SELAH

Psalm 62:1–8 KJV 1900

1 Truly my soul waiteth upon God: From him cometh my salvation. 2 He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. 3 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. 4 They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: They delight in lies: They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah. 5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; For my expectation is from him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defence; I shall not be moved. 7 In God is my salvation and my glory: The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. 8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, Pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

David himself understood this reality long before Rome or Greece dominated the world. His throne was not secured because of military genius alone, nor because the tribes were always united. His life was marked by betrayal, civil war, conspiracies, and exile. There were moments when the crown upon his head seemed lighter than the burdens upon his heart.

It is in such a setting that Psalm 62 emerges—not as the song of a man reclining in ease, but of a king who had discovered a deeper throne than the one in Jerusalem. David had learned that peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of confidence in God.

We are all continually tempted to make lesser things into ultimate things. We lean upon careers, reputations, possessions, governments, relationships, even our own strength, asking them to carry a weight they were never created to bear. Then we wonder why they collapse beneath us. A crutch cannot become a foundation simply because we cling to it harder.

Psalm 62 exposes this tendency with remarkable clarity. David strips away every false refuge until only one remains. Again and again he returns to a single confession:

"He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved." (Psalm 62:2, KJV)

Notice the exclusiveness of David's faith. Not God and his army. Not God and his reputation. Not God and his wealth. The repeated word "only" becomes the heartbeat of the psalm. The believer's confidence is narrowed until it rests upon one object alone.

This is perhaps one of the greatest lessons of the Christian life. God often removes secondary supports, not because He delights in our discomfort, but because He loves us too much to let us mistake scaffolding for the Rock itself. Every disappointment becomes an invitation to discover that Christ is sufficient.

The modern world has not changed nearly as much as we imagine. We have exchanged swords for stock markets, fortresses for retirement accounts, and palace walls for insurance policies, but the human heart remains exactly the same. We still seek security in things that cannot survive the shaking of eternity.

David's answer reaches across three thousand years with astonishing relevance. His soul does not command his circumstances to become quiet. Rather, he commands his own soul to become quiet before God.

Psalm 62 therefore is not merely a psalm about waiting. It is a psalm about where confidence finally comes to rest. It teaches us that genuine peace is not found when every problem disappears, but when every competing refuge has been surrendered, and the soul can finally say,

"Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation." (Psalm 62:1)

As we study this psalm, we will discover three timeless truths:

The believer's quiet confidence rests in God alone.

The world's securities are temporary and deceptive.

God alone possesses both perfect power and unfailing mercy.

In an age intoxicated with self-confidence, Psalm 62 calls us back to the oldest and safest confession ever made: God alone is enough.

Psalm 62 speaks of waiting on God. We could briefly outline the first seven verses like this:

Verses 1-2 point out that God is the rock of our salvation.

Verses 3-4 speak of the enemies of the righteous.

Verses 5-7 return to the refrain of waiting on God who is the rock of our salvation.

And then we come to verse 8.

PSALM 62:8

Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him:

God is a refuge for us. Selah.

AS A CHRISTIAN, we overcome anxiety and worry by faith. It is true that the presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional. 2 Release from the prison of anxiety comes through trust. And Psalm 62:8 tells us what kind of trust we need. Let's unpack this powerful verse that can calm our troubled thoughts and realign our focus.

1. A CONSTANT TRUST

Many of us find it easy to trust God when all is well. But the trust David expressed in Psalm 62 came at a time when all was not well. David chose to trust God even in the midst of trouble.

The word trust in this verse is from the Hebrew word batach. It means "to have confidence, be confident, to be bold; to be secure; to cause to trust, make secure—to feel safe, be careless."3

Because God is trustworthy, we can have complete confidence in Him and in His care for us.

We face many situations that can bend our minds toward worry or anx-iety. But we can always trust that God knows what He is doing and where He is leading. There is peace in surrendering our will to God.

James Cash Penney founded the J. C. Penney stores in 1902. Over the next seventeen years, they exploded in growth and profits. But the stock market crash of 1929 hit the J. C. Penny stores hard. In order to make payroll, Penny borrowed against his life insurance policies. By the end of the Great Depression, he and the company were in financial ruin.

The personal toll this stress took on Penny was tremendous-both physically and emotionally. He eventually checked himself in to the hospital. One night he was prescribed a sedative that quickly wore off, and he awoke believing that he would die that night. He wrote letters to his family and fell asleep.

The next morning, he woke up surprised that he was still alive. He heard people singing "God Will Take Care of You" in the chapel down the hall. He found his way in and listened to the singing and message with a heavy heart. But then something happened. He later said, "I felt as if I had been instantly lifted out of the darkness of a dungeon into warm, brilliant sunlight.... I felt the power of God as I had never felt it before. I realized then that I alone was responsible for my troubles.

I knew that God with His love was there to help me. From that day to this, my life has been free from worry."- And it was all because he realized that God would take care of him.

A. TRUST AT ALL TIMES

Think about the little word all in Psalm 62:8. "Trust in him at all times."

There are some times when it seems easy to trust the Lord: when He answers your prayers, when you see fruit for your labors, when hope surges and you can envision how God will bless in the future.

But there are other times when it is harder to trust the Lord: when you've prayed for a long time and there is no answer, when anxiety is wrapping its grip around your mind, when you've labored and served but see no fruit, when obstructions rise in your path and it seems impossible to move forward, when you are stuck in a foreign hotel room unable to get home to preach on Sunday.

God wants us to trust Him when the way is clear and when the night is dark. Faith in God is an abiding duty and a perpetual privilege. He is worthy of our confidence at all times.

PHILIPPIANS 1:6

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Perhaps you have sung the hymn "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms." Those everlasting arms aren't just a hymn writer's well-worded phrasing.

They are a spiritual reality, always available to God's people.

DEUTERONOMY 33:27

The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms...

When your faith is weak, you can lean into God's everlasting arms. They do not, indeed they cannot, fail.

A powerful poem, also sung as a hymn, is often credited to an anonymous author. With a little extra research, you will find that it was written by a woman about whom we know very little.

Lucy Ann Bennett was born January 8, 1850, on Green Farm, Falfield, Gloucestershire, England. She died March 10, 1927 in her hometown:

Falfield, Gloucestershire, England. And she is buried in a graveyard near Mount Pleasant Chapel in Falfield, Gloucestershire, England.

Aside from the handful of books and poems she left behind, that is about all that is currently known about her life.

But how rich those poems she wrote are! The single piece of her work that is most remembered today (even if it is often detached from her name) is her hymn "Trust Him!" Here are my two favorite stanzas:

Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee, Trust Him when thy strength is small, Trust Him when to simply trust Him Seems the hardest thing of all.

Trust Him; He is ever faithful.

Trust Him, for His will is best.

Trust Him for the heart of Jesus Is the only place of rest.5

When you are besieged by trouble, when darkness surrounds you and anxiety grips you, that is when trust is an active choice of faith.

And don't think that this is a choice you need only make once. Often, we are required to choose trust over and over again.

DISCUSSION

Have there been aspects of new seasons in your life that have caught you by surprise in their need for trust in the Lord?

We all go through various seasons of life. Some of these are to be ex-pected-the change in seasons on the calendar, family growth, the process of aging. But some of these seasons catch us off guard—unexpected trials or difficulties. These challenging seasons may be in our personal lives or in the lives of those we love.

But we can trust the Lord in every season, knowing that He has a plan and will bring beauty and wholeness.

Ecclesiastes 3:1–11 KJV 1900

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; A time of war, and a time of peace. 9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? 10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. 11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

TRUST AT ALL TIMES

TRUST IN ALL THINGS

Not only should we trust the Lord at all times, but we should trust Him in all things.

We live in a day when so much around us is changing. There are cultural shifts, economic shifts, and social shifts happening at unprecedented speeds.

There is no question that the speed of change is accelerating in our world today. A simple example of this is seen in the United States Patent office which was established April 10, 1790. In the first decade of the patent office, the U.S. government granted 229 patents—the same amount today's patent office grants every 7.2 hours.-

Some of these changes have led the world, especially the Western word further from any semblance of biblical values. Some of the economic changes have profound personal implications for people's retirements and even daily living.

But in all of the changes around us, we can trust the Lord.

MATTHEW 10:29-31

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

One of the most-remembered passages about trusting the Lord is Proverbs 3:5-6.

PROVERBS 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

To not lean on our understanding doesn't mean that we dismiss our ability to reason. It means that we don't rely on our reason. It means that Jesus is Lord of our lives and when He has instructed us to do something we don't understand or allowed us to endure circumstances outside of our control, we choose to trust Him rather than our reason.

For those of us who are "planners," leaning on our understanding tends to look like relying on the plans we have made. Maybe for you it is such confidence in your spouse or a friend that you go to them before you go to God in prayer. Perhaps it is the need for affirmation from outside sources before you can move forward in something you know God has called you to do. Maybe it is comparison of your results with others' or a sense of needing to perform well to experience the peace of God.

Of course, there is value in making a plan, and it's good to get input from wise people. It's awesome when we see the results of God at work. But if we do not have God's peace when these things are absent or if we go to others for direction before we go to God, it may be an indicator that we are relying on our understanding rather than trusting in the Lord.

The good thing about trusting in the Lord as opposed to our understanding is that He becomes our stability. Thus, even when these external sources of strength are removed, we're still standing strong in faith.

To acknowledge God in all our ways, as Proverbs 3:6 instructs, is to look for Him. It is to know and to fellowship with Him.

Imagine you're with your friend for an afternoon, but the entire afternoon, your friend is silent and distant, consumed with his phone.

Every time you look over at him, he's checking his social media, taking photos to text to other friends, or reading and responding to emails.

He's not even acknowledging your presence, much less enjoying it.

We sometimes go entire days without even acknowledging God's presence. We say we trust Him and we might even voice quick moments of prayer for Him to change our circumstances in the way that we just know is best. But on a practical level, we ignore Him while we stew in worry and anxiety, shaken because our understanding, on which we were leaning, turned out to be flawed.

But when we return to a place of trust, when we put our complete trust in God rather than our own hearts, we are blessed.

JEREMIAH 17:5-8

Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. 6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. 7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

Trust in God. Trust in Him at all times and in all things.

SLIDE Slide 2

A CONSTANT TRUST

A COMPLETE TRUST

Not only does Psalm 62:8 instruct us to trust in God, but it invites, "pour out your heart before him." There is a completeness of trust God calls us to have in Him.

SLIDE Slide 2A

A. AN EMPTYING TRUST

Have you ever had a friend with whom you felt you could fully and freely share your heart without fear of being misunderstood or judged? These kinds of friendships are rare.

God is the friend with whom you can fully unburden your soul. You don't weigh Him down with your confession of sin or burdens. He will never push you away because of something you share with Him. In fact, He knows it before you tell Him and still invites you to share it. He has the ability to lift your spirit and meet the deepest needs of your heart.

So empty your soul before the Lord. Turn the vessel of your soul upside down, and give Him your thoughts, desires, fears, and anxieties. Hide nothing from Him.

THREE WAYS TO POUR OUT YOUR HEART BEFORE THE LORD:

A. Confess your sins, knowing that He stands ready to forgive.

1 JOHN 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

B. Share your needs, assured that He is a present God who helps. PSALM 46:1

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

C. Tell Him your worries, confident that He is able to give you peace. PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. ' And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

SLIDE Slide 2B

AN EMPTYING TRUST

AN EARNEST TRUST

There is an earnestness that David expresses in this phrase, "pour out your heart before Him." This is because God already knows everything about us.

In Psalm 139, David began by exalting the thorough intricacy of God's knowledge of him.

PSALM 139:1

O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

Over the next sixteen verses,

David describes how God knows everything about him,

including his whereabouts, activities, and even his thoughts before he thinks them.

He describes God's care in creating him and the greatness of God's presence to envelop him.

Is it any wonder then, that after David establishes the kind of sovereignty and interested attention of God to search and know him that he concludes with a prayer fully exposing the deepest parts of his heart and thoughts to God?

PSALM 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

SLIDE Slide 2C

AN EMPTYING TRUST

AN EARNEST TRUST

AN ENGAGING TRUST

Sometimes we think of trusting God as more of a passive decision— something we just sort of do in the background while at the same time exhausting all other options until something works out. "Oh yes," we say,

"of course I'm trusting the Lord. But I just need to also...."

That's not, however, how the Bible pictures trust. Psalm 37, in particular, provides specific actions in which we engage in trusting the Lord.

DISCUSSION

What are some of the ways we actively express trust in God?

PSALM 37:3-6

Trust in the LORD, and do good; So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; Trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

DELIGHT

As we trust in the Lord, we are to delight in the Lord. We are to find our joy in Him. Other people may try to rob our joy. They question our motives, criticize our actions, berate us for our mistakes, tell us our trust in the Lord is misplaced. But in Christ, we can always find reason for joy.

PHILIPPIANS 4:4

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

COMMIT

Also as we trust the Lord, we are to commit our way to the Lord. That is, we are to press forward, trusting Him for the outcome.

One of the ways we know we are not committing ourselves to the Lord is when we allow a season of trial to become the reason we don't serve Him.

Instead, we should let trials motivate us to trust the Lord more fully as we receive His comfort. When we trust the Lord through times of trial, it actually increases our capacity to serve others.

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 KJV 1900

3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

SHINE

As we delight in the Lord and commit our way to Him, He will cause us to shine in times of darkness. That's what Psalm 37:6 tells us: "And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday."

This promise is a reminder that we aren't responsible for how far-reaching our light is. After all, it is God who causes us to shine. But we are responsible for living in such a way that He can shine through us and be glorified in us as we serve others in His name.

MATTHEW 5:16

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Before the United States Coast Guard assumed responsibility for the nation's lighthouses, it was the job of lighthouse keepers to tend the lighthouses. They were responsible for maintaining the lighthouses to keep them in working order and were also to be prepared to assists in emergencies, such as shipwrecks. But their number one duty was to maintain the lights and specially-cut glass that reflected the light out to sea. In this role, they not only trimmed oil wicks, but they were also to be sure the glass through which the light shown was always clean.

It is Christ in us who is the light. But we are to keep our lives clean so that the light will shine through us that others may see Christ in us.

Quote: "I don't need to keep the light shining, I just need to keep the bulb clean."—Dr. Bobby Roberson"

God is a safe confidant. You can empty your soul before Him, earnestly place your trust in Him, and actively engage in delighting in and committing your way to Him.

THE PATH TO RENEWAL IN THE LORD:

In our next study, we'll look more thoroughly at additional ways to find renewal in Christ when our minds are weighed down by anxious thoughts. But for now, here are six suggestions:

Wait on the Lord. Don't insist that He resolve every problem right now. Rather, commit to depending on His strength to lead you through.

Rest physically. Exhaustion feeds anxiety. Recognize the value of proper sleep, and do what you can to get it.

Refuse untrue thoughts. Anxiety has a way of bombarding our minds with repetitive thoughts so that, even if we know they are untrue, we eventually give in and start thinking on them. Philippians 4:8 tells us, "whatsoever things are true ... think on these things."

Go to the Word of God. The best place to find renewal for our minds is in God's Word. So when you feel anxious or stressed, go to Scripture. Read passages you know have been a help to you in the past. Or, go to Psalms, and pray the words of chapters like Psalm 62 or others to the Lord.

Submit to the will of God. Sometimes we struggle with anxiety because we are trying to bring about a different outcome than God's revealed will. Sometimes, we simply need to submit our will to whatever God's will may be in our situation.

Serve others. One of the best ways to break free from repetitive anxious thoughts is to serve someone else in need.

HE IS OUR REWARD

As our refuge, Christ is not only our renewal, but He is also our reward.

We learned from the life of Abraham, and we see it throughout the Psalms as well, that the very process of waiting on the Lord, journeying with Him, and pouring out your heart before Him, deepens your relationship with Him. And knowing Him is the greatest reward.

GENESIS 15:1

... Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

PSALM 28:6-7

Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplica-tions. ? The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

SLIDE Summary

CONCLUSION

Sometimes during a waiting time, God is building inner resilience in our lives. Sometimes instead of rescuing us from an unwanted situation, He rescues us from the frustration and anxiety that comes when we insist on our plans above His.

So there we have it—one short verse that can bring our hearts back to a place of trust.

A constant trust: Trust in him at all times;

A complete trust: ye people, pour out your heart before him:

A confident trust: God is a refuge for us.

But if you have your Bible open, you'll notice that there is one word remaining to this verse: Selah.

If you don't know what selah means, that's because it isn't an English word. It's a Hebrew word that, rather than being translated into English was transliterated—spelled out with English letters so we can pronounce it.

Bible scholars assume the meaning of selah has one of two possibilities: a musical notation (remember, the psalms were Israel's songbook) or a word that means, "pause and reflect." In a sense, either of these possible definitions are the same. Whether it calls the musicians to pause or the reader to pause, the end result is a rest.

Rest-even the word selah sounds calming to a frazzled, anxious soul.

Rest takes time. Pouring your heart out to the Lord isn't done in thirty seconds. Usually when we're anxious, we also feel rushed. But I know from experience that the process of pouring out my soul to God settles my spirit. It realigns my perspective so that I take more delight in God's presence and am less focused on myself—my needs, my performance, my circumstances, the stress I am facing, or any other inward So, lay down like a lamb in the green pasture, and bask in the care of the Shepherd. He is a good shepherd who provides rest.

PSALM 23:2-3

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

This kind of rest is what every anxious heart needs. A rest to pause, re-flect, renew, refresh, receive inner resilience. To experience true