Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1689

June 8, 2025

Psalm 62    Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“God Is Our Refuge”

 

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him,     like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah

 

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

 

Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath. Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them. Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.

 

 

• Trust

 

I have a friend who tells everyone she meets that he or she is her favorite. When I post something on the internet she will comment that I am her favorite. Of course, I know she has told countless others that they are her favorite as well! I know she probably does so for two reasons, first, it is a lighthearted jest, but second, it does give one a sense of joy to imagine yourself as someone’s favorite. I find myself doing this with Scripture all the time. This is my favorite Scripture and then I come across another that becomes my favorite Scripture and then another, and so on it goes. Well, Psalm 62 is among my favorite Scriptures. I have repeated the opening three words many many times in all kinds of references and situations. “For God alone…” For God alone works as a daily reminder or as a statement of faith. It relates to the first question of the Shorter Catechism about our chief end in life which is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. “For God alone…” Keep that in mind this week, each day, as often as you can be reminded. Jot it down in your cell phone note page, write it on a card to stick in your pocket, find ways to be reminded of these three words and see what God may do with them...For God alone.

Psalm 62 begins with complete and utter trust in God. The Psalm expresses full confidence and trust in the midst of waiting. He shows unswerving and unshakable faith. Nothing deters the Psalmist from the truth of God’s presence and protection. We see from the language and the repetitive use of various terms – God is our refuge, two times. God our rock, three times. God our fortress, two times. Salvation, four; not shaken, two times. God is our hope. We are then to trust God because of all these things. This is the God who protects, leads us to safety, saves us, and the observation is that only God can do these things. Only God is the One trustworthy, for all else is but a breath. For God alone...

How might we exemplify trust in God? One way is to pour out your heart before Him, verse eight. The plea is to people, could be all people, could be Israel, let’s consider it all people! The call to pour out our hearts is sandwiched between trust and refuge.

 

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.

 

We do not pour out our hearts before people we do not trust. We do not share our deepest thoughts and secrets with just anyone. We do not share anything with anyone we cannot trust to keep confidentiality or who may laugh at us or to use it against us at a later time. We only pour out our hearts to those we trust and God is the most trustworthy of all. God is a safe place to pour out our hearts. He is our refuge. Trust in God, for He will hear our most heartfelt prayers, for He is our refuge.

I have counseled numerous times for people to lay it all out before God. Most often people do not know what to do with their anger and especially their anger directed at God. God knows we are angry about a given situation. Pour it out to God. He can handle it! If we cannot trust God with our anger who can we trust? If God is not a safe place to let it all out, where else can we possibly go? This is the God who is our salvation, our rock, our fortress and in Him we are able and even called to share everything, anger, frustration, disappointment, but also joy, peace, trust...that is, we take everything to God in prayer precisely because He is the our refuge and is completely trustworthy.

 

Another way of trusting God at all times is to recognize and ponder the “breath” of all that is in the world. All will one day pass away. Only God remains steadfast in all things. For God alone...

 

 

• But a Breath

 

We cannot put our trust in the things or the people of the world, only in God. All is a breath, vanity, temporary.

 

Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath. Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

 

I have developed something of a cynical aversion to news, that is, national broadcasts and even local to some extent. I know well that it is important to stay informed on local and national and global events, but I also suspect that we could watch the news once every two weeks or so and still be fine. I also tend to think that the news cycle is like the daytime soap operas, same thing over and over again...I’ll bet you could watch a rerun of General Hospital from 1975 and it will be the same theme of an episode of 2025. Is that show still on? If not, try Day of Our Lives! The news is the same only the names are changed to protect...I’m not sure who. But I would suggest that all of it is but a breath. While we need to know some things, we don’t need to know everything going on in the world. It is but a breath. Put no trust in the low state or the high, nor in extortion or robbery or riches. That is what the world is about, but not us, not those who trust in God alone.

Perhaps we could give the newspaper a break. Turn the 24 hour news station to something else or even better, turn it off all together. Look to God alone!! The word in this Psalm for breath is the same word used in Ecclesiastes - vanity, emptiness, a breath, mist, now you see it, now you don’t. Trust in God alone.

 

• God Alone

 

There is no other. For God alone...this would make a wonderful motto for the day. Repeat those three words throughout your day as a constant reminder that God alone is trustworthy. For God alone we wait. God alone brings salvation. God alone is our refuge. The “alone” or “only” verses are 1, 2, 5, and 6.

 

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

 

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

 

There are also two negative only verses in 4 and 9.

 

They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse.

 

Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath. That means they are only a breath.

 

Trust in God is the assurance of salvation. This Psalm reminds us that God is our fortress, our security, the real safe-space. He is our protection and worthy of our trust and praise and love, I want to focus for a moment on God as our Rock.

 

Deuteronomy 32.4, speaking of God says this, “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.”

 

Now, let’s take a look at 1 Corinthians 10.1-4, For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

 

The Rock in Deuteronomy is the Rock of the New Testament, that is, Jesus Christ is the Rock. For Christ alone we wait. For God alone. For the Holy Spirit alone. For the Triune God who is present and living and working and ministering and loving and transforming and calling, upon Him we wait and we pray and worship and love and hope and because of that we will not be shaken. Because we stand upon the Rock, the Truth, the Way, the Life, we shall not be greatly shaken. For God is our refuge and strength, our salvation.

 

• God Is Our Refuge

 

Refuge is the concluding metaphor of the Psalm in end of verses 7-8.

 

“...my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.”

 

Inside the refuge we discover everything we need to know. God’s love, grace, mercy, assurance, confidence, the fullness of God. Think about being inside a refuge, inside a place of safety and security. Where are we most inside the Refuge that is God? I’ve been reading a book that would say we are closest to God and God is most present to us in worship. The book is titled Pride: Identity and the Worship of Self by Matthew Roberts. It is probably one of the best books I’ve read in many years. His premise is that we become who we were created to be through worship of our Creator. It is in worship that we reflect God’s glory back to God as creations made in His image. We are the image bearers and when we worship God through prayer, singing His praises, and listening to the Word and the Word preached, we are genuinely doing that for which we were created, to worship the Creator. Isaiah 43.7 speaks of this same thought:

Beginning at verse 5…

Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

We are created to glorify God, to worship Him, to make known His wonders and greatness. It is why worship is so important to the church and to each of us for it is here when we are gathered that we collectively give to God the honor due His name. It is here that we do the very thing we were created to do! This is also a touch of heaven, as we will also be worshiping in heaven.

Roberts also points to Psalm 115 that tells us that we become like that which we we worship. His book is not a new idea but one that the Bible has always known. To truly worship God is to become more like God in our character and disposition. It is to become more like Christ – more loving, more faithful, more obedient, and so on.

 

Psalm 115.4-9 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.

 

The message of this book is that those who do not worship God will worship some thing or some one, even self, and in so doing become like that which they worship. I commend the book highly!

 

 

God is our Refuge and He alone is the One we worship. The Psalm then ends with this proverbial saying:

 

Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.

 

The Psalm, attributed to David, expresses David’s trust in God as his refuge. His hope is solely in the sovereignty of God. It is an affirmation that power belongs to God, second, to God belongs steadfast love, and third, God will render to a man according to his work. I’ll speak briefly to these three things.

Power belongs to God – to Exodus, to resurrection, to conversion, to regeneration, to love, to grace, to mercy, to judgment, to conviction, to forgiveness, to healing, to transformation, to new creation, to discipline, to salvation.

To God belongs steadfast love – many commentators connect this love to God’s salvation in this Psalm. We see that at the beginning, from Him comes my salvation. We certainly see that in John 3.16 for God so loved the world that He sent His Son. God is the author of salvation. It is not a work of our own, not a decision of our own, salvation is from God and not from my self. It is not something we collaborate on to accomplish. Salvation is entirely in the realm of the sovereignty of God. It comes out of the steadfast love of God. This is the belief of Reformed Faith.

God will render to a man according to his work. According to Christopher Ash, the rendering to work is a reward for “covenant faith and obedience and punishment for covenant disobedience” (from pg 144, Christopher Ash, The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary). Jesus, the perfect covenant keeper – kept covenant and bore the curse that would have been for us, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith” (Gal 3.13-14). This rendering of our work is not a call to works righteousness but a judgment of our character and belief, how we live, live out of faith and action, whether or not we truly trust that God is our Refuge. The work is how we live knowing this God of power and might and steadfast love, living out the faith, not just sitting around hoping God will do something. We have to live into and out of our faith and into and out of the faithfulness of God. That means that we pray for healing, but also that we go to the doctor, that we pray for recovery from illness, but we also listen to the nurses. That means we pray that God will provide for our daily bread, but we also go out to earn a living to pay our bills.

 

God is our Refuge. For God alone we wait. God alone we worship. In God alone we trust. Take this Psalm to heart today, and trust in Him. All else is but a breath. In God alone is our salvation and hope. For God is truly our Refuge. Amen.