For God Alone My Soul in Silence Waits ~ Psalm 62

All of our world militates against the sensibilities of this Psalm.  We are a people who prize noise and there is hardly any place in our life where noise does not intrude.  It is not unusual to find two or three television sets on in the same household.  Our automobiles have CD players, radios and television sets for videos for the younger set.  We leave our homes with their noise, climb into our autos with their noise.  Park and go to work in an elevator where we have to endure elevator Muzak and enter offices and businesses many of which air radio stations constantly throughout the day.  We can’t even make phone calls with listening to someone else’s choice of music while we wait interminably on hold.  We go home to more music, or out dinner and more music, and go home and watch television and reinforce the noise of the day.  Incessant noise buffers us from dealing with silence and our own thoughts, and buffers us from the encounter with God. 

      In C. s. Lewis’s, Screwtape Letters, Screwtape the senior devil writes to Wormwood the junior devil,  He says,

Music and silence — how I detest them both! … no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise — Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile … We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. We have already made great strides in that direction as regards the Earth. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough, or anything like it. Research is in progress.

The Psalmist says:

1    For God alone my soul in silence waits; *

            from him comes my salvation.

2    He alone is my rock and my salvation, *

            my stronghold, so that I shall not be greatly shaken.

      The prophets say, “The Lord is in His holy temple, Let all the earth keep silence before Him” (Hab. 2:20). And again, “Be silent in the presence of the Lord God” (Zeph. 1:7).  The Psalmist in Psalm 46:11 says, “Be still and know that I am God.”

      To find peace flee from all the noise of the world and enter a quiet place of prayer.  Be still and acknowledge in quiet that He who is the Lord is present with you.  There is a silent resting in His Presence that is beyond words, a place where you can lay down your burdens.  The following verses from Psalm 62 let us know that there was enough stress in the life of the psalmist to crush the ordinary man or woman, to topple him like a leaning fence.  His boundaries are hard pressed.  He cries out.

3    How long will you assail me to crush me,

      all of you together, *

            as if you were a leaning fence, a toppling wall?

4    They seek only to bring me down from my place of honor; *

            lies are their chief delight.

5    They bless with their lips, *

            but in their hearts they curse.

      God alone is our Hope in the midst of whatever assails us.  Wait patiently upon Him.  The Psalmist is secure in relationship with his Lord.  His God is his Rock, his Salvation, his Stronghold, his Safety, his Honor, his Strong Rock and he will not be shaken.  He is secure in his God.

6    For God alone my soul in silence waits; *

            truly, my hope is in him.

7    He alone is my rock and my salvation, *

            my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken.

8    In God is my safety and my honor; *

            God is my strong rock and my refuge.

9    Put your trust in him always, O people, *

            pour out your hearts before him, for God is our refuge.

      Give your burdens to Lord one by one.  Pour them out before the Lord.  Make firm your trust in the Lord.  And having done so, be still before the Lord, “For God alone my soul in silence waits; * truly my hope is in Him.”  There is no refuge in people.  Ultimately God alone is our Rock and our Salvation.

10 Those of high degree are but a fleeting breath, *

            even those of low estate cannot be trusted.

11   On the scales they are lighter than a breath, *

            all of them together.

      There is no refuge in dishonest human manipulations.  They all will fail.  There is no refuge in materialism.  All things pass away, but God endures for ever.

12 Put no trust in extortion;

      in robbery take no empty pride; *

            though wealth increase, set not your heart upon it.

      It is not as though the Psalmist rests passively on God.  He is assured of a victory which he himself will have full participation.  A verse from Psalm 60:12 fits the psalmist’s mood, “With God we will do valiant deeds.”  There is a planting of his feet upon the Rock, a solid trust made firm in this soul resting in confident silence upon his God.  He, and those who assail him, will all be paid according to their deeds.  The repeated thought of verse 2 and 7, is joined with the power of God active on his behalf, “I shall not be shaken . . . I shall not be shaken.”

13 God has spoken once, twice have I heard it, *

            that power belongs to God.

14 Steadfast love is yours, O Lord, *

            for you repay everyone according to his deeds.