My Rock and My Salvation

We can turn back to a reading in the book of Psalms and Psalm 62. Psalm 62, Psalm of David.

! Just reading at the beginning again, verse 1.! For God alone my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be greatly shaken.

And so on. Well, this morning we focus on Remembrance Sunday, a time where we have that silent moment to remember all that's been done for us, to give thanks for the peace that we enjoy, and especially the peace that we find in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But as somebody once said, peace that Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble, but is rather the confidence that he is there with you always.

So that no matter what our situation, whether it's days of peace or days of trouble, we have that promise that with that peace in Jesus, not the absence of trouble, but the promise that he is there with us always.

But do we know that? Do we know that ourselves in the way that David knew it in his experience? As you look to the book of Psalms, you find the Psalms are full of reality.

They're full of honesty for every situation in life. And they often speak into our own situations. They speak to us in a very personal way because they were written very personally.

These are David's reflection in this psalm on his own experience in time of adversity. It's almost like he's surrounded by an enemy all around him, but his soul waits on God.

He is trusting in God. There's adversity, there's trouble around, but he has peace with God. Another thing that you may be finding the Psalms is that they speak in a very personal way, but when you hear them, they can maybe sometimes sound repetitive, almost as if they're just telling us the same thing.

This psalm, Psalm 62, has that sense of refuge being found in God. He is a fortress, he is my rock, he is my salvation.

These words are repeated in this psalm. And they can sound like similar words you find in other psalms. For example, Psalm 40 or Psalm 46.

Well-known psalms, these same kinds of themes come across in them. Waiting on God, trusting in God, refuge in God, strength in God.

However, it will be a mistake to think that he is just repeating the same words in the same situation. Because when you look at David's life, it's in the Psalms or in the Old Testament where he's mentioned, you find that his life was ongoing experience of adversity.

Highs and lows along the way. He's not just relating to us here an account that he's been through once and just repeating that story again and again.

He's talking about learning in the midst of ongoing experience, ongoing adversity, ongoing troubles and trials. But holding on to the same truths.

So it wasn't just one or two experiences that David had that he had to trust in the Lord. It was many. And that's the reality for ourselves.

And in occasions in our lives, we realize it's not just talking about one hard experience in life, but sometimes many hard experiences. And today, as we pause for a time of remembrance, we look back on experiences in the lives of men and women in our nation, in our own islands, in the world in which we live.

We're not just looking back on one experience, but many. Many different experiences that people went through. It's hard sometimes for us to imagine what those experiences were like.

Even just to hear a declaration of war. It's hard to imagine, maybe for us, what that was like on the 5th of August, 1914, when Great Britain declared it was at war with Germany.

And what that would lead to, four years of vast loss of life. But then, to have that experience again just 25 years later, which many would have been experiencing again, that on the 3rd of September, 1939, again these words, Great Britain at war with Germany.

After all they'd been through, relatively short time before, here it was again. Another adversity, another time of adversity, another time of great loss.

And so it goes on, you can go before that, you can come after that. There has been wars and rumours of wars down through all the generation. And that's what scripture tells us, that till the end of time, there will be wars and rumours of wars.

That even today, the world in which we live is a world full of adversity. But where do we find hope? Where do we find help in these times?

Well, as we look at this psalm, we see where David found his help. In all the situations that he found himself in, we are reminded that his soul, his very being, waits on God.

Because, as you go back to other psalms, Psalm 46 or Psalm 40, the same thing being said, I waited for God. God is my refuge. For God alone my soul waits in silence, he says at the beginning of this psalm.

It is about looking to and trusting in God. And one person described this psalm as showing the fruits of adversity in David's experience.

What David has learned from many different experiences that he's gone through. He's not learning, as it were, something new, but building on what he knows.

Knowing that throughout everything, he can trust God. And we're going to look at some of these fruits of adversity as we look at David's life in this psalm and what he's developed.

But we're going to look at them in a way of asking ourselves, do we have these traits? Do we have these fruits in our lives as we face up to our own experience today?

Whether it's remembering, looking back, reflecting on where we are, or looking ahead to what's before us. Do we have that trust in God?

That no matter what adversity there might be, our soul, our very being, is waiting on God and looking to him.

James, in his letter in the New Testament, speaks about it like this. Looking at adversities all around him, he says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

For know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. In other words, you could say it produces fruit. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

So that in the midst of adversity, we trust in God and find these fruits for adversity. Fruits like Paul speaks about the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, and so on.

But it's a long-term view. It's a view of growing in that knowledge of God and trusting in him. When you think of natural fruit, for example, grapes, it's not something we grow many of around here, perhaps.

But in places where they're able to grow grapes, it's not a quick fruit. It's not something you plant and in a few weeks or months you're going to be eating that fruit.

It takes time. Grapes need tending. They need support. They need looking after. You're talking probably two years before you get fruit from a vine.

And if you're wanting that juice or a wine that comes from grapes, you're talking waiting longer. A few years more before you taste that fruit. But it doesn't mean because the fruit's not there that there's not growth growing on.

But the fruit comes over time and in certain experiences. And here David in this psalm is showing that this fruit has been growing. And it shows itself now in time of adversity, times of trial.

And we're seeing three things in this psalm. There's a sense of, first of all, waiting. We then see that there's trusting. And then we see that there's teaching.

We're going to think of these three things. Waiting, trusting, and teaching. So the first thing we see is waiting. And waiting is also linked to listening.

You see that in verse 1 of this psalm. For God alone my soul waits in silence. My soul waits in silence.

How good are you at listening? What did I just say? How good are you at listening? One of the things that we need as people is someone who will listen to us.

But has anyone ever said to you, you're not listening to a word I'm saying? I'm sure it's happened to many of us. And it's usually because we are doing something else.

Or our attention is taken by something else. Someone's speaking to us or trying to say something to us. But we're not listening because we're distracted. We've all been guilty of it, I'm sure.

So how good are you at listening? How good are you at listening when it comes to the word of God? When you hear God's word read or preached, are you distracted or are you listening?

We are used to seeing in the psalms David and others pouring out their hearts to God. Bringing everything before God. Is God listening?

Yes. And he's listening so much better than we can. But here we see David not just pouring out his heart to God.

Not just going on in that constant talking to God. But almost taking time to just pause and to listen to. God speaks to us through his word.

But we need to listen. And you see in verse 1 here that he is waiting in silence. Because from him comes my salvation.

Ecclesiastes is a wonderful book for teaching us in different things. And especially in chapter 3 it speaks about a time for everything.

A time for war. A time for peace is mentioned there. But it also says that there's a time to keep silence and a time to speak. The difficulty is knowing which one to do when.

A time to keep silence and a time to speak. And David here is teaching us that when it comes to a relationship with God, there's a time to speak and a time to be silenced.

A time to wait on God. Because if we're not silent, we can't listen. We need to still ourselves before God in silence to see what he is saying to us.

And I guess that's what's good about a minute's silence or a two-minute silence. We pause. We seek to just have that calmness. We're not going to do the talking.

We're not going to chatter among ourselves. It's amazing just the silence here this morning. Even with young children and just the silence that there was. And in those moments, do we not hear clearly, even in the silence, in that reflection?

And in the silence when it comes to worship, do we not then hear the word of God speaking to us? We need to still ourselves before God.

One commentator on this psalm says there are two ways this silently waiting in adversity can be seen. He says one is that you have offered up all the words you have.

In other words, you've given everything over to God and you're waiting on him. And he says the other is times when there are no words that will come. And so you're waiting in silence on God.

And these experiences can be true in our lives. Take the first one. We know that we are commanded to pray and pray without ceasing. But there comes a time when we say, Lord, I have prayed.

I leave it in your hands. Times of adversity, times of war can be just that. Lord, you've heard our prayer for peace. We leave it with you.

The other thing is that there are times of adversity when words will not come. When it's too difficult for us to pray. And I'm sure there was many who in these wars in the past, what could they pray in situations that they found themselves in?

Sometimes there's no words to speak. We are broken before God, but we can wait in silence on him. Silence is a powerful thing.

And today, we pause and Remembrance Day will be on Wednesday, the 11th day of the 11th month. And at the 11th hour, there will be a moment of silence.

Because it was on that day, on the 11th of November, 1918, that peace was declared at the 11th hour. Up until that very moment, there was the sound of war.

And then all of a sudden, silence. You wonder what it was like to be there when silence came. Is this it?

Is this really the end? Is there peace? Well, we are encouraged in our silence before God that we can find in him one who is a rock.

As verse 2 and verse 6 repeat for us, He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be greatly shaken.

Waiting on God is a fruit in adversity. And today, we seek that fruit for ourselves. To wait on God. To listen to him.

To find that place of trusting in him who is a rock and my salvation. For the second thing we see here is that sense of trusting.

Waiting leads David here to see he is trusting. Waiting in silence is not a weakness. It's not a weakness.

It's a strength. It's a fruit that we see in David's life. My soul waits in silence. Because it's not a despondent wait.

It's not a waiting that's not trusting. It is very much trusting. From him comes my salvation. Trusting means that we have to be taught.

And David has been taught in his own life. He has been taught by God through so many different experiences. That his only hope is in trusting God.

David is almost reflecting on his life. You're looking at all these different stages. And what about yourself today? When you look back in your life, what kind of stages in your life are you looking at and reflecting on?

Times when there was difficulties. Times when there was joys. Times of growth. Or maybe times of regression.

But as you reflect, and the more you reflect, what you see is we regress. We go back. We go our own way when we don't trust God.

When we don't listen to God. We're always offered advice. But do we listen? Just think of if you're a parent today.

How scary it is sometimes when you see yourself in your child. And you're starting to tell them what to do. And you think they're not listening. But all of a sudden it dawns you and say, that's just the way I was.

That was just the way I responded when I heard the exact same things from my parents. And as often as we stop and reflect that we see.

What are we listening to? What are we trusting in? When are we listening? When are we trusting most? Surely it is when we are close to God.

Because we are children of God. And in that we're naturally like our own children there as well. Times of dependence and times when we think we know best ourselves.

But when we think of times of adversity and times of conflict. What is important is obedience. Listening to commands.

Commands are passed down from a higher rank. And if they are disobeyed there are consequences. You have to trust those who are in command. And what David is showing us here is that God is the one in command.

And he's saying, I trust the Lord. And as he's saying that he's asking us, do you? Do you trust the Lord in the midst of adversity?

Do you trust the Lord in the midst of everything that goes on around us? The Scottish preacher Peter Forsyth once said, The first duty of every soul is to find not its freedom, but its master.

Not its freedom, but its master. And that's a question of, well, who are we trusting? Are we looking to find freedom for ourselves by doing our own thing?

Or are we trusting God as our master, our Lord, as our God? Because our natural inclination is to go away from God.

To find help ourselves. Even as Christians we can become impatient with God. Saying, he's not answering, he's not listening. I'll do it by myself.

David has tried that and learned the hard lessons. But here he's reminding us that in adversity, in all things, we are to trust the Lord.

For God alone, my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation. That is the God that he is looking to.

William Plummer. Plummer was a 19th century Bible teacher. And he said this, Through piety or reverence, finds God and pronounces God all sufficient.

There's nothing else that we need. That's what David has found. Is that what you have found? Is that what you know in your life?

I have found God. And God is all sufficient. God is all I need. So like Psalm 46, we're able to say, God is my refuge and my strength.

No matter what comes our way, no matter what adversity surrounds us, we can trust in God. Even though David was surrounded by enemies, he was trusting God.

Lord, you alone are my hope. I don't know my way out of this, but you do. So are we trusting God?

Psalm 124 says it like this, Our sure and all sufficient help is in Jehovah's name, his name, who did the heaven create and who the earth did frame.

It is God who made all things. It is God who gives times of war. It is God who turns war into peace. Are we trusting him?

The final thing we see here is that David is teaching. He is teaching. Through all his own experience, what he wants is others to learn and to know where to turn in times of adversity.

Do you ever speak to yourself? I do it all the time. And I'm sure many of you do as well. Whatever you're doing, whether you're cooking in the garden, out for a walk, we're always talking to ourselves.

Nobody else listens to us anyway, so we're as well talking to ourselves. But what do we talk about? You know, there's certain situations where maybe it's more natural.

You start being anxious, so you talk to yourself. You're going for a job and you're going to a difficult meeting. You talk to yourself. Can you imagine what it was like in times of war, in situations that many found themselves in?

You think of the First World War, a trench warfare. They had to go over the top to climb out into a muddy battlefield, knowing straight away, immediately they were going to be under attack.

What would they be saying to themselves? Imagine being on one of these ships in a convoy crossing the Atlantic, knowing there's a submarine and it has you in its sights.

The worry. The talking to yourself. What are you going to be saying? It's hard to imagine. But we do it so often.

We talk to ourselves in that way. But here, we see that David is kind of talking to himself, but in a positive way.

It's reminding himself, reminding himself, and I'm sure there was many, many who did this during times of war, that we have God with us.

That no matter what comes, we can trust in him. And that's what God, David is saying here. He's talking here.

For God alone, my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation. Talking to ourselves, we can turn into a great positive in the sense of meditating on God's word, reminding ourselves constantly who God is and that we can trust in him.

Paul in Philippians chapter 4, he's talking there, but reminding himself of all that he has in Christ. I know how to be brought low.

I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

It's a great thing to have that teaching of scripture, to be able to talk to ourselves through God's word. David isn't here, a madman babbling away to himself, but someone reminding himself that God is on his side.

And so that as you go about your business, as I go about my business, we can be talking to ourselves in that sense of remembering, he only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.

I shall not be greatly shaken, reminding ourselves what we have in God. And as well as speaking to himself, he's speaking to others.

He's speaking to you and me here today. In verse 8, trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us.

In the midst of adversity, in the midst of days of trouble, in the midst of reflecting back, looking forward, what do we have to hold on to? Trust in him at all times, O people.

Pour out your heart before him, because God is a refuge for us. Radio messages during the First and Second World War were crucial, but difficult compared to today.

Trying to make out sometimes what was being said because of interference was very hard. So you had to be trained and able to listen well.

And you think of it today, if we don't do it as much now, we're trying to tune in to a radio station. But so often, you would maybe find that there's two kind of stations overlapping.

You're not quite getting it right. And it's impossible to listen to one because the other is interfering. Well, David is here reminding us that we live in a world where there's that constant interference.

We're trying to listen to the world and trying to listen to God. It's like trying to receive two radio stations or just a message that's not clear. There's distortion.

There's frustration. We need to tune in to the right place. To listen to the right word. Not divide our attention.

And that's why he's saying to us here, trust in him at all times. Tune in to him at all times. Because God alone is our salvation.

God is a refuge for us. Pour out your heart before him. That's what he did at the start. My soul waits in silence because he's poured out his heart before him.

Today, we can all pour out our hearts before him and wait upon him in silence. That in the silence of reflection and remembrance of the past, the present, and looking to the future, it would lead us to that sense of trusting God.

And praying that trust for others around the world today. That as God's word is spoken and heard, that many would hear the truth that he alone is a rock of salvation.

That he alone is the one who is able to bring peace and lasting peace, eternal peace. And that he alone is the one who has provided that salvation through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we pour out our hearts to him. We wait on him. Let us trust in him, in his son, the Lord Jesus at all times, because he alone is our refuge.

Let us pray. Lord, our gracious God, we thank you that in all times that we are able to hear your voice, that in all times that we are a people who are to trust you, to pour out our hearts before you, to wait upon you even in silence, and look to you as the one who is able.

So we give you thanks and praise this day for who you are, for all that you have done for us, and for the gift that you have given to us, the one who is able to give us peace.

We thank you for your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and pray that our trust, our hope, our refuge would be in him. Hear our prayers, Lord. Bless your word to all ends of the earth, and pardon our sin as we ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen. We're going to conclude by singing the words from this psalm, Psalm 62.

We'll sing from verse 1 to verse 6. Let's sing Psalm's version, page 79 of the psalm book. Psalm 62. My soul finds rest in God alone, from him comes my salvation sure, my safety fortress, sheltering rock, in him alone I am secure.

We'll sing from verse 1 to 6, four stanzas to God's praise. verse 1 My soul finds rest in God alone, from him as my salvation sure, my safety fortress, sheltering rock, in him alone I am secure.

How long will you as soldier man Do you all seek to lay him low This leading war this stuttering mess And bring the birth This overthrow They plan this fall From this high place They take delight In spreading light

The false and fluttering Mousely blessed But in their hearts curse and despise Find rest My soul In God alone In him my hope Is ever sure My safety fortress Sheltering rock In him alone I am secure

After the benediction I'll go to the door to my left We'll close with a benediction Now may grace Mercy and peace From God Father Son And Holy Spirit Rest upon And abide with you all Now and forevermore Amen God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless God bless Thank you.