What makes me safe?
When we feel threatened, exposed, criticised, uncertain, or simply out of control, we instinctively reach for something that will make us feel secure again.
We reach for words: if I can explain myself properly, defend myself, correct the record, then I will be safe. We reach for power: if the right people are on my side, if I have enough influence, enough status, enough control, then I will be safe. We reach for money: if there is enough in the bank, enough coming in, enough margin, then I will be safe.
But in Psalm 62, David takes each of those things away from us.
He says: 1) Your words can’t make you safe. 2) Power can’t make you safe. 3) Money can’t make you safe.
But, he ends with this promise and guarantee:
4) God’s power, free kindness, and justice have made you safe.
Consider the first thing David sings about: 1) Your words can’t make you safe (vv. 1-8) Look at vv. 1-2:
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.
When we are threatened, insecure, unsafe, we want to take control by explaining ourselves, taking hold of the narrative, justifying our position. We want to enlist others on our side, so that we feel safe in a company of supporters. David is silent and alone.
Now, sometimes we do have to explain ourselves. Sometimes it is appropriate to give an account. But David’s silence here is not a refusal to speak when it is appropriate. It is a refusal to use his words to try and take matters into his own hands; David is recognising that God is in charge.
David was repeatedly attacked by unjust and deceitful words. Please look at vv. 3-4:
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. Selah
David was chased, hounded, attacked and accused by king Saul, a fellow Israelite, even anointed by God. Until when hiding in a cave that Saul wandered into, David had an opportunity to kill him. But David doesn’t. He says and does nothing; and leaves judgment to God. Only later, at the appropriate time, does David use his words to give a defence of his own conduct.
David’s almost life-long experience was being slandered and libelled by other people. In particular being slandered and libelled by people in his same fellowship, who share his same faith, and who on the surface “bless with their mouths.” That must have been what hurt so much for David, what cut so deep. People who should have been friends, supporters, attacking him when he was at his most vulnerable.
The huge temptation David had was to attack back; to take control of the narrative. Or, as the apostle Peter puts it: when reviled, to revile in return, something Jesus never did. And neither does David, v. 5:
5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.
David directs himself to God’s objective promises, vv. 6-8:
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. Selah 1) Your words can’t make you safe
And it’s when we’re under the kind of attack or pressure that David experienced that our words reveal whether we actually believe that.
When you are attacked… When people plan to thrust you down from your high position… …what words come out of your mouth?
You explain. And then you explain again. You send another message because perhaps they did not quite understand the first one. You try and take back control through over-explaining.
You tell another person what happened, not simply because they need to know, but because you need somebody on your side. And very quickly an explanation becomes gossip, self-justification, accusation, retaliation.
But who is your refuge and your rock? The God who died for you? Or the mouth God gave you?
Or is a lack of trust revealed in a different way? You don’t respond, and just ghost people, because you’re so scared of saying the wrong thing?
Whether you’re a talker, or a ghoster: Does your salvation and your glory rest on your ability to explain? Is your mighty rock, and refuge your mouth?
But if words are not where you stumble, David adds to the challenge—point: 2) Power can’t make you safe Please look again at v. 9:
9 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.
The human beings around you in life seem to control everything. That was certainly the case for David: an outlaw, removed from his country’s fellowship, everywhere he went treated as an enemy. But, David says, human status is just a breath, a delusion.
So when an important person—a king such as Saul— opposes you with all of his wrath, all of his power: what does that pressure reveal about where your security lies?
Like the fire of a smelting furnace, the human pressure you experience reveals how you truly weigh God and human beings in the balance.
2) Power can’t make you safe So when you feel the pressure of power upon you, what trust do you have that is exposed by the fire?
Do you become afraid of the person above you? Do you start calculating what they think of you? Do you change what you say because you are frightened? Do you flatter, appease, avoid saying what is true? Do you treat their approval as though it were life, and their displeasure as though it were death? Or when you’re frightened, do you try to dominate, control others, or play the victim to gain power that way?
David’s addressed words, he’s spoken about power, and so, of course he goes on to say, point 3) Money can’t make you safe Look at v. 10 is:
10 Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
Of course this is the theme of our Gospel reading today, Matthew 6:24:
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
It’s not a surprise that Jesus goes straight on from that verse to give one of his strongest ever appeals to trust God. Why? Because money is the most powerful idol that all of us are drawn to on the face of the earth. Luther describes it this way in the Large Catechism:
There are some who think that they have God and everything they need when they have money and property; they trust in them and boast in them so stubbornly and securely that they care for no one else. They, too, have a god—mammon by name, that is, money and property—on which they set their whole heart. This is the most common idol on earth. Those who have money and property feel secure, happy, and fearless, as if they were sitting in the midst of paradise. On the other hand, those who have nothing doubt and despair as if they knew of no god at all. We will find very few who are cheerful, who do not fret and complain, if they do not have mammon. This desire for wealth clings and sticks to our nature all the way to the grave.
You feel safe with money, and insecure without it. But David this is a great lie, because Money can’t make you safe
But, David ends with this assurance: 4) God’s power, free kindness, and justice have made you safe. Please look at vv. 11-12:
11 Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, 12 and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.
God is powerful. God is merciful. And God acts justly.
Where have you been wronged? Where have you been attacked?
God has spoken—in fact his Word became flesh. And that Word was spoken clearly on the cross. So you don’t need to take control through your words, because Christ upholds the universe by his Word.
Jesus said: in three days I’ll destroy this temple —meaning his body—and build it up again. That sounds insane. But he did it. He did just as he said.
Whatever your situation is: God is not too weak to handle it. Yes, the people around you seem powerful. Yes, maybe people in power and authority are against you. Yes, maybe everything seems stacked against you unjustly. Jesus was arrested by people with swords and clubs. He was dragged before religious authorities, in a biased process that called false witnesses. He was falsely accused, slandered, mocked, and wrongly condemned. Jesus appeared utterly powerless —and yet none of those people had control. Jesus stood before the judge who condemned him and said:
You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.
This is the God we worship. This is the God who is David’s rock. He may look weak now, but he is strong. And his strength is exercised in mercy… …mercy, kindness and love that submitted his power so he could become weak for you.
Perhaps you’re not able to speak, you’re powerless, and poor. Chris remained silent, became weak, and entered poverty, purely because of his love and grace for you. That’s why David’s last words in this prayer are assurance, not accusation:
For you will render to a man according to his work.
You see this powerful God, this merciful saviour is the judge of the whole world.
And he sees everything. He sees every lie told about you. Every unfair judgment. Every abuse of power. Every hidden motive you can’t prove or discern. Every wrong that others seem to dismiss. And God will deal with it all justly: You don’t need to make God understand. You don’t need to persuade him to act. You don’t need to manipulate events to make justice happen. And you don’t need money to make the problems go away. What makes me safe? Not my words. Not power. Not money. But God. The God of power who adopted weakness. The God of mercy who executes justice. And that God will not move—because he is your rock.