Find Rest in God

[0:00] Well, I wonder where you go, what you do, when something begins to worry you. When we're young, we tend to have a place to go, don't we, when we're scared.

[0:15] Bad dreams often send little ones running to mum and dad's bed to hide under the covers. Perhaps now you're older, you have someone you know is going to always be on the end of the phone for you, who you call when you begin to get worried.

[0:32] But whatever it is, wherever we go, we know that if we don't have that, if there's no one, nowhere we turn with our fears, that our fears can really shake us.

[0:45] We talk about fears getting on top of us, getting under our skin, consuming us. And whoever we are, we need someone or somewhere to go then when we are being shaken up inside.

[1:02] And really this psalm is here to tell us about the ultimate safe place that we can go, that can give us rest in our fear.

[1:14] David, the king who wrote it, is telling us to go to God with complete confidence because of who God is. See that in verse 8?

[1:27] He calls on us, doesn't he? Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Last Sunday, we saw a psalm of desperation in Psalm 61, a distant cry to God from a king who felt like he was falling off the edge of the world.

[1:51] But tonight in Psalm 62, we come to a psalm of confidence. The king has confidence. What David longed for last time, tonight he has in hand.

[2:04] Throughout this whole psalm, the king wants us to know that we can come to God in unsettled times with settled confidence. And that should give us confidence as we come to God in and through our king, Jesus.

[2:20] Our king invites us tonight to find rest in God.

[2:47] First, David shows us how to come to God in a crisis, and then how not to come to God in a crisis. Firstly then, how to come to God with confidence in our fear.

[3:03] He starts this psalm in verse 1 in the very opposite way he did last time. Our translation doesn't show that properly. The last time he started with a cry, this time in silence.

[3:18] Silence. The NIV translates it rest, which captures the idea, but not the contrast. We could put it only with God is my soul silent.

[3:31] His heart can stop crying now because he's where he needs to be. His confidence is underlined by that word truly or surely or only at the start of verses 1 and 2.

[3:45] There's a certainty about where he is that he has not found anywhere else. Truly, my soul finds rest in God. My salvation comes from him.

[3:56] And that is because of who God is. Notice that verse 2. Truly, he is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress.

[4:08] And knowing God's character, his identity, leads David to make this really bold statement of his confidence. I shall not be shaken. I shall never be shaken, he says.

[4:21] I wonder, can you say that tonight? Nothing will shake me. Nothing again will take away my peace. Nothing again will unsettle my soul.

[4:35] How can we say that? We don't know what's coming, do we, around the corner. How can we say that with such boldness? Well, we know who God is.

[4:46] I know all I need to know, says David, because I know where to go when trouble comes. Whatever is coming, whatever is around the corner, God is a rock that won't be shaken.

[5:01] God is a fortress that won't be taken. God is salvation. And not just salvation, but look, my salvation. Not just an unshakable rock, but my unshakable rock.

[5:18] Not just a mighty fortress, but my mighty fortress. Because, friends, when we know this God personally to be our God, then we know for certain that he also is our safety, our security, our confidence, our salvation.

[5:43] And perhaps tonight you need to know him personally, to lay claim on him as your God. To know that he is not just out there as a rescuer, but that he is your rescuer, your salvation.

[6:01] He's the only one that we need to know when things like this come along in verse 3. How long will you assault me? Would all of you throw me down this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

[6:14] What's going on here? We're not told the specifics of this situation. But clearly David is facing a really fierce opposition. There's people who want him off the throne to topple him from his high position.

[6:29] He says they're not playing fairly. They speak nicely to his face, but behind his back in their hearts they curse him. When they hear rumors and lies about him, they can't get enough.

[6:42] And they also show no mercy. David describes himself as a leaning wall at a tottering fence. He's already falling apart. But these guys don't hold back.

[6:53] It doesn't stop them throwing their worst at him to take him down completely. And facing that kind of dirty play, that kind of really rough offensive, you would expect anyone to be shaken apart, wouldn't you?

[7:09] Even a king. People scheming behind you, behind every dark corner. Where do you go? Well, it's back to God. See that?

[7:19] Verse 5. Yes, my soul, find rest in God. My hope comes from him. We've nearly come full circle back to the beginning, haven't we? It's nearly the same as what he said in verse 1.

[7:32] But can you spot two differences? Spot the difference. Two differences. Firstly, before that it was a description. Truly, my soul finds rest in God.

[7:46] Now it's what? An instruction. Yes, my soul, find rest in God. And that's really telling, isn't it?

[7:56] Because while he's saying it is true of him that he finds his rest in God, it doesn't come naturally to him all the time. It takes a fresh impulse, a fresh instruction for him to go back to God when he's starting to be shaken.

[8:16] It doesn't simply happen. He's not there all the time. Yes, he's starting to feel overwhelmed. But he's not going to let himself become overwhelmed.

[8:29] Instead, he's grabbing hold of himself, taking hold of his soul, and putting it firmly back in the hands of God where it belongs. And if that sounds a bit out there, kind of fighting the voices in our head type thing, well, perhaps it's because we're out of practice.

[8:47] An old preacher, Martin Lloyd-Jones, famously said this, we spend far too much of our time listening to ourselves and not nearly enough time talking to ourselves.

[9:01] What does he mean? David's been listening to his fears, hasn't he, in verses 3 and 4, playing them over and over in his head. We do that, don't we?

[9:12] We dwell what that person said about me, what that person did to me, what I wish I could say back, until those things weigh our souls down deep in fear, anxiety, and worry.

[9:24] We listen to ourselves too much. We let our fears, our worries take over. But that is when we need to talk ourselves back to our safe place.

[9:37] It's back to God, says David, and tell ourselves the truth. Saul, find rest in God. He is where you need to be. He is your safe place.

[9:50] It's a reminder that we are not helpless in the face of our fears. When we know this God, we can talk back to our fears, our anxieties, and worries.

[10:03] Others in our church family can do that for us, can't they? Speak the truth in love to us, to point us back to God, our rock. We need to speak to ourselves far more about God.

[10:17] Because, says David, my hope comes from him. That's the second key difference, if you spotted that. In verse 1, he said, my salvation comes from him.

[10:28] Now my hope comes from him. And again, that's really telling. Because it says that he knows the difference, doesn't he, between a rescue now, and a rescue that's still coming.

[10:44] He still needs saving. God is still his salvation. But for him, it is salvation future tense. He knows that God will save him from his enemies.

[10:59] And so, specifically, God gives him sure and certain hope of being saved. And that's something we need to know too, isn't it? That God's rock-solid rescue isn't finished yet for us when it comes to our fears.

[11:14] He has dealt with our greatest problems. Let us rest on that truth tonight, friends. He has dealt with our greatest problems, of our sin having separated us from him, bringing his wrath on us.

[11:29] He has punished our sins in the body of his son, the Lord Jesus, on the cross. He has overcome our death by raising him from the dead. Our great problems are over, but his promise goes further than that for us tonight.

[11:45] Not only to our forgiveness and new life here and now, but to the end of all threats, all lies, all hurts, insults, opposition, to the end of all hostility against his people.

[12:01] And we know that that has not come yet because we can fear the kind of hostility that David faced for being united with God's King Jesus.

[12:12] Perhaps we fear what it might bring for us tomorrow. We might worry about losing friends who just don't want to hear about our faith in Jesus.

[12:26] Maybe people we were close to once, spreading lies, rumors behind our backs. She's been brainwashed. He only wants to convert you.

[12:37] Maybe we fear for our job, our employment, our progression, our prospects, because the people that we work for, we want to work for, are suspicious of those who openly identify as a Christian.

[12:54] We don't want to give that religious nut too much responsibility in our company. Or we might just feel really isolated as Christians in our secular society.

[13:04] We feel like one more push against our faith and we might just fold. If we come here this evening, it shouldn't surprise us if some of us, most of us even, are feeling something like that.

[13:19] But the King says in the face of opposition, his only hope of rescue comes only, truly, surely from God. And he tells himself afresh who God is, verse 6, truly he is my rock and my salvation.

[13:36] He is my fortress. I will not be shaken. And what do you notice this time? That it is word for word the same as verse 2. Notice God hasn't changed.

[13:49] Opposition has grown. Fears have risen. Worries have raised their head. But God is still an unshakable rock. His unshakable rock as much as he has ever been.

[14:01] He is still our salvation even while we wait for his full and final rescue. There's a book of questions and answers we use as a church.

[14:13] It's the Westminster Shorter Catechism. And it asks this question, how does Christ carry out the office of a king? And the answer is this, Christ carries out the office of a king in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.

[14:39] It's saying Christ was, is, and will be our king, past, present, and future. If you're a Christian tonight, he has subdued you to himself.

[14:52] He has brought you into his kingdom under his rule from the outside, the kingdom of darkness. If you are a Christian tonight, Christ does rule and defend you today.

[15:04] And if you are a Christian, Christ will restrain and conquer all his and your enemies. And we need to remember and know, friends, don't we, that he is no less our king because he has not yet done that.

[15:24] So our hope of salvation comes only from him. And surely all the more so because our king has himself proved God's faithfulness as he turned to his father in his hour of need.

[15:37] Peter writes in his first letter, chapter two, as we read earlier, to this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.

[15:50] What did he do? He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats.

[16:04] Instead, what did he do? He entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He put his soul into the mighty hands of God and he was saved.

[16:16] He was resurrected. He was delivered from his enemies. And Peter in this letter and David in this psalm are saying to us tonight, if Jesus suffered such opposition, if Jesus faced such hostility and found his rest in God and was saved, then surely as we his people suffer for his name, as we his people face opposition for his sake, so we have a safe place in that same God and surely he will save us.

[16:56] Brothers and sisters, we follow a suffering savior and a crucified Christ, but David wants us to know that we also follow a Christ who has conquered and a savior who has saved.

[17:12] And so in Christ, we can say with our king, my salvation and honor depend on God. He is my mighty rock, my refuge. I will not be shaken. In Christ, we can come to God when we feel overwhelmed and not be overwhelmed.

[17:27] But secondly, our king wants us to know how not to come to God in a crisis. So this is, that was confidence in our fear, now confidence in our fickleness.

[17:40] Because there's plenty of other things we can turn to out there instead of God, aren't there? Strategies that we use to get ourselves out of trouble. But David wants us, people of the king, not only to follow his example, but also not to follow any false lead.

[17:59] See that called, he's turning now in verse eight from speaking to himself about God to speaking to all God's people about God. See that to us.

[18:10] Trust in him at all times, oh people. Pour out your hearts to him for God is our refuge. There's one thing David wants us to take away from this psalm.

[18:22] Surely this is it. He wants us to join him in putting our trust in this God, finding our rest in him. But what can get in the way of us doing that?

[18:36] Well, when people seem big and God seems small, that when what that person has said about us weighs more heavily on us than what God has said about us, or when how that person sees us plays on our mind, plays on our mind, more than how God himself sees us.

[18:57] When we feel like we're living under the watchful gaze of someone who would prefer us not to be a Christian, rather than under the gaze of Christ himself.

[19:09] Well, it is hard to find a resting place in God. In fact, God might feel like the least safe place for us to go. But David wants to remind us tonight, really, it is people who are small and God who is big.

[19:25] See that verse line, surely that the lowborn are but a breath, the highborn are but a light. If weighed on a balance, they're nothing. Together, they are only a breath.

[19:36] Only a breath. Your friend who changes the subject when you bring up your faith, your colleague who can't get on with you because you're a Christian.

[19:48] The lecturer who loves to drop in a comment about how backwards religious Christian people are. They're nothing to worry about, says the king. Nothing to worry about.

[20:00] You're as surely and as truly as God is a rock, so people are nothing more than a breath. They weigh on our hearts. But weighed in the balance of eternity, they don't even register.

[20:13] They don't even register. See that? Now, it doesn't feel like that, does it, when people put pressure on us? But it is true. The end of Hebrews puts it like this. The Lord is my helper.

[20:24] The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? Compared with God, they are what? A breath.

[20:35] Friends, God is Everest and people are dust. God is an ocean and people are mist. God is God and people are only people.

[20:46] So let God be true and every man a liar. Whatever it is that worries us is not worth worrying about, says our king.

[20:58] Because when God is our refuge, nothing that anyone says, nothing anyone does can ultimately and eternally touch us. And so, brothers and sisters, do not let what anyone has to say to you or about you stop you from turning to God and trusting wholeheartedly in him.

[21:19] Because everyone, from first to last, weighs nothing against him. It's worth saying, too, that sometimes it can be helpful, supportive, and sympathetic people who get in the way of us coming to God like this.

[21:34] Look at verse 8. David calls God's people to pour out your hearts to him. Now, we live in a culture where we're encouraged to talk to others about our worries, to pour out our hearts to each other.

[21:49] We're encouraged to talk, aren't we? And let me say that that is a good thing. We do need to hear that. There's nothing Christian about not talking to anyone when we're worried.

[22:00] We should. I've often said, and I will say again, there should be one or two people here in this room that you feel able to share your heart with, that you're able to turn to and lean on when you are worried, anxious, fearful.

[22:16] But sometimes we can talk so much to other people about our worries and rest on others so heavily that we don't feel we need to unburden ourselves to God.

[22:30] We bear our hearts to others and not to him. Because again, people seem big and God seems small. It's really easy to believe, isn't it?

[22:42] Because our world teaches us that all the time. We're told, far often, aren't we, to talk to someone about our feelings and far less to pray to God about how we're feeling.

[22:54] How many times have you seen on a list of ways to help manage your anxieties, pray to God? I've never seen that. Meditation, mindfulness, yes, but not praying to your creator in the name of the Lord Jesus.

[23:10] And yet, David says, he is infinitely more able to help us. us. Infinitely more able to help us than any human being is able to either help us or hurt us.

[23:23] So again, do you, do you find one or two people, if you don't have them, to share your heart with? Do you find people that do not share your heart with anyone above and beyond God?

[23:38] Do you not entrust your heart to anyone before your faithful creator? Sometimes there's less other people we turn to and more their strategies for winning.

[23:51] We can be drawn to put our hope in how other people are living because it seems to be working. What does David say to that? Verse 10, do not trust in extortion or put vain hope in stolen goods.

[24:05] Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. The implication is that these are techniques being used by the people David fears to get on in life. You backroom deals, shady transactions, getting lots of money.

[24:19] And it can be tempting for us to trust God privately but publicly to use the very same coping mechanisms, the very same way of life to deal with our hearts.

[24:32] But David says don't play by their rule book. God is more real than those things. God is more real than those people. So trust in him at all times, all people.

[24:45] Pour out your hearts to him for God is our refuge. God is our refuge. David finishes as we will with an assurance and a promise as we learn to rest in God in the final two verses.

[25:02] Here's the assurance. One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard, power belongs to you God and with you Lord is unfailing love. At that, counting up one thing, two things is a Hebrew way of expressing the superlative.

[25:20] So not only has God said it, he super said it. And what has God super said? That power belongs to him and with him is unfailing love.

[25:32] Power and love. That is a saving combination, isn't it? That he is able in his power and he is willing in his love to be what he has promised to be, do what he has promised to do for us in this psalm, to be our rock, our refuge, to do everything he needs to save us from our enemies.

[26:00] That's the assurance that David leaves us with and it is rooted, isn't it, again, in who God is, his character. It's unchanging nature. And finally, that promise there in verse 12, you reward everyone according to what they have done.

[26:17] Now, I don't know about you, I find that verse really jarring at the end of a verse like this. You know, I thought I could come to God as I am, but now he's rewarding people for what they've done.

[26:29] What does that mean? Well, in the context, David's probably talking about himself as king. In Hebrew, it is in the singular that he will be rewarded for what he has done.

[26:42] So, is he saying that we come to God on the basis of what we've done or do we come to God on the basis of what our king has done before us?

[26:54] Surely, it can only be on the basis of what our king has done that we can come to God as we are. How will we be rewarded? Our faith is fickle.

[27:06] We waver, we come and go. We don't always trust God as we should, but if we trust Christ, then we have a king who has done it all for us, who has been there before us, who has trusted God perfectly, constantly, who is rewarded and raised and crowned for his righteousness and whose reward and resurrection and crown we share if we are his people.

[27:37] As Christ was delivered, so we will be delivered for what he has done. Since Christ has been raised, so we will be raised because of what Christ, our king, has done.

[27:49] And the remarkable thing about that promise here is that it is not just for God's people, it is for anyone who hears it and believes it. Book two of the Psalms, where this psalm is found, is set apart partly by the fact that it mostly speaks of God as God rather than by his name, the Lord.

[28:13] And it's thought that these psalms do that to communicate their truth to those outside of the community of God's people, people who did not know God personally by name, in short, so that anyone might hear of this God and have confidence in him to save them.

[28:34] And so whoever you are tonight, if you are hearing this, know that this God will protect and defend you, will give you safety and security, will save you if you come to him with your trust in King Jesus.

[28:54] He is not the rock and the refuge only of certain people, but of those who know they need a savior and turn to him and trust in him to be that savior for them.

[29:10] If that is you tonight, have confidence in God. Know that he is your safe place. Turn to him. Trust in him at all times his people.

[29:21] If that is not yet you, call on him. Turn to him. Take refuge in him and you will be saved for the work of Christ your King. Let's pray for that together now.

[29:35] Amen. God, our Father, how we thank you that you are a refuge for us.

[29:49] Lord, we confess our weakness, our sinfulness, our vulnerability. Lord, that there is much that undermines our faith and there is much that undermines our security.

[30:06] Lord, so often we are shaken and overwhelmed. Lord, help us always to know where to turn. Draw us always to yourself, we pray.

[30:19] Father, please help us to trust in the finished work of Christ, our King, as we come to you, knowing that you do rule and defend us, trusting that you will deliver and conquer.

[30:35] Father, we pray that this great hope of ours would not be only ours but would be the hope of all who hear it. Lord, help us, we pray, to be so confident in you that we share our weakness with others.

[30:51] Father, let it never be said of us that we are enough. Lord, we pray that we would help our friends, our families, our co-workers, our fellow students, Lord, everyone in our lives to know that we are not enough and that is why we need you.

[31:12] Help us, we pray, to witness to the truth that you are the rock, you are the refuge we need. Lord, we pray that many would turn to you and find a safe place. We pray and ask in Jesus' name.

[31:25] Amen.