For God alone my soul waits

Who is worth waiting for to you? We’re looking at Psalm 62:1 among other gems in the Bible today. So, join us, as we break it down, read the context, and see how the beauty of God’s Word changes our lives.

Having an Evergreen Relationship with God is a time for women and teen girls to seek the one thing that can’t be taken away from us—God’s Words—and to let it light our path, so we can be with God all the days of our lives and purposefully live our lives for him.

Psalm 62:1 says, “For God alone my soul waits in silence.” It’s a beautifully strong verse, a statement of assurance and ultimate faith. Not faith as the world sees it (hopeless, for the weak, whimsy belief). No, rather, it’s a faith that is immovable because of Who it’s in but can move mountains. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). We know without a doubt that what we hope for will come to pass. And what we hope for is God. We are convicted that though we cannot see him, we love him (1 Peter 1:8). He is worth waiting for! He is everything our souls desire, whether they know it or not. We are fashioned after our Creator. Home comes from being with him. So, no matter what comes in life—the crazy times, the joyful times, or the mundane times—our souls continue to wait in silence. For God alone.

So let’s break it down:

For God alone. From the very beginning of time, it has been God alone. Before the earth even was a thing, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Gen. 1:1-2) That’s what it looked like physically. And John gives us the other side of it: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:1-4).

So in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and made everything through the Word—Jesus.

No one else was there. No one else can claim us the way God can. As it says beautifully in Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

There is no one else that our souls will go to and find what we need. Only in God alone.

God alone. It’s always been that way, not just at the beginning of time.

After the flood and the tower of Babel, the story for the people of God then started with a man named Abraham, the one who God called to. But when God called him, he didn’t just take him from his homeland to another land for the sake of good soil. He promised the blessing of a great nation through him. But the only way that was possible was through God alone.

Because where Abraham was before God called him was not a place that acknowledged God alone. As the story was later told, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.  Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many.’” (Joshua 24:2-3.

Abraham came from a place that had already strayed from knowing God alone to serving other gods.

But no other gods promised what God did. And even if they did, none could’ve delivered the way God did (and still does). The way God went on to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt when the Egyptian gods couldn’t stand a chance and the way God delivered us out of sin when we couldn’t stand at before God at all in our filth.

These other gods just aren’t worth it. But Satan keeps pulling us back.

Later in the times of the prophets, the Israelites went back to the lowercase “g” gods. In Isaiah 44, God pointed out to his people that they were worshipping gods that they themselves created. It’s not hard to believe that man would create something (we were made in the image of a Creator, after all), but it was hard to believe that they went to the trouble of creating something to worship instead of going to God himself! Moreover, they created their gods out of wood— half of which they used to keep their fire going so they could eat, and the other half of which they made a little god! It almost makes you want to laugh at how true and ridiculous it is until we realize what that means, that they were giving their soul to nothing. And until we realize that we do the exact same thing.

It was the story of the Israelites in the Old Testament back and forth for centuries: worshipping idols, then coming back to God. Being tempted by the gods of other nations surrounding Canaan, and then coming back to God.

It’s why God cries out through his prophet Hosea: “O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.” (Hosea 14:8)

God knew man couldn’t truly live unless we had him.

Life depends on God alone. It was true in the Old Testament and it was still true at the time of the New Testament.

When Paul was walking around Athens in Acts 17, he saw that the city was full of idols. To the point where Paul told them, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious” (which at its origin means reverent). They were willing and seeking to give their allegiance somewhere, knowing there was someone greater than themselves. And Paul couldn’t wait to tell them who it was. They had so many different kinds of idols that they even had one “to the unknown god,” whether just in case or because they knew there was something missing, who knows? But Paul got to say, “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:23-25)

It all comes back to our Creator, the God who made the world and everything in it. He is the Lord of all. He gives us life. He doesn’t need us, but we need him.

Because as Paul goes on to say, “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’” (Acts 17:26-28)

In God we live and move and have our being. Not in any other gods. In God alone.

My soul.

Our souls were made by God and we can only find our home in him.

We tend to bypass our souls. We focus on what we can see and what we can feel—the physical and the emotional—but have a hard time realizing that those are just shells and our true life comes from so much more—the spiritual.

As C.S. Lewis once said, “You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”

God knew what our souls needed. He created us, after all! Which is why in Deuteronomy he tells the Israelites what they needed at least six times: to love the Lord their God and follow him with all of their heart and all of their soul.

It’s not something that was only applicable for them. It is timeless truth.

Because as Jesus says in Matthew 22:37, “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.’”

When we truly love God with our everything, we are complete.

The book of Psalms helps us understand a bit better.

God restores our soul (Psalm 23:2) from where it has fallen into the hands of the irresponsible world, pushing us around in sin.

Only to God can we lift up our soul (Psalm 25:1) and not have to worry about being completely vulnerable—he won’t trample on it like the world does.

When it all comes down to it, our souls long for God (Psalm 42:1). Not just kinda sorta wanting him, but yearning for him and him alone. Because he isn’t like these other lowercase “g” gods made of dead wood or dead wishes —he is the living God. He is our God.

When we have so many cares weighing on us, God’s comforts cheer us (Psalm 94:19). We can come to him and take the weight off, knowing that his comfort (from the God of all comfort) far outweighs our worries.

In the end, God satisfies our longing souls (Psalm 107:9). He fills our souls with good things—not empty things, not heavy things, not sinful things. Good things, himself the source.

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” That’s exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 16:26. That’s how important our souls are! It’s not worth even the whole world. Imagine that…

Because though the world will wage war against our souls (1 Peter 2:11), we instead entrust them to our faithful Creator (1 Peter 4:19).

Waits.

So what do we do? We know God alone is the one we need and we know that our souls are precious in giving them to no one but him. But what do we do?

It’s probably the hardest thing mankind has to do.

We wait.

Waiting seems like the opposite of doing something. It seems wasteful, like we’re delaying the answer or letting other things get in the way in the meantime.

But when we’re waiting on God, we are doing more than if we tried to “do” something ourselves.

Because we are trusting that the one who is the most powerful will act when it’s the right time—and when he does, it will be incomparably amazing.

That’s what at least two specific people that we know of were doing at the beginning of the New Testament, at the beginning of the story of the good news. But they were just two of many that were waiting.

The Israelites were promised a Messiah, a Savior, and they were waiting for him.

When Jesus was born and brought to the temple as was Jewish custom, his parents met Simeon and Anna. Both were waiting for Jesus. Not because they knew exactly who he was, but they knew God had something wonderful planned and that it would come through a Messiah, a Savior.

So as Simeon, who was waiting for the consolation (or comfort) of Israel saw Jesus and was told it was him, he prayed, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,  a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)

And Anna, who was always at the temple, came up to them at that very hour and she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:38)

Everyone was waiting for Jesus. They didn’t know what was to come. But those that trusted God knew it was going to be beautiful.

Because God has made everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Jesus himself taught his disciples firsthand what comes of waiting. In John 11, when Jesus is told that one of his loved ones was sick:

“But when Jesus heard it he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’  Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’” (John 11:4-7)

That almost doesn’t make sense. Jesus loved that family, so when he heard Lazarus was ill, he waited! From our perspective, it doesn’t add up. But when you read the rest of the story…

“Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.’” (v.15)

Then when he saw Martha, who had also waited patiently for Jesus: “Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.’” (v.21-22)

Jesus then was able to say: “I am the resurrection and the life Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (v.25-26)

And then when they took away the stone, “Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.’  When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’  The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’” (v.41-44)

And from there, “Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.” (v.45) and then later, “When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.  So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.” (John 12:9-11)

Where at the beginning of the story, waiting on God’s timing seemed like a terrible idea (a loved one very sick and waiting meant death) now it’s an almost unrecognizable story (the loved one is alive but moreover the reason many were believing in Jesus). Even if Lazarus’s body wasn’t physically raised from the dead, the ending that many believed in Jesus was worth waiting for.

In our darkest moments and in our moments of impatience in daily life, waiting on God may seem pointless. But if our soul waits for the Lord, he is our help and shield (Psalm 33:20)—not just in the future, but even as we wait.

So we wait for him. Not shrugging our shoulders like we have no better choice, but as Psalm 130 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;  my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.”

So that was breaking it down. Now let’s look at the context:

Verse 1 “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.” That is how our soul waits. Not in anxiety, not with impatience—in silence. In peace, knowing God is worth waiting for. And the word that will come up again later: salvation. God is our salvation. As it says in verse 2..

Verse 2: “He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.” This is who we wait for. It’s not like waiting for a bus or waiting for an event. We are waiting on our everything and trusting our whole lives to him. He—and he alone—is our rock, salvation and fortress. We’ve talked about God being our rock and our fortress in podcast 02 (I love you, O Lord, my strength), solid and immovable, who we know we can trust in. Moreover he is our salvation—he is the way we can be saved. Not only that but “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Only God has the power and the love and the willingness to save us. How can we not see him as our everything?

Verse 3-4: “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.” And this is our life. There will always be people trying to pull us down; and even the ones who lift us up most of the time, that we know we can depend on, even they are humans and cannot fill us the way God can. Jesus knew that, which is why in John 2, it says, “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” (v.23-25) We can’t entrust ourselves—our souls—to anyone else other than God. For him alone do we wait. Especially when we’re surrounded by those who want to tear us down, or mutilate the truth, or pretend to be blessing us when their hearts are full of evil. It’s so disheartening. Which is why we go back to God in the next set of verses…

Verse 5-7: “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.” It’s very similar to what we read in verses 1-2. But it’s almost a reassurance to ourselves after seeing what our other options are in the world. So instead, we say “O my soul,” pleading with ourselves to wait for God—our rock, our salvation, our fortress, in whom we will not be greatly shaken. Three more things he adds in these verses, though.

First, our hope is from him. Hope is immeasurably important. Without hope, we feel like dying (for what hope is there?). But when our hope is in the Creator of the universe and of our souls who is our everything, life is worth it. The second thing he adds is that our glory along with our salvation rest on God. Everything is dependent on him, even the deepest part of who we hope to be. And the third thing he adds is that God is our refuge. As if we didn’t get it, God is the one we come to for security, for comfort, and for rest. And David made it very simple and clear when he said it: “My refuge is God.”

& Verse 8. This is another one of my favorite verses. Even though this isn’t the last verse of the psalm, it is one that seems to encompass everything we’ve read so far. “Trust in him at all time, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” That’s the key! Our souls will never know true peace until we trust in God. And not just coming to him sometimes and other times completely disregard him. No, at all times! This doesn’t mean everything is going to be great all the time if we trust in him. There will be times where we don’t feel like we can trust him. But our fluctuating emotions can’t determine God’s faithfulness—he will always be trustworthy. We can, and we should, come to him always in trust.

And we trust him to the point of pouring our hearts before him. Which, you know what that is, a single word, right? Prayer! Sometimes we think prayer has to be ornate or long or following a certain formula. But as Jesus said in Matthew 6:7, “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.” It’s not about the words, it’s about the heart. Though if you’ve ever poured your heart out to somebody, it’s not likely that it just took 2 minutes. We’re just honestly talking to the one who we know we can trust more than anybody else. We pour out everything before him. He will never reject us, he will never ignore us, and he will never belittle us.

There will always and only ever be one we can rely on to truly hear us, to value us, and to be a refuge for us.

God alone.

For him, our soul waits.

So that was the verse in context. Now how does the beauty of this part of God’s Word change our lives:

We wait for God—and only God. We don’t give all of ourselves to anyone other than him. No one else is trustworthy enough, nor are they capable. “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” Psalm 16:1-2

When we put everything in trusting God, we will not be greatly shaken. We know times will come when we waver and that there will be seasons when it will be more difficult. But we choose God each time, and in the end, we will be anchored in him. “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.” Psalm 16:8-9

And we talk with him consistently and constantly, loving being able to just tell him anything as we would our closest friend. Because he is. “I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.” Psalm 16:7

There are other gods or idols, which are anything we acknowledge as worthy enough for us to depend on and hope in. From the beginning of time, our Creator has given us the choice. We don’t have to choose him. But God also knows that how we were created—because he is the one who made us. He knit us together when we hadn’t even seen the world yet. He knows that our souls will be restless until we find and trust in him. We will feel incomplete and missing until we know him. And when we do, we can say, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy.” (Psalm 16, last verse) Because he alone is the answer to what we search our whole lives to find—our identity, our purpose, and our hope.

And so with certainty and with simple peace we say, “For God alone, my soul waits”

Well, that’s it for this time. I pray this week is a wonderful one as you continually seek the Truth in God’s Word, that by its light we will know the right path to follow to live as children of God- children that have an evergreen relationship with him.

Until the next one- same time, same place. See you soon!

 Psalm 62:1-8

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

3 How long will all of you attack a man
    to batter him,
    like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4 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. 

5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
    for my hope is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;
    my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

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