Psalm 62 New King James Version
A Calm Resolve to Wait for the Salvation of God
To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
62 Truly my soul silently waits for God;
From Him comes my salvation.
2 He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my [a]defense;
I shall not be greatly moved.[b]
3 How long will you attack a man?
You shall be slain, all of you,
Like a leaning wall and a tottering fence.
4 They only consult to cast him down from his high position;
They delight in lies;
They bless with their mouth,
But they curse inwardly. Selah
5 My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my [c]expectation is from Him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not be [d]moved.
7 In God is my salvation and my glory;
The rock of my strength,
And my refuge, is in God.
8 Trust in Him at all times, you people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
9 Surely men of low degree are [e]a vapor,
Men of high degree are a lie;
If they are weighed on the scales,
They are altogether lighter than vapor.
10 Do not trust in oppression,
Nor vainly hope in robbery;
If riches increase,
Do not set your heart on them.
11 God has spoken once,
Twice I have heard this:
That power belongs to God.
12 Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy;
For You [f]render to each one according to his work.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Matthew 11:28 New King James Version
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Whenever you receive invitations, you probably find yourself asking the same sorts of questions: Who is it from? Who is it for? Why does it matter?
This verse presents one of the loveliest invitations in the whole of the New Testament—but to understand it best, we must ask those same questions.
First, this is a personal invitation.
It is not an invitation to a program, nor is it an invitation to a religion or to a philosophy to be included alongside Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, New Age-ism, humanism, or any other “ism” found among today’s worldviews.
It is an invitation from Jesus Himself – He is bidding each of us, “Come to me.”
The significance of the invitation lies in who is issuing it.
In the Gospels, Jesus declares who He is: the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the Son of God (see John 4:25-26; 1 John 4:14).
By virtue of this identity, Jesus should anticipate, should expect, even could command an instant response—but instead, here – He extends an invitation.
And who does He invite to come? “All who labor and are heavy laden.”
This invitation is all-inclusive.
It doesn’t single out a certain group among a larger group based on arbitrary standards invented by academia and culture, but it describes all of humanity.
Each of us absolutely need to hear these words over again, because there’s not one person who isn’t figuratively pushing around a wheelbarrow filled with all the cares, responsibilities, fears, and failures that surely make up his or her life.
Why does all this matter? Jesus invites us to find “rest for your souls.”
He’s speaking in eternal terms of a rest that never fails.
He’s beckoning us towards a banquet, He doesn’t even ask us to provide clothes.
We show up for the banquet just the way we are.
God takes all our “Here are my fears, doubts” and “Here are my good deeds” clothes so many of us like to dress up in, calls them rags, and tosses them aside.
He takes all the self deprecating self debasing “I’m so bad and messed up that there’s no hope” clothes and unceremoniously tosses all of them aside too.
In their place, He covers us over with “the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10), which is provided by Jesus Christ Himself.
When we find our doubts weighing us down like a millstone, we can rest from our striving to make something of ourselves or to earn heaven for ourselves when we come to Jesus, receive all we need, all we could ever need, from Him.
This is the invitation of all invitations that our doubts do not want any part of.
O’ Come On, My Soul, Let’s Listen, Let’s Rest In God!
Psalm 62 Easy-to-Read Version
To the director, Jeduthun.[a] A song of David.
62 I must calm down and turn to God;
only he can rescue me.
2 He is my Rock, the only one who can save me.
He is my high place of safety, where no army can defeat me.
3 How long will you people attack me?
Do you all want to kill me?
I am like a leaning wall,
like a fence ready to fall.
4 You want only to destroy me,
to bring me down from my important position.
It makes you happy to tell lies about me.
In public, you say nice things,
but in private, you curse me. Selah
5 I must calm down and turn to God;
he is my only hope.
6 He is my Rock, the only one who can save me.
He is my high place of safety, where no army can defeat me.
7 My victory and honor come from God.
He is the mighty Rock, where I am safe.
8 People, always put your trust in God!
Tell him all your problems.
God is our place of safety. Selah
9 People cannot really help.
You cannot depend on them.
Compared to God, they are nothing—
no more than a gentle puff of air!
10 Don’t trust in your power to take things by force.
Don’t think you will gain anything by stealing.
And if you become wealthy,
don’t put your trust in riches.
11 God says there is one thing you can really depend on, and I believe it:
“Strength comes from God!”
12 My Lord, your love is real.
You reward all people for what they do.
Psalm 62 is a window into David’s heart and reminds us to trust in God alone.
Like many of the psalms he wrote, David starts with praise and God’s Truth before he navigates into his struggles and emotions.
Even in 2024, it is an intelligent strategy that is abundantly helpful to all of us.
Spending time daily in God’s Word helps us view life through His perspective.
The psalmist states that because God is his rock, salvation, and stronghold, he won’t be shaken (verses 1-2).
As the Psalmist reflects further upon trouble, his doubts and the enemy, David prays, counsels his own heart to entrust all fear and frustration into God’s care.
As if to go heart to heart with his innermost self to plead, “O’ Come on, my soul, let’s listen to what God says about this,” he remembers what he has learned:
Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken. My salvation and glory depend on God, my strong rock. My refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is our refuge. Selah Psalm 62:5-8
The Psalms remind us that God created us with feelings and emotions that help us respond to life’s experiences.
They are beautiful because God created them.
Doubts cause us to question who, what and why standing in front of us.
Sadness helps us respond to grief.
Fear helps us flee danger.
Anger helps us respond to injustice.
Best of all, love leads us to express care and affection.
However, the fall of man has tainted emotions like these with sin, and we often automatically default to our human nature, which can absolutely keep us from experiencing the purity and peace we can have in our Lord and Savior Christ.
Here, we get stuck in feelings like fearfulness, hopelessness, and unforgiveness instead of freedom.
Feelings can begin to define, box us in rather than help us process and emote.
Yet, praise the Lord because of the finished work of Jesus at Calvary; we can live free rather than stuck or enslaved to sin. (John 19:28-30)
As we read throughout the Psalms, over a lifetime David learned God’s Truth.
Amid the struggle, he listens to God’s Truth.
Beautifully, he then leads others to rely on God’s Truth.
As it says in Psalm 62:8, “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is our refuge. Selah”
Learn!
Listen!
Invite!
Lead others!
By the power of the Holy Spirit, this is the beautiful pattern of writing God’s Word on our hearts, weaving His wisdom into our souls, so that we have it to anchor and encourage ourselves and can then share the good news with others.
Life absolutely, abundantly challenges us for the rest of our days here on earth.
It’s okay to feel, but by the transformative power of the Word of God, but as a child of God, we don’t have to live stuck in a downward spiral or a stagnant pit.
Whether we have a friend nearby to sit with us as we process our emotions or whether you sit alone today, cling to what God says about your circumstances.
Think about the words you might tell a friend going through the same thing.
We are too hard on ourselves, and perhaps today, you need to give yourself the grace and pep talk anchored in God’s Truth that you would give a friend today.
“O’ Come on, my soul, let’s listen to God! O’ Come, Let Us Rest in God Alone!”
Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee—
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.[1]
1 Charlotte Elliot, “Just As I Am, Without One Plea” (1835).
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 100 Easy-to-Read Version
A song of thanks.
100 Earth, sing to the Lord!
2 Be happy as you serve the Lord!
Come before him with happy songs!
3 Know that the Lord is God.
He made us, and we belong to him.
We are his people, the sheep he takes care of.
4 Come through the gates to his Temple giving thanks to him.
Enter his courtyards with songs of praise.
Honor him and bless his name.
5 The Lord is good!
There is no end to his faithful love.
We can trust him forever and ever!
Father God, thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit, who counsels me and ministers to my heart and my soul daily. Friends are a gift and a blessing, but none can fill the perfect friendship of Your Son, Our Savior Jesus Christ. Help my soul to always listen to your Truth. Settle my soul, Help me speak kind words and thoughts to myself that are gentle, encouraging—just as I would walk with, talk to, a friend in need today.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 