As with the 61st Psalm the focus of the 62nd is upon the Rock. What makes this Psalm different, however, is that David draws a contrast between the confidence of true faith and the frailty of natural human hopes. It is against this background he writes the words which dominate the text.

I shall not be greatly moved

Leaning on the Rock

David commences his Psalm as a soul waiting upon God. The word “wait” denotes faith and patience. It is a word which articulates the humble reliance upon God.

It is a silent word; the word wait in the Hebrew denotes silence. A panicking spirit and rash actions are entirely absent. There is an acceptance of circumstances we cannot change while we rest upon the sovereign God as we wait. Waiting may be silent, yet it is powerful because the waiting soul surrenders all into the hands of the one who has the whole world in His hands.

The natural mind is ever prone to reason when we ought to believe; to be at work when we ought to be quiet; to go our own way, when we ought to steadily walk on in God’s ways…

George Muller

David trusted God alone because there is none other who can be trusted. The preeminence of God as our only Deliverer, our only Saviour and our only Rock is a reoccurring theme of this Psalm.

He only is my rock and my salvation;
he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

Psalms 62:2

My soul, wait thou only upon God;
for my expectation is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation:
he is my defence; I shall not be moved.
In God is my salvation and my glory:
the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

Psalm 62:6-7

As David expressed His confidence in God the Psalm becomes a soliloquy. This a dialogue with oneself. We often mock the idea of talking to yourself. David, however, did something we ought to emulate. He encouraged his own heart in the Lord.

This is a powerful spiritual tool when combating unwanted thoughts. Inferiority, negativity, paranoia and temptation can sweep like waves over our minds and hearts. They can fix onto our spirits like barbed hooks inflicting despair and hopelessness. At such times we can combat these unwanted and damaging thoughts by telling ourselves to wait upon God, to rest on the Rock.

This is exactly what David did when Ziklag was overwhelmed by the Amalekites while David and his men were away. With the wives and children of his soldiers taken and David’s men contemplating turning on their leader David took his recourse to the Lord.

And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

1 Samuel 30:6

Is there not a lesson here? That when our thoughts are conquered we are mastered. Every battle is won or lost in our hearts and minds. If Satan captures our minds then we are defeated but if God is in control we are victorious. The mind that is stayed upon God, that promotes self encouragement, that learns confidence and faith in the quiet place is under control.

Make me a captive, Lord.
And then I shall be free;
Force me to render up my sword,
And I shall conq’ror be.
I sink in life’s alarms
When by myself I stand,
Imprison me within Thine arms,
And strong shall be my hand.

My heart is weak and poor
Until it master find:
It has no spring of action sure,
It varies with the wind;
It cannot freely move
Till Thou hast wrought its chain;
Enslave it with Thy matchless love,
And deathless it shall reign.

My power is faint and low
Till I have learned to serve:
It wants the needed fire to glow,
It wants the breeze to nerve;
It cannot drive the world
Until itself be driven;
Its flag can only be unfurled
When Thou shalt breathe from heaven.

My will is not my own
Till Thou hast made it Thine;
If it would reach the monarch’s throne
It must its crown resign;
It only stands unbent
Amid the clashing strife,
When on Thy bosom it has leant,
And found in Thee its life.

George Matheson

In the 8th verse David moves from ministering to himself to exhorting others.

Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Psalms 62:8

The man who learned to trust could encourage others to do likewise. Trusting God is an exercise for all times. However dark the circumstance we never let go of God because He never lets go of us.

Within this context there is a movement also from waiting to pouring. Waiting is still and reflective whereas pouring is turbulent and passionate. The pleading of the soul, the outpouring of emotion before the one who understands and cares is what is in view here. Often we are guilty of being turbulent and passionate in our dealings with others; David exhorts the pouring out of the soul to God!

Pour out your heart; Pour it out as water. Not as milk, whose colour remains. Not as wine, whose savour remains. Not as honey, whose taste remains. But as water, which, when it is poured out nothing remains.

Thomas Le Blanc

In his trusting, pleading and waiting David was responding to the Word.

God hath spoken once;
twice have I heard this;
that power belongeth unto God.

Psalms 62:11

God doesn’t just speak once. He speaks twice to reassure us because He understands how apt we are to doubt. He gave Moses the law a second time after he broke the first tables, He came to Elijah in the still small voice, He sent prophet after prophet to Israel, He sent the apostles after the ministry of Christ and He followed the Old Testament with a New Testament. The grace, patience and long suffering of God is boundless.

We can stake our eternity upon the Word of God. It is as reliable as it is infinite. Throughout we learn that God is sovereign, all powerful and that He employs His power mercifully and for our good.

Above all – we are never moved when leaning against the Rock. The Rock can take unlimited pressure. As the Rock will never be moved so we are secure. We stand not in our own strength. We are propped up by Christ who holds us in place. He has taken and absorbed our distresses and our pains.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of
God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

2nd Corinthians 4:7-9

The Futility of Earthly Hopes

Alongside words of supreme confidence in God, David articulates the failure of those who are not trusting God.

as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.

Psalm 62:3

The bowing wall and tottering fence are without foundation. Far from being stable they are are danger of imminent collapse.

David, resting against the Rock was firm snd resolute, whereas the ungodly were uncertain and confused.

The philosophies of this world are uncertain, being subject to continual flux.

In opposition to the Gospel of free grace through faith in Christ alone as He is revealed in God’s Word the world is subject to a myriad of competing religious and philosophical perspectives.

Two billion people pursue the code of Islam and the gods of Hinduism. Even within these religions there are a plethora of diverging ideas and interpretations. At its heart Islam replaces Christ with Mohammed, the Bible for the Koran and imposes a strict set of moral values and religious rules which must be followed for the soul to be saved. On the other hand the Hindu has no rules and can pursue whatever god which pleases him or her..

In the western world atheistic secularism has taken centre stage, dominating mainstream thought. Moulded by a succession of ideas such as materialism (only matter exists), postmodernism (man can invent his own morality), humanism (man has ultimate control over his own destiny), Hegelianism (the State acts as god), Nihilism (there a no true meaning to life), Communism (the individual is of little consequence, the society or the State is all important) and Evolution (we evolved from primitive forms of life) – the western world has edged steadily away from its historic Christian moorings into an uncertain future. The benefits of traditional family values have given way to the distortion known as liberalism. Liberalism was once about freedom but it is now about perversion; sexuality is perverted into the same sex model and even biology is distorted by the transgender lobby. The Scriptures ask – when the foundations are destroyed what shall the righteous do? This post-modern age, in tampering with marriage and our biological identity is warping what makes us human; the very foundation of civilisation is being eroded.

Psalm 62:2-3 are indicative of this decadent age.

How long will ye imagine mischief against a man?
ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies:
they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.

Psalm 62:3-4

This age we live in is destroying humanity, through eroding Christian values, abortion and LGBT philosophy – we are self-harming. This makes us nationally a bowing wall and a tottering fence. We may be on the verge of collapse without recognising our peril. Society generally is consulting how to destroy God or as they would have it – the concept of God. Whatever pleasant words they use about equality and respect they are cursing God in the process. This is the end game.

There is, I am convinced, when reflecting upon these verses a reference to Christ. In attacking God, the Church, the Law, the Scriptures and the Gospel the spirit of this world attacks the man Christ Jesus. They imagine mischief against Christ and they endeavour to cast Him down from His excellency.

On this account Psalm 62 bear striking similarities to Psalm 2.

Why do the heathen rage,
and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD, and against his anointed

Psalm 2:1-2

There are five significant battles currently looming, which illustrate this struggle between the world and Christ as the people imagine a vain thing.

• Sir Kier Starmer has pledged to introduce legislation banning Gay Conversion Therapy, should Labour win the General Election. There are a significant number of MLAs at Stormont who wish to introduce a similar ban here in Northern Ireland. Activists do not simply wish to prohibit suspect counselling techniques, which we also deplore and which are already banned under law. Their intention is quite clear – to prohibit the Church from calling homosexuals to repent of their sin. This strikes at the heart of the Gospel where the State is attempting to define what sin is, what repentance is and what conversion is.
• There have been efforts to decriminalise abortion in Great Britain. This follows on from the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland giving us one of the most liberal regimes in all of Western Europe. This will only serve to make the current immoral legislation much worse, condemning more and more unborn babies to death.
• Following celebrity Esther Ranzen’s very public revelation that she has terminal cancer and would prefer to die by assisted suicide at a time of her choosing – Euthanasia has once again become a hot potato. It is almost certain that the next Parliament will have a fee vote on a proposal. While our hearts extend to people who suffer, offering people the hopelessness of assisted suicide is not the compassionate answer and will leave many feeling pressurised into thinking that this is the only answer.
• The depravity of the RSE curriculum and its implementation in schools is an issue which further threatens the moral fabric of our children and young people. While we are thankful for resistance to RSE, we are aware that the LGBT activists will make concerted efforts to gain access to schools to preach their extreme ideology.
• There is a campaign developing which is seeking challenge the rights of Ministers and other Christian groups to visit schools, conduct assembles, take RE classes ect…. We are greatly blessed by the significant Christian influence in our schools through principals, teachers, and members of boards of governors. But we are also aware that our society is becoming increasingly liberal and with this trend – opposition will develop and with that there will be moves to completely secularise the school system.

I would encourage you to interrogate every candidate and canvasser on these moral issues when they come looking for your vote at this election. These are just some of the big moral issues facing our nation and we should be sensitive to them.

Ultimately, and this is the encouragement.

These godly philosophies will fail. They will become subject to flux and change. They will be questioned and debated because they are uncertain ground. They are a bowing wall and a tottering fence.

On the other hand – the Church of Christ will continue, the Gospel of free grace will continue to be preached 1,000 years from now if Christ hasn’t returned. The Roman Emperor Diocletian thought he could eradicate Christianity. He launched the most vicious of all the empire wide assaults upon Christians. He failed. God certainly gave His reply when Diocletian was followed by Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, who made Christianity the religion of the Romans. Today the Romans are of mere historic interest whereas the Church continues to expand and make history. This is because the Church is on solid rock.

This Psalm is a comfort and an inspiration. Truth never fails. God’s Word is genuine and eternal. Christ is the ever living one. Let us persevere on the ground of victory leaning on the Rock.

BECAUSE – we shall not be moved.