1.
Please
pray with me. May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock,
and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word today is taken
from Psalm 62.1-8 (READ TEXT). It’s
entitled, “The Rest We Share,” dear
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
Social
media has brought more information to our electronic devices than ever before.
These media give us instant news with live interviews of people experiencing
situations in their lives. Some of this has been a blessing to people in need.
Rescuers bringing assistance to people in times of a crisis like a hurricane
can receive calls, texts, emails, and messages from people who need help. First
responders can pinpoint where these people are and where the nearest rescue
team is to bring help and assistance. But
social media has, for many, raised the level of fear about their safety and
even future. Church and school shootings, terrorist acts, and threatening
Facebook postings are just a few things that have robbed many of any sense of
security or peace. Instead of the world moving closer to peace and love, the
world is moving closer to destruction. Hatred and division are on the rise
while love and peace seem to be losing.
3.
Where
does a person go for peace and security in an uncertain world like ours? Hiding
won’t help. We’re all brought face to face with the reality of insecurity. King David was familiar with the insecurity of
his world. David wrote Psalm 62 sharing his own uncertainty and where he found
peace and rest. He was under a serious attack from an enemy or enemies who
wanted to overthrow him as king. There are hints in Psalm 62 that David is an
older man when he wrote the Psalm. He uses the phase, “like a leaning wall, a tottering fence,” to describe himself. One
doesn’t build a wall to be leaning or a fence to be tottering, but after time
this could happen to a wall or fence. Some Bible scholars believe that this
Psalm might be a reference to the revolt by Absalom, David’s son, when David
was an older man.
4.
You
might remember that Absalom would rise up early in the morning and stand by the
city gate engaging people and telling them how their lives would be better if
he were king. The Bible tells us that Absalom “stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” After doing this for four
years he gathered his supporters at Hebron and declared himself king.
5.
When
this news came to King David, he had to flee Jerusalem quickly, and if it
weren’t for God’s spirit moving Absalom to believe bad advice and not
immediately pursue King David, David might not have survived this attack. Certainly,
David was in a very dangerous situation.
Whatever situation David was in when he writes this Psalm, he shares
with us his strong response to uncertainty. This Psalm proclaims David’s strong
faith, and it proclaims where we find rest and peace when we’re confronted with
the uncertainties in our world. Rest and peace are found in God alone. He is
the rock, fortress, and salvation we need.
6.
You may have heard about Melissa Falkowski, a journalism and
English teacher at Parkland High School in Florida, who hid 19 students in
her classroom closet when she learned there was an active shooter at the school.
This heroic woman is a reflection of God who hides you in the shadow of His
wings as evil rages (Psalm 57:1). What other eternal refuge can there be than
the God who sent His Only Son to defend us and give His life for us. What did
Jesus do? He was like Assistant coach Aaron Feis at Parkland who stepped in
front of students to protect them from the assault. Aaron Feis gave his life
for his students. On the cross, Jesus took what would crush you and died in
your place. The only place you can find lasting rest in this world is in the
One who conquered death and gives you life. Through the living Word, you
receive rest. Through the presence of Jesus in Holy Communion, you are hidden
in Jesus’ grace, strength and forgiveness. This world will rage. It may even
injure you, but Jesus, who is Lord over all, is your rock of protection and
your salvation.
7.
Psalm
62 is different from most Psalms. Psalms usually describe the bad situation the
writer is experiencing and the prayers or petitions asking God for help. Psalm
62 doesn’t include a prayer or petition but makes a strong statement of faith
while alluding to a challenging situation. Psalm 23 is another example of a
Psalm without any request of God. Psalm 23 declares God to be our Good
Shepherd, and though there might be challenges even to the point of death, God
is present through all of the challenges as the Good Shepherd. Psalm 62
declares God to be our rock and salvation, the one who gives us rest and quiets
our souls. Whenever we come across such Psalms, we should take a closer look at
them because they are Psalms that declare the greatness of God and
encouragement for living. David serves as a witness to God’s
grace and rescue. He is calling out from history that we, too, have a Good
Shepherd. We, too, can trust God as our rock and salvation.
8.
David
doesn’t use the usual Hebrew word for “rest”
which means a physical and emotional rest. David uses a less familiar Hebrew
word that is translated “silent” or “silence” as is used in the ESV
translation. This Hebrew word goes beyond physical rest. It invites us to stand
in the presence of Almighty God not saying anything and not bringing anything,
but in silence receiving the peace that God our rock and salvation gives us no
matter what is happening around us.
9.
David
recognizes in the first part of this Psalm that his challenges come from people
who use lies and falsehood to bring him down from his place of honor. He
describes their actions as outwardly blessing David with their mouth, but
inwardly cursing him and wanting him defeated. David inserts at this place in
the Psalm the word “Selah.” It is
thought to be a notation for the singers, musicians, or reader to pause and
calmly think about what has been said.
10.
Up
to this point, David has declared that his soul waits in silence on God alone.
God is his rock and salvation, and he won’t be greatly shaken. He follows this
strong statement of faith with verses 3 and 4 describing the actions of those
who want to defeat him. As we ponder what David has written, words of Jesus
might come into mind when He said in John 8 that the devil is “the father of lies.” This “Selah” time
helps us move from the physical to the spiritual. The devil desires us to fall
down from our place of honor as children of God. He will challenge us to doubt
God’s forgiveness and love for us. We’re in a spiritual battle against a mighty
foe, but because of who God is and His commitment to us, we say with David, For God alone my soul waits in silence, from
him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and salvation, my fortress; I shall
not be greatly shaken.
11.
Our
arch enemy would like for us to prove to God that we really deserve His love
and forgiveness because of what we’ve done. There’s no rest in this approach to
God. We’re constantly wondering whether we’ve done enough. God invites us into
his presence to stand in silence and receive from him His love, based on His
actions.
12.
There
is one more “Selah” in Psalm 62. It comes at the end of verse 8 after David speaks
to his soul telling it to wait in silence for God alone. He repeats much of
what he said in verses 1 and 2 but adds a dimension of honor and glory that are
his because God is his rock and salvation. Then David focuses on us when he
says, Trust in him at all times, O
people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.
13.
In a turbulent and frightening world, this is
the gift we’ve been given. Listen to the Apostle Paul as he describes the
harrowing journey of God’s people through the wilderness in the Old Testament: 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 what was the spiritual rock
that followed them and sustained them through flood and heat and scarcity and
fear? Paul says this: And the Rock was
Christ (1 Corinthians 10:1–4).
14.
You’ve read and heard about many heroic
rescues during the flooding and destruction of Hurricane Harvey. You’ve seen
the stirring photos and have been moved by the accounts of self-sacrifice. But
there was a much greater storm than Harvey. The storm of sin and death engulfed
humanity. All of us were stranded helplessly by the floodwaters of our
fallenness. And that is where the greatest rescue in the history of the world
unfolded. Jesus as our
rock and our salvation came and bore our sins and just punishment on himself. He
is the one who was promised to Adam and Eve; the one who died and rose from the
dead to give us great confidence and assurance no matter who attacks us or what
is happening around us. In Jesus we stand before the Father with our soul
silent, receiving life abundantly and salvation from Him.
15.
Many
congregations in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod are celebrating and
thanking God for the ministry of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. For 76
years the LWML has been supporting mission work nationally and internationally.
The women truly are Lutheran Women in Mission, and they are also women of
encouragement. The LWML hasn’t just been collecting pennies, nickels, dimes,
and quarters in their mite boxes; they’ve also been encouraging women and men
in their faith walk to find true rest in God alone.
16.
Over
the 76 years of ministry, the LWML has lived through major challenges in our
world and country, and even in their organization. Through all of the
challenges and uncertainties, the LWML has placed their trust in God and have
looked to Him for direction. Lives have been touched through their work and
people have received rest that comes from our Lord and Savior, Jesus.
17.
Let
us be encouraged in our own witness by the witness of the LWML. There are
people all around us that struggle with insecurity in this fast-changing world.
We have true rest to offer them in a God who loves them and gave His Son for
them. Let’s live in this rest and share it with others.
18.
David
lived in uncertainty and so do we. David received from God a certain physical
and emotional rest, and he also received a silence – a rest that nothing in
this world of insecurity could take away from him. We have this same assurance
as we live in this uncertain age. It is the gift we can stand on because our
God is our rock and salvation – the one who loves us and sent His Son to redeem
us thereby restoring the right relationship with God. Let us say daily, “My soul finds silence in God alone.”
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