Soul searching – for salvation
Psalm 62
The mp3 audio from this talk can be downloaded here
Introduction
If you had to answer that question, 'what is the thing in life that you fear the most' I wonder what you would say? When I asked people on the streets of Sunderland this question, the most common answers were
· Death
· The death of a loved one
· Don’t know – never really thought about it.
Why death? No doubt we all have a certain anxiety about the process of dying, but why death?
Could it be that the issue of death raises questions about our mortality (obviously) and our purpose.
Of course, the things we fear the most are often the things that dictate our behaviour and the way we live. When it comes to death for example, we either bury our heads in the sand and live our lives trying to ignore it, or we do our best to try to avoid it. This is completely obvious, normal and understandable, but impossible. There is very little we can do to actually avoid most of our fears – which is what makes them fears in the first place.
Over the next couple of months we are looking at a series of Psalms (Psalm 62-64). The psalms we are looking at are songs that don’t shy away from tackling the issues that make us tick. The writer of these Psalms – King David of Israel is fully prepared to search his soul to find what makes him tick, to stare it straight in the eyes and then, as we shall see, turn his attention to the one place that he and we can find the solutions to our souls greatest needs – the God of heaven.
We, like David, need to be prepared to do the same. And when we consider these psalms, whether we would claim to be a Christian or not, God is calling to us, asking us to find in him the answers to our needs.
Defined by our circumstances? (v3-4)
Like us, David has a fear that is very real. It is not some theoretical, abstract idea, nor do we
know the details, but in v 3-4 he gives us some idea.
He is experiencing real problems, opposition and even the threat of death. He could be speaking about a number of instances in his life, but the threat involves a number of elements.
· Physical harm or death - they are trying to kill him.
· Harm to his position – they intend to remove him from his position
· Loss of reputation – they are telling lies about him.
· Loss of certainty – they are 2 faced about it.
The imagery that he uses is very powerful.
‘To them I’m just a broken-down wall or a tottering fence’
I was recently in London during heavy snow with friends who had small children. I decided to build a Snow Castle, made of bricks of snow for my God son. It looked fabulous!.. until a few hours later when the walls started to collapse. Gradually they began to lean outwards - being otherwise totally unsupported and not bound together and eventually during the night, collapsed completely!
David uses this kind of imagery. He is accused of being a broken down wall or tottering fence. Whether it is within ourselves – fallen, fallible and weak. Whether it is our bodies – not functioning in the way they used too and beginning to act and feel like broken down walls. Whether, like David it is people treating us like we are just ready for a shove, and down we go.
It might even be that like David, we feel like this because of our service to God, or our status.
Weighing up our worth(v9-10)
This is the state of the human condition. So in v9-10 David paves the way to the solution to his own problem by getting things into perspective.
All of us, you, me, David, his enemies, are just a puff of air, a breath. We are nothing, here today, gone tomorrow. Our sense of needing rescue and salvation from the things we fear (death etc) is real because we are fleeting.
If weighed on a scales we are lighter than air.
My brother recently had to officiate at a funeral of a man who had no friends or family. His body was discovered days after he died because his dogs could be heard barking. He had a half sister he never saw, but very few other people knew him.
When he died, it was tragic. It was as though very few people cared. He was like a puff of air. Gone, without a trace.
And we are all just dust in comparison to the God David speaks about, the God who made us. Any meaning, value and purpose we might have comes from him.
But we delude ourselves into thinking we are much more than we are. He hints at it in v10.
We invest ourselves in finance and wealth, thinking this will give us a little more weight, sure up our broken down walls and stabilise our tottering fences. That wealth may come from legitimate or illegitimate sources, but either way, if we are looking for it to give us purpose and value it is just a smokescreen and must not be trusted. Don't make it the centre of your life - because it too is fleeting!
This attitude is being exposed in our world, particularly the western world today. Money makes us feel secure, gives us some weight in the world – but it doesn’t take much, a few wrong decisions by people we will never meet and it is gone. All we are left with is the evidence of our broken down walls and tottering fences – like a shanty town in the face of a tornado.
The search for a Saviour (v1-2, 5-7, 11-12a)
But David’s psalm is not one of despair – it is one of hope and salvation.
In the face of his own fears and need of rescue – and ours too, David turns the focus of the Psalm not on to himself, but onto his God.
He dwells on who God is, and on what impact his identity has on us.
David calls God his Salvation 4 times. When David is compared with a broken down or leaning wall, or a tottering fence his God, by contrast is awesome.
‘He alone is my rock...my fortress where I will never be shaken.
He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.
Power, O God, belongs to you;
Unfailing love, O Lord is yours.’
The contrast is striking. I am a broken down wall or a tottering fence - he is a rock and a fortress. When every breath of wind shakes my walls, he shall never be shaken. And this truth will have a profound impact on us.
Rather than living lives of fear, frantically trying to find, or create the answer to our problems v1,and v5 say we 'rest'. Rather than living lives dominated by fear of death, loneliness, other people or even of losing loved ones we can wait 'quietly' before God. Rather than living lives dominated by trying to maintain a reputation we, like David can find salvation that changes the state of our souls.
The NIV translates v1
‘My soul finds rest in God alone;’
Whereas the New Living says
‘I wait quietly before God’
Rest or wait quietly. Either way, the picture is one of finding in God a saviour who is more than sufficient to meet our needs, and when we find him we can stop searching, stop frantically trying to cope. We can rest in God alone. Our busyness can stop. Our soul-search is over – and our souls can be quiet before God knowing that he is unchanging, unmovable and a rock.
He alone is our salvation.
The search is over? (v8, 12b)
Not only is this psalm a song of hope and salvation, it is one of encouragement and instruction.
David longs that his people respond to this God in 2 ways.
-
They trust him at all times and
-
they pour out their hearts to him.
Because he is their refuge.
God will always be a rock and strong fortress. He will always be a sufficient Saviour.
A few years ago the film 'Deep Impact' was released starring Morgan Freeman. The earth is under threat but this time not from aliens, but from a huge meteor which, if it strikes will destroy the vast majority of the earth and cover the rest with a thick dust cloud that will destroy all remaining life for several years. Many nations create contingency plans. The Americans have theirs. Set in the limestone rock, they have been digging a series of huge sealed tunnels that are big enough to securely rescue 1 million people for 3 years. The tunnel complex is called the Ark.
The question is – who is allowed to go in and who will have to stay outside? They hand pick several hundred thousand people – Doctors, Scientists etc, who will be instrumental in the rebuild after the doors are opened again. The rest, all under the age of 50 are picked by lottery.
It is salvation by lottery. Those who are lucky enough to have the right abilities, or the correct lottery number are saved. But of course, even if you were chosen, only those who actually got to the complex and found refuge in the Ark were saved. They actually had to enter the cave system to be saved.
David says –
‘Trust in him at all times’ (v8) Salvation is found in the rock by those who trust him.
But is it really that easy? Verse 12 seems to suggest otherwise.
‘Surely you judge all people according to what they have done’. (v12b)
What at first seems confusing in light of all we have just said. actually makes perfect sense when understood in the context of the rest of the Psalm.
Do the right thing! Trust in the fortress, the Rock who is mighty to save. Lean on him and find rest in him. Turn to him and be quiet!
We must all do that today.
God is the fortress who will never be shaken. David knew that and turned to him and found rescue. We must do the same.
1. We can trust him with whatever life throws at us now.
David encourages us to ‘trust him at all times’, in all circumstances. He is the God who can and does rescue, the God of Salvation. Here David is writing about real, physical issues that confront him and he is unable to cope with. He needs God’s salvation. So often our understanding of salvation is only 'spiritual' (as we shall see in a moment), and it is important that we see it that way, but lets not forget God's involvement in our current circumstances. He is the Rock we can depend on!
What are the issues for you at the moment? Joys, struggles?
Trust it to him – you are a broken wall – he is a rock and a fortress!
2. We can trust him with the most important thing of all.
But our current circumstances are always to be understood in the context of the most important thing of all. As the Old Testament develops and moves into the New Testament, the idea of God’s salvation comes into sharper and sharper focus and ends up concentrated on one man - Jesus Christ. Ultimately, underlying our current circumstances are the spiritual realities. Death is a fear because if death happens without Christ we are alienated from God forever. If we lose a loved one, the most important question that should be asked is - what was their relationship with Jesus?
Our current circumstances are nothing in comparison to our eternal future. And our current struggles are nothing in comparison to the one thing that would keep us from an eternity with the God of Heaven. Our sin.
Paul tells us ‘For the wages of sin is death’.
Is it any wonder that death is the greatest fear for many of us – either our own death or that of those closest to us.
When I asked people in Sunderland if there was anything that could rescue them from their fear of death most said no. One said yes.
This lady said she was the solution by ‘being me and looking on life better’
Iff she looks on life better and doesn’t think about it – burying her head in the sand then her life will be better because she can ignore her fear.
But as we gaze forward from Palm 62 to the New Testament we see that there is salvation and honour from God. There is rescue!
‘He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.’
And not even my biggest enemy, my sin, cannot reach me when I put my trust in God’s salvation found at the cross of Jesus Christ
Paul in Romans 7v24 - ‘Oh what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.’
When things are at their most desperate and look their worst - God never changes. He is the rock and refuge. He sent his Son to take our sin upon himself that we might find rest in God. Because of Jesus' all sufficient death we can be quiet as we wait. We just put our trust in him.
3. We can pour out your heart to him
God is concerned to be involved in our circumstances and lives. That is why David's Psalm is full of hope. We can pour out our hearts to him, share the reality of or existence knowing he is gracious, compassionate and a refuge. We may be at the hands of the state of all humanity - broken down walls, but we have a God who repairs broken walls - if only we pour out our hearts to him.
So hear David, and hear him well. Look on the Saviour who is a fortress and lean on him.