#742 Only Psalm

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.

9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

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

12 Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work. Psalm 62 KJV

A psalm to the chief musician, to Jeduthun. Some have called this the "Only Psalm".

Truly my soul waiteth - There is no peace in anxiousness, no hope in anxiety, and no lasting comfort in those words or works which originate from fallen men. They give direction with a broken compass, and I cannot find the answer in a like mind or inside myself.

-Truly, or verily, or only. The last is probably the most prominent sense here. That faith alone is true which rests on God alone, that confidence which relies but partly on the Lord is vain confidence.

To wait upon God, and for God, is the habitual position of faith; to wait on him truly is sincerity; to wait on him only is spiritual chastity. The original is, "only to God is my soul silence." The presence of God alone could awe his heart into quietude, submission, rest, and acquiescence; but when that was felt, not a rebellious word or thought broke the peaceful silence. The proverb that speech is silver but silence is gold, is more than true in this case. No eloquence in the world is half so full of meaning as the patient silence of a child of God. It is an eminent work of grace to bring down the will and subdue the affections to such a degree, that the whole mind lies before the Lord like the sea beneath the wind, ready to be moved by every breath of his mouth, but free from all inward and self caused emotion, as also from all power to be moved by anything other than the divine will. We should be wax to the Lord, but adamant to every other force. C.H. Spurgeon

30 Even youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall. 31 But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40: 30-31

He only is my rock and my salvation - David has spent much time in caves and crevices, but he is alive, anointed and saved not by his own hand, but by the promise and love of God. Jonah had nothing to add to his salvation other than his disobedience, that only leads to death, reveals the dead condition. He was as good as drowned, and slowly being digested, but what a merciful thing to be showed that, and yet kept unto repentance.

Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion. 9 But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the LORD!”10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.… Jonah 2: 8-10

7 Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. 8 Salvation belongs to the LORD; may Your blessing be on Your people. Selah Psalm 3: 7-8

I shall not be greatly moved - I may wince at first from the shock of it, I may even reel back a step from the pain, but the Lord will come again to my memory, and my soul, firm planted, shall remain.

Imagine mischief - It is not that we can't see or expect such devices from men, for we have all watched it and witnessed it for too long. David has put his trust in the surest of foundations, and though his haters be as a wall, leaning forward to crush him, it crushes itself. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword. Those who posture fall harder. They that love to be feared will become afraid. 

5 Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy? 6 But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.…James 4: 5-7

Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, 9“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer TRUE justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’…Zechariah 7: 8-10

They delight in lies - This is the wrench in the gears that we should hate so much. If someone lies about a problem then everyone who comes to assist wastes their time. It is the means used by some to bring others down, but those that delight in such witch craft, that delight not only in the telling but in the hearing as well, how wretched is your state. I have known men to lie even when the truth would be the simpler matter, the way for all to be resolved. We lie so much to ourselves that the truth becomes unacceptable, worse than a lie. We are double minded, two faced, our blessings are just flattery, empty hypocrisy, for in our hearts we are full of malice and hate. Men may learn how to say things with their mouth, read the book, memorize the lines, but God says, "Thou shalt not lie", and He looks at the heart.

43Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies. 45But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me!…John 8: 43-45

Wait thou only upon God - I cannot stop every lie. As long as men exist there will be tension, envy, strife, but though it rages like a storm, my hope, my expectation, is in God alone. Lord, let me not return evil for evil, let me trust in You only for my deliverance, or that You may just hold my hand through the tempest, for Your glory.

Expectation is the child of prayer and faith, and is owned of the Lord as an acceptable grace. We should desire nothing but what would be right for God to give, then our expectation would be all from God; and concerning truly good things we should not look to second causes, but to the Lord alone, and so again our expectation would be all from him. C. H. Spurgeon

In God is my salvation and my glory - How humbling a thought. The Psalmist is wise to not put faith in men, for he has seen that they can lie. He cannot put faith in his own works or trust them for his salvation, for all this is much bigger than himself, than time will allow, beyond the known universe. What is your glory? That Christ be magnified, that He be lifted up and praised. Where comes your salvation? Salvation is of the Lord.

Pour out your heart - What have you to lose but your worry, what have you to confess that He does not already know? Empty yourself, deny yourself, stop pretending at who you are and be free. Do not let your religion be to men or the hope of what they think, seek a quiet place and discard all your trash before the only One Who can make you clean. Make room for Christ.

19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. 20I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing.”…Galatians 2: 19-21

Men of high degree are a lie -

-We gain little by putting our trust in the aristocracy, they are not one whit better than the democracy: nay, they are even worse, for we expect something from them, but get nothing. May we not trust the elite? Surely reliance may be placed in the educated, the chivalrous, the intelligent? For this reason are they a lie; because they promise so much, and in the end, when relied upon, yield nothing but disappointment. How wretched is that poor man who puts his trust in princes. The more we rely upon God, the more shall we perceive the utter hollowness of every other confidence. To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. Take a true estimate of them; judge them neither by quantity nor by appearance, but by weight, and they will no longer deceive you. Calmly deliberate, quietly ponder, and your verdict will be that which inspiration here records. Vainer than vanity itself are all human confidences: the great and the mean, alike, are unworthy of our trust. A feather has some weight in the scale, vanity has none, and creature confidence has less than that: yet such is the universal infatuation, that mankind prefer an arm of flesh to the power of the invisible but almighty Creator; and even God's own children are too apt to be bitten with this madness. C. H. Spurgeon

Oppression and robbery - The bully trust in his ability to hurt, to inflict pain or fear, but those are no better than the liar. The robber has not put his faith so much in stealing as in the hope of what is stolen. His eyes are on things of no eternal value, and he discards the words of the infinite God, for the riches that he can accumulate here. God has said, "thou shalt not steal", but the full has said in his heart, "there is no God", so what is it to steal he thinks, it is only if I get caught.

God hath spoken - He only needs to speak once. God does not change nor need to recant. I must read it over and over again, and there are depths to His word that I have not yet reached.

Belongeth mercy - Everyone will one day stand before a holy judge, Who judges each according to His work. Every sin is against God, and so that we are still alive is mercy, that we can be made right, is mercy overflowing, unmerited, grace.