GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
PSALM 62:1-2
Psalm 62 is a gem even among the Psalms. It is a mizmor (Greek psalmos), a song accompanied by a stringed instrument. The word selah occurs twice. We don’t know exactly what that word implies. It literally means “to lift up,” but that could mean lifting up the volume, the tempo, the key signature, which voice sings which part, or something else. It could also indicate a solo line, but most commentators feel that it implies an interlude. Certainly, whether selah means a refrain or a key change or a solo line, it always seems to draw attention to what has just been said in the text. I regret that some translations like the new 2011 NIV have chosen to reduce selah to a footnote. Keeping in mind the two selahs, Psalm 62 divides into three equal parts of four verses each:
MY SOUL FINDS REST IN GOD ALONE
1. Even though I am cruelly attacked (1-4)
2. God alone is my refuge (5-8)
3. All other help is futile (9-12)First we read the NIV-1984.
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
1 My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. (NIV 84)
My own translation, not meant for public worship in this case, is:
For the music director.
According to (the tune, or style of) Jeduthun
A Psalm of David.
Surely in God is my soul quiet.
My salvation is from him.
Surely he is my rock and my salvation
He is my fortress. I will not be shaken very much.
Psalm 62 is a song of quiet confidence from David. He used a tune or style from one of his temple musicians, Jeduthun. David considers the condition of man’s soul, which finds peace and quiet only in God. Why is this so? The soul is obviously the spiritual part of a human being, and being spiritual, being a spirit, the soul yearns to be on the side of righteousness and holiness, because those spirits that reject holiness and God’s gifts will never rest; they will be punished for their unbelief for all eternity. And while the fleshly part of man may forget this or even reject it, the spirit within knows, and agonizes, and aches to be able to stand before God and be judged upright and holy. This is possible only through faith in Christ. So the soul of man finds quietness and rest only in connection with God’s plan to rescue us from our sins in Jesus: “Our salvation is from him.”
David likes to compare God to an unmoving slab of bedrock (Psalm 18:2; 19:14; 28:1; 31:2-3). God, says David, is the stone that is rooted deep underground and is unaffected by plowing, planting, hoofbeats, earthquakes, hail, or anything else. The world changes, but bedrock seems to go unchanged. Animals cannot burrow into it. Wind cannot break it. And so it is with God, but even more so, for God does not only “seem” to go unchanged, but God is truly changeless. God is more reliable than any fortress, because the Lord can never fall under siege, nor will his protection ever run out or run away.
In the last line of verse 2, the NIV says, “I will never be shaken,” although the word rabbah means “much.” I will not be shaken, or moved, very much. Man has been moved a little by the devil. Adam and Eve were shoved from their state of grace into mortality, death, and damnation, but they were brought back by the gospel of God’s promise to rescue them through Eve’s descendent. You and I are moved, pushed around, shoved and beaten up by the devil’s cruel lies and his bullying. But we continue to put our trust in God, and we will not be moved, not very much, and not away from the bedrock of our Savior. As long as we remain in the condition of this lifetime, which weakens us through original sin and makes our knees buckle and our spiritual muscles go limp, we are held up by Christ. In fact, the cross itself becomes a framework, like crutches or braces, that keep us focused on God for his grace and for every blessing. Those who deny Christ will be moved all the way, shoved by Satan into the second death (Revelation 20:14). But we keep trusting in Jesus our Savior, so that even though we have no power over the day of our death (Ecclesiastes 8:8), the grave has no power over us, and Christ will redeem us from it (Hosea 13:14).
Truly it is God who saves. We trust in him, and we are safe and secure.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Psalm 62:1-2 Not moved much