I’m glad I get to blog Psalm 62. It’s one of the first Psalms that Fi and I memorised together (before you get too excited, the total number fits comfortably on one hand!) I still have a vague memory of going to a meeting out the back of Bayswater and, in my car-radio-less car, trying to nail verses 9-12.
This is a great Psalm. A Psalm for anyone who’s ever felt under the hammer; whose ever felt the weight of circumstances closing in around them.
King David prays a psalm of confidence in Psalm 62. He reminds himself all over again who does the saving, who brings rest to the soul and who keeps us standing. And, in the process of reminding himself, David has a fresh revelation of the certainty and faithfulness of God.
On Sunday, Morro compared our fickleness with God’s faithfulness. That so often we ride the wave of circumstance. We base our attitude, our confidence and security on the stuff that’s happening around us. But circumstances change. As Morro said, shed happens, and to base our surety on changing circumstances is a pretty shaky foundation on which to build. But He’s God, he’s sovereign—over all, in all, through all—and He’s bigger than all of it…bigger than the air that we breathe!
The greatest encouragement I take from Psalm 62 is from verses two and six. When you’re memorising a slab of scripture, you love verses that repeat themselves…because you’ve pretty much remembered them already! But these verses aren’t the same. And what makes them different is a big deal.
In verse 2, David reminds himself that God is his rock and salvation so he will never be shaken. He’s triggering truth to remember the foundations of his faith.
Verses 3-5 bring the reality of David’s condition and circumstance to the page. People want him dead, or to glory over his demise. Two-faced people say one thing to his face and another behind his back. Nothing’s changed on the outside. It’s as grim as he remembered.
Yet David emerges from the reality of his circumstances with a new resolve: ‘He alone is my rock and salvation, he is my fortress, I will not be shaken’.
There’s a big difference between ‘I will never be shaken’ and ‘I will not be shaken’. One is confidence without testing, the other is resolute certainty and confidence in God beyond our circumstances.
In Ephesians 6, Paul tells us to stand. Despite everything, stand. Not in our own power and not with the grim strength of gritting your teeth but with the glory-strength God gives.
Jesus doesn’t necessarily change our circumstances but we changes the world in us. That’s why we can stand and not be shaken. Not because we’re stoic – cause we’re not. A not because we necessarily feel calm – cause often we don’t. But because he offers us rest. And because, amidst our fickleness, he is faithful and in the light of his salvation, rest and fortress we can confidently declare: I will not be shaken.
– Simon Elliott