Unshakable

Fear and Doubt

I was listening to a discussion on Friday about courage. The speakers were discussing a book about first responders and the issues that they faced. Police officers wake up in the morning and wonder if today will be the day they need to draw their weapon. Fire fighters wake up and wonder if this is their last call. But they get up, put on the uniform and go on duty. There is fear. Courage is about duty despite the fear.

Faith and doubt are similar. Even as Christians, we can admit that we have doubts. Not all our prayers are answered, even the ones we feel were sincere and good. We wonder if we can truly trust an unseen God in Heaven with ourselves, our hopes and dreams, our fears and concerns. Just like courage shines in fear, faith shines in doubt…and we have our doubts.

The World is Shaking

For countless reasons our knees could be knocking. I’d guess the majority of us live on the financial edge, just making it. Emotionally we can be on top of the world one day and feeling like we fell from a cliff the next. We live in a world that’s constantly trembling — not just geologically, but emotionally, morally, spiritually.
Jobs are unstable, families are fractured, politics are polarized, and values shift like sand in the wind.

There is a psalm of David that addresses all of this shaking. In the latter years of David’s reign, he faces a challenger to his throne – his own son Absalom. Absalom harbored anger with his father for not responding more strongly when Absalom’s sister was raped by his half-brother. Although King David clearly loved Absalom, Absalom’s anger fueled a rebellion. I’ve found the account strange because you would think that with all of his conquests, nobody would want to mess with King David. I guess that just like society is unpredictable today, Jerusalem was unpredictable then. Anyway, Absalom’s resistance was enough to drive King David into a retreat which makes Psalm 62 remarkable.

Psalm 62 NIV

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David. Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. How long will you assault me? Would all of you throw me down— this leaning wall, this tottering fence? Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse. Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Surely the lowborn are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie. If weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. Do not trust in extortion or put vain hope in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: “Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”; and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.”

Our Source of Stability

Psalm 62 offers us hope when we feel like we are standing on shaky ground. In spite of the mess King David is in he gives us a picture of what it means to be unshakable.

Psalm 62:1–4 NIV

Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. How long will you assault me? Would all of you throw me down— this leaning wall, this tottering fence? Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.

You can almost hear people asking like David: “How long will you assault a man? Would all of you throw me down – this leaning wall, this tottering fence?” I think about the fence that we are replacing out there. It seems like picket after picket is just getting pushed down. How could anyone have believed King David was a “leaning wall, a tottering fence?”

Maybe it is not so hard to believe when you and I feel that way sometimes. People push our buttons. Situations in life blow against us. We ask, “How long can I keep standing when everything’s pushing against me?” David isn’t saying life isn’t shaking — he’s saying God doesn’t shake.

Find God to Be Your Resting Place

Psalm 62:5 NIV

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.

Maybe David began to get worked up in verses 3-4 about his enemies but he comes to rest and hope in verse 5. This is good advice when your knees are knocking. Breath in…breath out. Find rest in God.

When we are under stress, we are frantically looking for solutions. We talk too much. Ask for too many opinions. Create too many plans.

A pastor of a large church found himself living a frantic life, but it was affecting his spiritual health so he asked a counselor for some help. What did the counselor say? “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” The pastor replied, “Ok, I’ve written that one down. That’s a good one. Now, what else is there?” The counselor paused, “There is nothing else. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”[1]

I realize that eliminating hurry isn’t exactly resting in God but each of us need to find what resting in God looks like for you. When you do it steadies the shaking ground under your feet.

Make God Your Fortress

Psalm 62:6 NIV

Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

In spite of the trouble that King David faces he continues to keep his focus on God. This time he targets God as his rock, salvation, and fortress.

In medieval Europe, many fortresses were built with thick walls but only one gate. That gate was heavily reinforced, guarded, and impossible to breach. The design was intentional: enemies might surround the walls, but no one could get through the one entrance.

One historian wrote, “A fortress isn’t strong because of its many defenses—it’s strong because of its one sure defense.” Sometimes we think we need many defenses—money, people, reputation, comfort, control. But God says, “I am your fortress. I am your one sure defense.”

When we trust in Him as our fortress, we stop trying to guard every part of our life on our own and start relying on the One gate that cannot be broken.[2]

I love that reference to fortresses having one gate. It makes me think of the statement that Jesus made about being the door and also the image of Jesus as the gate that protects the flock of sheep. Like David, we can say, “I will not be shaken!”

Understand God is Your Salvation: There is NO PLAN B!

Psalm 62:7 NIV

My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

His expected salvation comes only from God. In this translation the Hebrew word here, kavod, is translated to honor or reputation. He stakes his reputation, as well as his salvation, on his trust in God.[3] He pushes his chips into the pot (isn’t this how they do it in the Westerns?). He is all in – salvation and reputation!

David has been immortalized as a man after God’s own heart. The Kingdom was dependent on God. Without God there was no salvation or glory. This sounds lofty…and is but let’s bring it down to our practical lives. Imagine if marriages had a “we depend exclusively on God” motto. I believe the national statistics of 50% marital failures would be amazingly changed. A couple falls in love and a marriage is created. Imagine allowing God to be the language and the concern of the home. Disagreements are settled through forgiveness and the instructions of God’s Word. Parenting would be interpreted through the lens of the Word of God and reliance on the direction of the Spirit.

How many times have we said, “We’ve got this!”

Luke 6:46–49 NIV

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

No plan B! We MUST depend on God. He is the rock and our refuge.

Trust in God ALONE – No Illusions

Psalm 62:8 NIV

Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

Trusting is not easy…

The Flying Roudellas, who were trapeze artists, said there is a special relationship between flyer and catcher on the trapeze. The flyer is the one who lets go, and the catcher is the one who catches.

As the flyer swings high above the crowd on the trapeze, the moment comes when he must let go. He arcs out into the air. His job is to remain as still as possible and wait for the strong hands of the catcher to pluck him from the air.

The flyer must never try to catch the catcher but must wait in absolute trust. The catcher will catch him, but he must wait.[4]

We don’t want to wait in absolute trust. We want to help God out. We often look for stability in:

· Our careers (“If my job’s secure, I’ll be secure.”)

· Our relationships (“If they don’t leave me, I’ll be okay.”)

· Our possessions (“If I have enough saved, I’ll be safe.”)

But anything you lean on that’s not God will eventually crack under pressure. King David is saying, “My soul rests only in God. Not in armies, not in wealth, not in people — God alone.”

David’s secret wasn’t in what he controlled — it was in who he trusted.

God’s Final Words

Psalm 62:11 NIV

One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: “Power belongs to you, God,

David sums up what makes God unshakable — power and love.

· Power means He is able.

· Love means He is willing.


Together they form a foundation strong enough for any storm. If God were powerful but not loving, we’d fear Him.
If He were loving but not powerful, we’d pity Him.
But because He is both — we can trust Him completely. That’s what makes the believer unshakable:
You know that the God who loves you also controls everything around you.

The psalm begins and ends with God as the rock.
That’s the message: when God is your only foundation, you become unshakable. Life will shake — your job, your health, your emotions — but God remains solid.
And those who trust in Him will stand firm.

Psalm 62:6 NIV

Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

So let me ask you:

· What’s shaking in your life right now?

· What have you been leaning on that can’t hold you up?

· Are you ready to make God your unshakable foundation?

When you do, you’ll discover what David knew —
You can rest, you can stand, you can endure — because your God cannot be shaken.

[1]Craig Brian Larson and Phyllis Ten Elshof, 1001 Illustrations That Connect (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2008), 397.

[2] OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT response to “sermon illustration about God as our fortress” [Large language model]. Retrieved November 15, 2025, from https://chat.openai.com/

[3]John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Ps 62:7.

[4]Craig Brian Larson and Phyllis Ten Elshof, 1001 Illustrations That Connect (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2008), 465.