For God Alone
Download MP3So we are continuing our study, in the Psalms. This summer, we've been going through different Psalms, and we've also been able to hear from lots of different people, within our church family who have shared and preached for us. And today we are continuing into Psalm 62, Psalm 62. It's printed there in your worship guide. We are gonna take the time to read through all of the Psalm here at the start.
Jeffrey Heine:And so if you, if you have it in front of you, let's turn our attention now to Psalm 62. And let us listen carefully for this is God's word. For God alone, my soul waits in silence. From Him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation.
Jeffrey Heine: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.
Jeffrey Heine:They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. For God alone, oh 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.
Jeffrey Heine:Trust in Him at all times, o people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. Those of low estate are but a breath. Those of high estate are a delusion.
Jeffrey Heine: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.
Jeffrey Heine:Once God has spoken, twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God, and that to you, oh Lord, belongs steadfast love for you will render to a man according to his work. This is the word of the Lord. It is the word. Let's pray together. Oh Lord, in this time we gather together knowing that you know us better than we know ourselves.
Jeffrey Heine:You know us better than we know ourselves, and yet you have set your love on us. And so, Lord, as we come into this time and open your word, would you draw near to us? Would you lead us to truth? Would You deepen our faith and our trust? And, Lord, would You speak, for Your servants are listening.
Jeffrey Heine:We pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. It takes a surprising amount of effort to surrender, in particular, surrendering to the Lord. Surrender like silence and stillness. It takes unimaginable strength.
Jeffrey Heine:Noise is easy, and busy action is instinctual. But silence, stillness, surrender, they demand far more than we would expect. Because in the work of surrender, we aren't achieving anything, at least nothing that we can see. It can appear to be a waste of time, especially if you are in a time of need. Surrender can seem like the absence of action, but in the words of Psalm 62, we're offered a different picture.
Jeffrey Heine:In this other view, we are given an invitation, even an appeal to face the most significant challenges of our lives with something frankly that looks like nothing. Yet according to the kingdom of God, it is the path to everything. Psalm 62 is a picture of the holy work of surrender. Now Psalm 62 is one of 73 hymns that are attributed to King David, making up about half of the Psalter. And nothing in this song particularly, can be tied to an explicit story of David's life.
Jeffrey Heine:We can't confirm that it was absolutely written by him, but it has several elements that are typical of a David hymn. In many of his Psalms, we read David writing from a place of distress, hymns of being attacked and pursued by enemies. We know that many of the context of these Psalms from David's life, that the narrative biography that we have in the Old Testament books of 1st and second Samuel, we can tie stories of his life to particular Psalms. This Psalm exists between 2 frequent types of Psalms. It's described by the theologian Walter Brueggerman as Psalms of orientation and Psalms of disorientation.
Jeffrey Heine:And this Psalm lives in between the 2. Because in Psalm 62, David's in a place of outer disorientation due to the distress caused by his enemies, but he has an inner orientation, hoping in the promises and the power of God. And throughout the psalm, David addresses 4 distinct audiences. The first one audience is the people of God. The hymn was written with them in mind.
Jeffrey Heine:The inscription at the start of the song shows us that where it says, to the choir master according to Jettison. Now, if you are looking for a baby name, may I recommend to you Jettison. I had to get up a little earlier today to keep practicing saying Jettison because it's a weird name. We can be honest about it. But Jettison was a chief musician, that he was a worship leader appointed by David to lead the music in the Tabernacle.
Jeffrey Heine:You can read more about that role in 1st Chronicles 16. But 3 Psalms mentioned Jethython. After a Psalm was written, David would then give it to Jethython to take it to the tabernacle, to put it to music, to be used in worship by the people of God. So that's a primary audience of this hymn. It's addressing the people of God.
Jeffrey Heine:At another point in the Psalm, David speaks directly to his enemies. We see that in verses 3 and 4. And then in verses 5 and 7, David addresses himself. He encourages and directs his own soul. And lastly, at the close of the Psalm, David addresses Yahweh, the Lord his God.
Jeffrey Heine:Four distinct audiences, His people, His enemies, His soul and His God. And as David addresses them, he starts to model for us a framework. Now, for those of you that were privileged privileged enough to be able to be a part of Wednesday night's talk back with Matt Francisco, you will recall that Matt made a reference to Eugene Peterson's book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. And in it, Eugene Peterson recalls a a visit that he made to a woman in his congregation. And he writes this, quote, as I entered a home to make a pastoral visit, the person I came to see was sitting at a window, embroidering a piece of cloth held taught over an oval loop.
Jeffrey Heine:And she said, Pastor, while I was waiting for you to come, I realized what was wrong with me. I don't have a frame. My feelings, my thoughts, my activities, everything is loose and sloppy. There's no border to my life. I never know where I am.
Jeffrey Heine:I need a frame for my life like this one. End quote. We need frameworks. We need a border to frame our lives, to give us a place to live and to work. And that's how I'd like for us to approach this Psalm of David this morning, A framework for the holy work of surrender.
Jeffrey Heine:David will present this framework after he gives some opening declarations and after he addresses his enemies. And so we'll look at those two things first. In verses 1 through 2, David offers introductory declarations about his soul. So let's look together at verses 12. For God alone, my soul waits in silence.
Jeffrey Heine:From Him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be greatly shaken. David will restate these themes of waiting on God and trusting in God and His power to rescue. He'll do that 3 times throughout the Psalm.
Jeffrey Heine:He declares it here at the start. He'll do it again at the middle of the Psalm. And then at the close, he will repeat for God alone. In other words, only for God. Only for God does my soul wait in silence because only from God comes my rescue.
Jeffrey Heine:Only for God does my soul wait in silence because only God is my rock and my salvation. Only God is my fortress. That's the grounding declaration of this Psalm because it is the cry of David's heart. David is crying out, declaring the trustworthiness of God. The waiting, the silence, the surrender, it only makes sense.
Jeffrey Heine:It only matters if God is trustworthy. If God was not trustworthy, then David needs to get busy. He needs to quit praying and writing his poems. He needs to get to work, not the work of surrender. He needs to figure out a plan and fast because his enemies are coming.
Jeffrey Heine:They aren't waiting in silence. David's enemies are hard at work seeking his destruction, his death. And while David is off surrendering and praying and quieting his soul and wasting time with God, his enemies are racing after him, plotting and planning their attack to destroy him. But if God is trustworthy, if He is the rock and the refuge, if He is the rescue and salvation, then perhaps David is doing the only work that truly matters, wasting time with God. In verses 3 and 4, David describes his crisis.
Jeffrey Heine:He describes the actions of his enemies, and and he turns his attention to them, even asking them a question. Let's look at verse 3. He says, 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.
Jeffrey Heine:They take pleasure in falsehoods. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. David asks his enemies, how long are you going to keep trying to tear me down and demolish me like a teetering wall that's about to crumble? How long are you gonna plan for my destruction? How long are you gonna take delight in lying and cursing me?
Jeffrey Heine:How long? Forever? Until I die? Is that how all this is going to end? The Psalms were written in ancient Hebrew, and ancient Hebrew poetry often utilized the poetic device of parallelism.
Jeffrey Heine:And parallelism occurs when an image or a concept is referenced, and then a corresponding or contradictory image is used in response. So if we look at this Psalm as a whole, in verses 3 and 4, David is using words like attacking, battering, leaning, tottering to describe his torment and his distress. And in parallel to that, in verses 12, just before, David describes God as his rock, His salvation, His fortress. Now David could have chosen to focus solely on his great distress and the terrorizing of his enemies, but but that isn't the cry of David's heart. That isn't even the first thing that he addresses.
Jeffrey Heine:His problem is not first on his mind. He begins with declarations about God and his confidence in surrendering to Him. And only then does he move to address his enemies. Yes. David has enemies who are trying to bring him ruin, not only to end his rule as king, but to end his life.
Jeffrey Heine:And while that is the context of this Psalm, it is not its theme. It is not David's declaration. His circumstance of distress is not the focus of his heart. God is. So what do we do in times of trouble?
Jeffrey Heine:What do you do? Times of disappointment or fear or chaos or confusion. Perhaps you're in one of those seasons right now, or maybe you just finally started to get some distance from one of those seasons in your past, or perhaps there is one coming soon. What do we do in these times of trouble? As I said earlier in, in Psalm 62, David gives us a border, a frame to live our lives and to do this work, to give us a place to do the holy work of surrender.
Jeffrey Heine:And after David's opening declarations and addressing his enemies, we start to see this frame modeled and unfolding. It's a lesson for what we can do when our souls are desperate, what to do when we are crying out, God, I don't know what to do next. And it's from these verses in 5 through 8 specifically that we will consider 3 parts that make up a framework for surrender. So part 1, waiting. Look with me at verse 5.
Jeffrey Heine:For God alone, oh my soul, wait in silence. This is the first step of surrender that David gives us. Our souls are to wait. The ancient Hebrew word most often translated as soul is nefesh. It bears with it the image of breath, and sometimes it's even translated as neck.
Jeffrey Heine:And that's because at that time, people understood that the neck is where the life was. Think about it. If someone were to get a cut, a deep cut on their neck, or if you constrained the breathing in some way on the neck, then life would cease. Oxygen and blood pass through the neck. Breath and blood pass through the neck.
Jeffrey Heine:Life happens in the nefesh. The counter intelligent agent from, the FBI who worked with a behavioral analysis program named Joe Navarro, I doubt you had that one on your bingo card this morning. But Joe Navarro from the counterintelligence agency in the FBI, he said, often when people are insecure, troubled, scared, concerned, worried or nervous, they cover or touch their necks. And he also observed when he was interviewing people who were lying to him, deceptive people, the shoulders would often rise and hold, hold towards their ears as the lie was being told, making their necks seem shorter. All that happens in the Nephesh.
Jeffrey Heine:So what does it mean for a Nephesh to wait in silence? What does it mean for a soul to be silent? In the face of his enemies, men who whom David said loved lies, they loved curses, men who wanted David torn down from his high place and utterly destroyed, David does not lash out at them and tell them to be silent. He commands his own soul to be silent before the Lord. So what does the waiting silent soul do?
Jeffrey Heine:What can a silent soul achieve? What can it change? Well, externally, nothing. But a silent soul evidences something deeply powerful. A waiting silent soul gives witness to what is believed about God.
Jeffrey Heine:The soul that waits in silence testifies to a trust in who God is and what he can do. A waiting silent soul bears witness to a trust in God that He is able to rescue because He is steadfast in His love and powerful. A silent soul waiting for God is at peace and rest in the Lord, where fears are stilled and strivings cease. David is teaching us that waiting on God is more powerful than waiting on anything or anyone else, including ourselves to bring about our own rescue. The gospel of Jesus, that's that's the good news of God, that the Son, God the Son, took on flesh to dwell among us in humanity, to be crushed according to the will of the Father, to bring reconciliation and forgiveness for our sins.
Jeffrey Heine:This news of Jesus, who was raised from the dead for our justification, the news that Jesus has accomplished our rescue, it leads to a transformed life. But it does not only lead to a transformed life. Our great rescue in Jesus also leads us to the presence of God. The theologian and fellow Murray State racer, Fred Sanders states in his book, The Deep Things of God, he says this, if the gospel is only leading to life change and not also the presence of God, it is too small of a gospel. The gospel of God leads us to the presence of God.
Jeffrey Heine:True surrender is not simply sitting in apathy or indifference. Just being quiet isn't the point. And it's not simply waiting for things to change. David isn't waiting for his circumstances to change, nor is David meditating in silence just to get a better attitude or more optimistic perspective. David is waiting for God.
Jeffrey Heine:Our souls are to wait in silence before God alone, and we cannot be silent before the Lord if we do not seek His presence. We read in various Psalms that there are times when David's soul is crying out. It's a very loud soul. Times when his soul rejoices and shouts with thanksgiving. But here, in his distress and his disappointment and his desperation, David tells his soul to be still, to be silent before the Lord, and to wait.
Jeffrey Heine:David needed to go before the Lord to be present with God, and in His presence, remember God's power and His love. And that's exactly what God says to David. If we jump down a few verses, we're gonna skip ahead. I I checked. We can do this.
Jeffrey Heine:We're gonna look at verse 11 and 12. We read in verse 11. Once God has spoken, twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God, and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. Power and steadfast love belong to God. That is what David learned from God as he spent time in His presence.
Jeffrey Heine:That is the calibrating truth that puts everything that David sees with his eyes into the right perspective. David didn't need to forget about his worries and think better thoughts. And we should notice that he isn't silent in anticipation that God's gonna tell him that his enemies won't be victorious, or God's not gonna teach David how to conquer all those who oppose him. The word back from God is a reminder of God's power and God's faithful love. And David tells himself to be silent.
Jeffrey Heine:He tells his soul to be silent and to be in the presence of God and to wait on Him, to be with God and to know that God is with us. David says to himself, I'm waiting for God alone. I'm not waiting for an army to rescue me or for money to help me get out of my troubles. I'm not waiting for my enemies to tire out or to change their plans, and I'm not waiting for revenge. I'm not waiting for my circumstances to change.
Jeffrey Heine:No. I'm waiting for God alone. And as I wait for Him, I am with Him. I know that sounds like a paradox. Last night, I was on hold with AT and T for 2 and a half hours before the line just cut, which was great.
Jeffrey Heine:And I handled it super well. Now, normally, when when we are waiting for something, we aren't with what we're waiting for. Waiting means we aren't with it. But when we are waiting for God, we are at the same time with God. And perhaps that's the point of all of it, even the distress.
Jeffrey Heine:Waiting on God's plans, His provision, His timing, His comfort, His mercy, His promises, we wait for Him with Him. And we wait in God's presence with an unassailable confidence in who God is. That is what permits us to even wait in silence. Power and love belong to God. Waiting, especially waiting in silence requires a significant motivation, a basis for why we can wait in silence.
Jeffrey Heine:David had to know and to believe something truly magnificent about God to wait only for him. The ability to wait in satisfied, confident silence takes tremendous confidence. So where does that confidence come from, especially in a time of chaos and distress and confusion? Well, David substantiates his direction to his soul to wait in silence by emphatically stating why he can wait, which leads us to the second part of the framework of surrender. The first one was waiting.
Jeffrey Heine:The second, hoping. Look again at verse 5. We'll look at the remainder of it. For God alone, oh my soul, wait in silence for my hope is from Him. David does not have to manufacture this resiliency.
Jeffrey Heine:He isn't generating the strength. Waiting for God isn't a work of character development, and he isn't even mustering up this confidence from his own faith in God. David's hope comes from God. This phrase, my hope is from Him, it has two levels of meaning. 1st, my hope comes from knowing God, because God Himself is David's hope.
Jeffrey Heine:And then secondly, God is the giver of hope. God is the cause of David's hoping. God is both the supplier of your hope, and He Himself is your hope. The German theologian, Jurgen Moltmann, who passed away last month at the age of 98, he wrote a book called Theology of Hope in 1965. And in it, he said this.
Jeffrey Heine:Hope's statements of promise must stand in contradiction to the reality that can at present be experienced. I'll read it again because I had to. Hope's statements of promise must stand in contradiction to the reality that we can at present experience. What does that mean? It means that hope, hope that comes from God stands in contradiction to the reality that we see and experience.
Jeffrey Heine:What we see and experience all around us, the promises of hope from God stand in direct contradiction to these things, which means that what God has told us in his promises is not what we see with our eyes. It's not what we experience in our reality at present. The writer to the Hebrews, the new testament letter, put it in these words in chapter 11. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. What David saw with his eyes was an enemy seeking his destruction and gaining ground.
Jeffrey Heine:What David experienced was cursing and attacks. What God promised, what God promised to David and to each of us is a contradictory hope. It's a hope that stands against what we see and experience at present. And this hope gives us confidence in what is to come, our salvation in Christ alone. The promise of hope stands in contradiction to what we can see and experience at present.
Jeffrey Heine:David is surrendering to God by waiting and hoping. But how does he know he can do this? How is he confident that things are ever going to change? How does he know that the reality that he sees and experiences isn't what things are always going to be? Because nothing around him is trending up.
Jeffrey Heine:Nothing is getting better. In fact, many things are just getting worse. Well, David goes on to describe the basis of his hope. Let's look at verse 6. God only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.
Jeffrey Heine:I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory. My mighty rock, my refuge is God. The silence of the soul, waiting and hoping in the presence of the Lord both expresses our trust in God's power to save, and it strengthens our trust in God's power to save. When we are waiting for God, we aren't simply being quiet.
Jeffrey Heine:We are trusting and growing in confidence. Confidence that salvation and glory rest on God alone. David's salvation, not just the circumstance with these finite enemies, but his eternal salvation rests on God. Think about that. Follow what David means here.
Jeffrey Heine:The weight of salvation, the heavy burden of eternal rescue, It rests only upon God Himself. David does not carry the weight of the burden of his salvation. God does. God is the mighty rock, a refuge for David. So David can say boldly, I will not be shaken.
Jeffrey Heine:Not because I am strong, not because I can figure out a way out of this trouble, but because God is powerful and faithful and trustworthy. If your salvation, and not only your current circumstances, but eternally, if your ultimate rescue rests on God, then the basis and the source of your hope is certain and sure because it's Him. This is how David can say to himself, I will wait in silence for God alone. The silence in David's soul is testifying. It is bearing witness.
Jeffrey Heine:It's reverberating a deep and resilient trust in the God and on whom all salvation rests. And then David turns to address the people of God in verse 8. So the framework. Part 1, waiting. Part 2, hoping.
Jeffrey Heine:Part 3, trusting. Trust in Him at all times, oh people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. Waiting, hoping, trusting.
Jeffrey Heine:David says to trust God at all times. So is there a time when we do not need to trust God? No. Is there ever a time when things are good enough, where we have enough control, where things are looking good enough for me, and I don't have to hope in God? No.
Jeffrey Heine:At all times. What about when things are really bad? When when circumstances get so great, the trial too difficult, the crisis too chaotic, what about then? At all times. We are invited, and wildly because of Jesus, we are entitled to trust God at all times.
Jeffrey Heine:By His divine nature, His divine attributes of steadfast love, and because of His covenant promises, God has obligated Himself to you, so that you might trust in Him at all times, no matter what. What does it look like to trust God especially like that? Because I I don't see a whole lot of that in my soul. Once again, David connects trusting the Lord to being in his presence. And he describes for the people of God what trust looks like.
Jeffrey Heine:He says it looks like pouring out your heart before him. Precisely what David has been doing this whole prayer of Psalm 62, he's pouring his heart out before the Lord. That is what trust looks like. How do you know if you are trusting in God? Well, are you pouring out your heart before Him?
Jeffrey Heine:The 16th century reformer and theologian John Calvin was reflecting on this psalm, Psalm 62, and this phrase, pouring out your heart to the Lord. And he wrote these words. Quote, what David advises is all the more necessary, considering the mischievous tendency that we have naturally to keep our troubles pent up in our chests until they drive us to despair. David could not have suggested a better expedient than that of disburdening our cares to God, and thus, as it were, pouring out our hearts before Him. He goes on, usually indeed, we show so much anxiety and ingenuity to seek escape from our troubles, which may be happening to press upon us, but so long as we shun, coming into the presence of God, own we only involve ourselves in a labyrinth of difficulty, end quote.
Jeffrey Heine:Calvin is saying that it's deep in our nature to hide our griefs and ruminate upon them, rather than finding relief for our souls by pouring out our hearts in prayer in the presence of God. In the loud chaos of our souls, we become consumed more and more with our distresses. And in Calvin's words, we become we merge into the state of hopeless despondency. That inner monologue inside of our hearts, our minds, our souls of worry, fear, and anxiety, they become louder and louder, and they grow into a cacophony of noise, and we circle round and round the labyrinth of our distress, the maze of our misery. So how do we escape this maze?
Jeffrey Heine:How do we escape this rising cacophony of hopelessness? David says, pour out your heart heart to God. Being completely vulnerable before him and holding nothing back, knowing that you will not be turned away by him, nor will you be condemned, but you will be loved and kept. In the Apostle Peter's words, we cast our cares upon Christ because He cares for us. We pour out our hearts.
Jeffrey Heine:We cast our cares. The Greek word that Peter is using here for casting is used only one other time in the New Testament. It's by Luke in his gospel, when he's recounting the story of Jesus coming into Jerusalem for the Passover. And Luke says that the disciples have a donkey, a young donkey for Jesus to ride in on. But before Jesus gets on the donkey, the disciples cast their cloaks upon the donkey's back.
Jeffrey Heine:That's the picture of casting. Casting our cares onto Jesus. He cares for you. And because He cares for you, He says, bring me your worry and your fear and your anxiety. Bring me your confusion and your anger and your sorrow.
Jeffrey Heine:Cast them on me. Throw them on my back. Give me the burden, and I will carry them for you. Pour out your heart before the Lord. Hold nothing back because he cares for you.
Jeffrey Heine:So what would that look like for you today? I want you to think about that. What would it look like for you to pour your heart out to God today? What would come out? Most of us spend a lot of time, a lot of energy every day to hold our eternal selves together, kind of scotch taping ourselves together to just make it through a day.
Jeffrey Heine:And the thought of letting any of those things go, it bears the fear of everything falling apart, collapsing like a house of cards. We have shoved so many thoughts and fears and worries and troubles into the junk drawers of our souls that we don't dare open it up for everything cascading out. It seems too messy to pour our hearts out, too vulnerable, too risky. The very idea of opening those locked places might terrify you. But look at what David says next.
Jeffrey Heine:Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for you. God is the safe place. And not only that, he's the safe place for you. Safe for you to pour out your heart no matter what might come out.
Jeffrey Heine:What sorrow, anger, fear, grief, confusion, doubt, disappointments, expectations, hopes or questions, whatever pours out? He is a safe place for you. So what would it look like for you? Have you ever dared to do it before? Or have you been hiding your heart from God afraid that he won't hear you or he won't receive you or he will turn you away the moment you start showing how messy your soul is?
Jeffrey Heine:What would pouring your heart out today look like? You might not even know, but Jesus knows. He knows exactly what's in there and he knows exactly what will come out and he's still inviting you today. He calls to you. Pour out your heart to me.
Jeffrey Heine:Trust me with the burden. The great burden of your salvation, the daily burdens of your worries are to rest on Christ alone. He carries the weight, not you. He is the rescue, not you. So let your soul be silent.
Jeffrey Heine:Let it be calmed and quieted in the presence of your God and savior. Waste time with God today. Achieve nothing with him today. Follow this framework of the holy work of surrender, waiting with Him, hoping in Him, and trusting in him alone. For power and steadfast love belong to the Lord your God.
Jeffrey Heine:He is your rock and your refuge. Let's go to him in prayer. Oh, Lord, would you meet us here by your spirit to dare to pour our hearts out to you? Would you give us the strength to be honest with ourselves and with you, to pour our hearts out no matter what might come with that, knowing that you are a safe place, that we are safe and kept in your love and your power, not according to any good that we bring, but according to your steadfast love. May we believe that today, and may that belief make its way from our minds to the pouring out of our hearts before you.
Jeffrey Heine:We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.
