesman. It’s easy enough to pick up the “Herald and Post” and run your eye down the columns and over the adverts. There is any number of folk and firms willing to join and plumb or repair. If something goes wrong with your wiring or plumbing or with one of your household appliances, they’ll soon come and do the job. But will they do it properly. Some boast membership of trade associations but is even that (necessarily) a guarantee? And any way - as the “Rogue Traders programme on the television has exposed repeatedly - how muich are they going to charge?

If my washing machine bursts, if the central heating breaks down, if a pipe is leaking - I’m faced with an unexpected decision - WHO should I ‘phone? Can I trust him to come? Can I trust him to do the job and finish it (without leaving an unholy mess behind afterwards)? If I need a replacement will I be offered good value or taken for a ride?

When something unexpectedly goes wrong in my home and I’m having trouble, who can I trust and who should I call?

PSALM 62
The Psalm that claims our attention this morning - Psalm 62 - is really an answer to that question in the spiritual realm. When something unexpectedly goes wrong, not in my home but in my life, when I experience difficulty or face trouble, when I am tempted to despair, who can I trust and who should I call? And in today’s Psalm David is facing an emergency!

A TIME OF DISAPPOINTMENT
The Psalm we looked at last Sunday was written by David before he became Israel’s King, when Saul was out for his blood and he was in hiding.

Today David is again being pursued - but this time it’s his son whose out for his blood. Absalom is seeking to overthrow his father and seize the throne. What a grievous disappoint-ment this must have been to David! His own son trying to kill him!!

Our children don’t aways turn out the way we’de like - what a joy it is when we’re proud of our children - but sometimes things go wrong and we wonder where we went wrong:

If only...” is still many a parents despairing cry as they ask (again and again) “If only I had done this...” or “If only I had insisted when it came to that, would things be any different now!”

A TIME OF DANGER
It was a time of danger for David too. He was King, but his lifwe was in danger. Absalom’s eyes were on the the throne his heart was set on his father’s crown. So David fled Jerusalem and sought shelter from his son’s wrath in the wilds...

And as he sheltered in hiding he had time to ponder and - because double dealing was common and there was much deceit, to think about who he could trust; who he could rely on!


DAVID’S REFLECTION
In the first half of this morning’s Psalm (Psalm 62) David gives us his answer. In vv.1-7 we find David doing two things: He reflects on his enemies persistence, aware that Absalom had been plotting his downfall for years:

“How long would you assault a man? Would ALL of you throw him down..”

As I’ve explained because there was much double-dealing David must often have wondered who is friends were and even whether anyone was on his side.

He was strong enough - and his faith in God was strong - but that wasn’t how Absolom painted him to his troops. Absolom represented David to his military commanders ,as 3b indicates, as a “leaning wall... a tottering fence.”

“His will is broken” Absalom would say “We’ve got him on the run!!”

Was David’s will broken?. Was the King of Israel running scared? Was it only a matter of time until Absalom triumphed? By no means!

DAVID GIVES HIS TESTIMONY
In the first seven verses of Psalm 62 (and I hope you’ve looked this psalm up and you’re following it with me) David reflects on his enemies persistence but also, and more importantly, gives his personal testimony. In disappointment and danger he reveals his heart. Look at v.1:
“My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
(2)He alone is my rock and my salvation;
He is my fortress, I shall never be shaken....

(5) Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him
(6) He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I shall not be shaken.....”

If I had to give a description of David’s testimony do you know what I would call it - I would call it a celebration of the TRIUMPHANT ADEQUACY of God!! I would call it a demonstration of the victory of faith over doubt, of strength over weakness, of courage over fear and, above all, of spiritual certainties over personal circumstances.

EXHORTATION
But David’s Psalm is more than TESTIMONY. It is EXHORTATION. Once he has spoken of placing HIS trust in God and relying on GOD he first urges his own soul to trust him:
(5) Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;

And then he urges others (8a) to do the same:
“Trust in Him at all times, O people, pour out your hearts to him, for God is OUR refuge”

He is not just MY refuge but may be YOURS .. I depend on him but you can depend on him too!!

INVITATION
Thuis psalm also holds out an invitation - an invitation. It’s the invitation to make David’s God our God and in our trials, inspired by his faith make that faith our own!

But what IS faith? We can leanr what FAITH means by looking at David’s outlook and resolve. And I want this morning to do that by looking at FAITH from three angles:

There is, first, the OBJECT of David’s faith. There is, second, the OPERATION of David’s faith. And then there is, finally, the OUTCOME of David’s faith.

Take first the OBJECT of David’s faith.

Where DO you look for help when things are going wrong? Who CAN you turn to with confidence and rely on to be with you and for you? Who can you TRUST!!

1. THE OBJECT OF DAVID’S FAITH
GOD HIMSELF was the OBJECT of David’s faith. He looked to God and to God alone for his safety. In their history the Jews had often relied on their military prowess or turned to more powerful nations to save them from destruction at the hands of the ascendant power. This was one of the faults the prophet Isaiah was to condemn - looking only to other earthly powers for help:
“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help...... but do not look to the Holy One of Israel!”
(Isaiah 31:1)
Sadly that’s what many do today. They look no further than their family and friends for help - or turning to professional counsellors for help (good and useful though their advice and support may be) instead of turning to GOD HIMSELF.

Others in Israel looked to the mountain spirits to come to their aid - the mountains were centres of superstition and spiritualism. New age ideas are as old as the hills!! But not David - he looked to GOD and to GOD ALONE!

THE “GOD ONLY” PSALM
Sometimes this has been called the GOD ONLY Psalm because in it David six times use a tiny Hebrew word for “only” or “alone”: It’s a word that underlines the the clear focus and exclusive nature of David’s faith. In v.1 he simply states the exclusive nature of his faith: “My soul finds rest in God alone.”

In v.6, as he exercises such faith, he encourages his own soul to continue trusting GOD - “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone....(62:7) He alone is my rock and my salvation.”

The problem with us is that we so often only look to God, seek God, call on God as a last resort. But God should be the Christian’s FIRST resort. How stupid we are because how slow we have been to turn to him in our troubles!! Too often we say we believe but act as though we simply don’t!!

When God fashioned ADAM at the beginning it was God’s purpose that Adam should find his identity as a human person in relation to himself. The word for “human person” in the ancient Greek language means “upward looker”. God doesn’t mean us to be “star-gazers” but he does mean us to be “god-trusters’ if you like!!

GOD HIMSELF - God alone and God only - was the OBJECT of David’s trust.

A FORTRESS AND A REFUGE
He speaks about God as His fortress - as though God is like an impregnable wall which surrounds Him so that no arrow fired by an enemy bow can strike him. No dart can wound him


He speaks about God as His REFUGE or shelter - When it starts raining on a golf course there are are fair-weather golfers who abandon their game as soon as the first drops fall. There are mad golfers who will continue to the eighteenth and beyond however heavy the rain or wild the storm - and then there are the sensible folk who know that there’s a right time to head for shelter.

In the stormy times of life when wave upon wave of adversity sweeps over us and our trials multiply - there’s a right ime to run for shelter!! And there’s nothing to be ashamed of in running into God’s arms!!

A ROCK AND A MIGHTY ROCK
He describes God as a ROCK and a MIGHTY ROCK - when the Christian in adversity sings:

“On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand”

-he proclaims his soul inviolable in the worst of storms!

So much for the OBJECT of David’s Trust. In his troubles he looked to GOD, GOD ALONE and knew that such faith would NOT be disappointed - To trust God is wise because God is entirely trustworthy!! So much for the OBJECT of David’s faith.

2. THE OPERATION OF DAVID’S FAITH
Secondly, consider the OPERATION of David’s faith. As David’s faith had a very PARTICULAR OBJECT, God, so David’s faith had a very PERSONAL DIMENSION.

It wasn’t mere blind optimism. It wasn’t vaguely hoping for the best far less trusting to luck. It was “the reliant outgoing of his soul toward God.” The confident reaching out of his arm and stretching out of his hand to the outstretched, strong and loving hand of God.

It was a conscious and deliberate thing - an act of will. Few things are more important than the ability to grasp and to see that FAITH is a steadfast active principle and not merely an airy-fairy idea in the brain!!

CONSCIOUS AND DELIBERATE
Faith is CONSCIOUS and DELIBERATE - an act of the will. That’s why David can urge his soul (as he does at 5a) to fix its gaze and find its rest in God Himself. Faith isn’t a feeling - it’s a decision!! It isn’t merely agreeing in your mind what God’s like - it’s acting on that truth and committing yourself to it. If I hold out my hand to you offering you a gift then faith is as conscious and deliberate as reaching out and accepting it - if you like, claiming it so that you can own it for yourself - so that it become YOURS in a very personal way because you’ve got it.

It’s taking God to be all that he has promised to be and receiving all that he has promised to give.

PERSONAL
David’s faith was real; it was deeply personal. There is something very personal, almost intimate, in David’s language. No word occurs more frequently in Psalm 62 than that tiny but tremendously important word “MY”:
“My soul finds its rest in God alone,
my salvation comes from him.
(9) He alone is my rock sand my salvation;
He is my fortress...my mighty rock and my
refuge.......”

Notice how PEROSNAL it is. And it’s personal because God is a PERSONAL God. And when we take him to be our God he is PERSONALLY yours and mine. By the single word “Yes” God becomes my God, the rock my Rock, the refuge my refuge, and HIS salvation mine!


3. THE OUTCOME OF DAVID’S FAITH.
Consider, finally, this morning, what I have chosen to call the outcome of David’s faith. Time will prevent us from considering this in any detail but look at the fruit of David’s faith:

* A SOUL THAT HAS FOUND REST
v.1 “My soul finds rest in God alone....” v.5 “Find rest, my soul, in God..”
Despite the outward turmoil and the troubles which beset him David’s spirit is kept
calm - he knows an inner peace.
“Come to me all you that are weary and burdened” says Jesus “and I will give you rest.”

* A SOUL WITH HOPE
v.5b “my hope comes from Him”
v.7a “my salvation and my honour depend on God”
David can face the present without fear and the future without panic because the present
and the future alike are in the hands of the God of His salvation.
* A SOUL THAT IS STRONG
v..6 “I shall not be shaken.” v.7 “I shall NEVER be shaken.”
Nowhere is the difference that faith makes more confidently declared than by Paul in
2 Corinthians 4:
“We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed...”
That is the victory of FAITH - a victory that David enjoyed in his day and a victory that
each one of us may enjoy in ours.

* A SOUL THAT IS IMMEDIATELY SAFE AND ETERNALLY SECURE
And as the final OUTCOME of David’s faith we notice that here we find a man who (as a result of EXERCISED FAITH, is IMMEDIATELY SAFE and ETERNALLY SECURE.

This is the double meaning that is attached to David’s use of the word SALVATION:

v.1 “My salvation comes from him...”...

v.2 and v.6 “He (God) alone is my salvation....”
v.7 “My salvation depends on God..”

Speaking many centuries later it was Paul, quoting from an Old Testament prophet but referring to Jesus Christ, who said:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall - the one who trusts in Him will NEVER be put to shame.”

When it comes to household repair jobs it is hard to find someone you can trust - someone you can rely on to do the job. But when it comes to repairing the human heart and binding up the human spirit GOD has no equal. TRUST HIM... TRUST IN HIM and His rest will be your present and eternal reward.

AMEN

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