Psalm 62:1-12
A Lifestyle of Faith

For the Chief Musician. To Jeduthan. A Psalm by David.

My soul rests in God alone.
       My salvation is from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress—
       I will never be greatly shaken.
How long will you assault a man,
       would all of you throw him down,
       Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place.
       They delight in lies.
       They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.

Selah.

My soul, wait in silence for God alone,
       for my expectation is from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.
       I will not be shaken.
With God is my salvation and my honor.
       The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
Trust in him at all times, you people.
       Pour out your heart before him.
       God is a refuge for us.

Selah.

Surely men of low degree are just a breath,
       and men of high degree are a lie.
In the balances they will go up.
       They are together lighter than a breath.
Don't trust in oppression.
       Don't become vain in robbery.
If riches increase,
       don't set your heart on them.
God has spoken once;
       twice I have heard this,
       that power belongs to God.
Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness,
       for you reward every man according to his work.

World English Bible

I don't know why I still let some things upset me. With my decades of life experience, I really should expect that other people will, at times, be insensitive when dealing with me. I really should know by now that executives in large organizations sometimes make decisions that are hard to understand. I really should prepare for drivers who will launch their cars aggressively and rudely around and at my car. I should have learned that people don't always listen to what I say, remember what is important to me, and agree with my conclusions. So, as many times as I've been insulted, ignored, dismissed, and run off the road, why am I still surprised? I can't figure myself out!

King David had to cope with that same unloving human nature, compounded by the treacherous envy of those who wanted to ruin him because he was king. David found that the answer to failure in human relationships was the perfection of God's relationship with us. David found that the only certain source of safety, security, and rest was God. God is the impregnable fortress, the immovable foundation, and the medicine that heals the wounds in our souls. God is strong enough and loving enough to protect us in all circumstances.

David, the mighty military hero, found that it doesn't require heroic actions from us for God to give us these blessings of comfort and guidance. It does, however, require us to trust more in Whom we can't see than we trust in those we can see. It requires us to believe that God is always good, when every human we've encountered has fallen short of being wholly good. Accepting God's blessings requires us to remind ourselves continually that what is spiritual matters more than what is temporal.

As we accept that only God is good, we also must accept that God's plans for us are better for us than our own flawed, short-sighted plans. Faith becomes more than just acceptance of what we can't see—faith becomes a lifestyle. We are kidding ourselves if we recognize with David that God is good and loving, but we do not also subject our will to God's will. To recognize the One with all the answers and not accept that answer is to have been given a gigantic fortune but refuse to accept it, and that makes no sense!

This all sounds so logical and straightforward until we try to live out, minute by minute, this faith in our good and loving God. About the time we set our spiritual focus, some speeding minivan careens towards us, some executive edict puts our livelihood at risk, and some acquaintance unintentionally hurts us. We are jerked back from our spiritual centeredness into our emotional tempest, and we are tempted to react just like so many other people we see experiencing life's challenges.

David must have felt that way, too, for he wrote about this same theme of God's love and safety over and over again in the psalms! Take heart, my friends, for God loved David even when David had to rediscover these truths many times, and God loves us, too.