May 26: Psalm 62
Waiting on God in patient trust
Common meter 86.86 Ellacombe (Hosanna, Loud Hosanna), p. 130
Dundee (God Works in a Mysterious Way), p. 40
New Britain (Amazing Grace), p. 29
My soul in silence waits for God; He’s my salvation proved.
My only stronghold and my rock; I’ll not be greatly moved.
How long will you a man assail, and seek to make him fall?
As though he were a tott’ring fence or like a leaning wall?
They plot to bring his glory down; in lies they take delight;
And while they bless him with their mouth, they curse with inward spite.
My soul, in silence wait for God, for He my hope has proved.
He’s my salvation, stronghold, rock, and I shall not be moved.
In God alone my glory is and my salvation sure;
My rock of strength is found in God, my refuge most secure.
On Him, O people, ever more rely with confidence;
Before Him pour ye out your heart, for God is our defense.
The low of man are vanity, the best of men a lie;
Together in the balance they are lighter than a sigh.
Then in oppression do not hope; nor yet for plunder lust;
Though power and wealth may seem to thrive, in this build not your trust.
For truly God has spoken once; He twice to me made known;
That power and love belong to God and unto Him alone.
For so it is that steadfast love belongs to Thee, my Lord;
For Thou according to his work does every man reward.
Psalm 62 is about clinging to God in patience. The address of the psalm goes in a variety of directions—we muse within ourselves, we address our enemies, we speak directly to God, we address one another. This is a psalm supremely useful for settling one’s soul quietly in the presence of God. “Shall not my soul be subject to God?” we ask, “because from Him comes my salvation. For He is my God and my salvation. He is my protector, and I shall be disturbed no more.” Salvation in this psalm, as frequently in the Bible, is something for which we wait in patience. In the grammar of Holy Scripture, salvation is very often spoken of in the future tense (we shall be saved). The Epistle to the Romans provides the best commentary: “But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance” (8:25). The life of faith is pretty much evenly divided between serving and waiting. The life of prayer in particular involves a great deal of waiting. (Reardon, p. 121-122)
On this eve of Pentecost, take time to reflect on the waiting disciples…waiting as Christ had directed them: “I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24: 49).