Garrick, thank you for reading God's word.
I'm not sure if you all noticed this, but when Garrick was reading,
there was a particular word that got repeated in verse 2 and verse 6.
It was the word shaken.
Shaken.
And I'm guessing this week you had your world shaken.
And I don't know what on the Richter scale of shaking with which you were shook,
but I'm guessing you got your world shaken.
Maybe this is what it looked like.
Something happens and you got really angry.
You vented.
You felt out of control.
You felt disrespected.
You lost your patience and you blew up.
You were shaken.
Or maybe you binged this week sometime.
Eight hour straight of Netflix binge watching.
$800 spent on your credit card.
Binge buying.
8,000 calories of a comfort food.
Binge eating.
And the question becomes, what started it all?
Why the binging?
Chances are you got your world shaken.
Or maybe you were lying in bed sometime this week, unable to sleep,
and you were lying at 2 a.m. in that isolating silence of the wee hours of the morning.
And you were lying in bed because you were anxious about something.
You were replaying something in your head.
You were trying to figure something out.
You were afraid of some unknown or something that has happened to you.
You got shook.
And it's showing up in the middle of the night.
We all experience varying degrees of the seismic activity of being shaken.
And we need help.
We need help when our lives get shaken, don't we?
And Psalm 62 is good news for those souls who are being shaken.
And so if you've come into the sanctuary this morning and you're like, I know what it means to be shaken,
Psalm 62 is God's kindness to you.
Here, let me sum it up by saying this.
This is the summary of Psalm 62.
When you, when your life is being shaken and you're feeling all alone and all out of control,
you must learn to trust in God alone.
When you're feeling all alone because you're getting your world rocked,
you must learn to trust in God alone.
And so in Psalm 62, there is this process.
It's going to look like this.
I'm going to draw it out a little bit later.
It's, you're going to be shaken and then you're going to need to surrender
and then you're going to find God as your shelter
and then you're going to experience shalom.
You're going to move from being shaken to having to surrender,
finding God as your shelter and then experiencing shalom.
But before we get to that, I just want to give you a brief overview of Psalm 62
and then we'll get into that process and bring it to bear on our lives.
When your life is being shaken and you're feeling alone and out of control,
you must learn how to trust in God alone.
So let me give you a quick overview of Psalm 62.
We learn in Psalm 62 in the very heading that this is a psalm of David, the king,
which is a high position among God's people in Israel.
And then this was written to the choir master.
It's according to Jaduthin.
Most likely it was some kind of melody.
And so David's writing this psalm and he's saying,
Hey, choir master, put this to that music.
It'd be like putting Psalm 62, me saying to Kevin,
Hey, Kevin, let's put Psalm 62 to the tune of Amazing Grace.
For God alone my soul silently waits.
We can do it.
And the reason why it's to be put to music is because it's to be internalized
and called out in singing to give our emotions an opportunity to call out to God.
So this is a psalm by David meant to be sung.
And there are two sections.
Verses 1 through 7, we see David personally responding to something that has shaken his world.
And you see what that is in verses 3 and 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 what's going on here is there's a group of people that are seeking to verbally attack King David
and undermine him and unseat him.
Was it Absalom?
Well, we're not told here.
We're just guessing.
But he's definitely having his world rocked.
He's definitely being shaken.
But what's interesting is what happens before and after.
In verses 1 and 2, you see David say,
For God alone my soul waits in silence.
From him comes my salvation.
And look at verse 5.
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence.
For my hope, my salvation is from him.
And then in verse 2,
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.
I shall not be greatly shaken.
And then verse 6,
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.
I shall not be shaken, period.
And so what we see David doing, when there is his life being shaken,
He surrenders himself to the Lord.
For God alone my soul waits in silence.
We see that both in verse 1 and verse 5.
That silence I'll come back to in a little bit.
But in both verse 2 and verse 6,
He's talking about God as my rock and my salvation, my fortress.
What we see happening here is David surrendering himself to God
in order to surround this thing that is shaking his life.
And then in verse 7, there is this summary declaration.
On God rests my salvation and my glory, my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
My, my, my, my, my, my.
My God.
God.
He's gotten to a point here while he's now settled on the unshakable God he knows.
And out of that comes this refrain,
I shall not be shaken.
That's a picture of shalom, peace.
So in verses 1 through 7,
David, being shaken,
surrenders himself in order to purposely surround his enemies
with the unshakable truths of who God is,
his shelter.
And as a result,
he experiences shalom.
But it doesn't end there
because we got verses 8 through 12 in Psalm 62.
So David turns from calling on God his refuge
now to calling the people of God
to God their refuge.
He says in verse 8,
Trust in him at all times, O people.
Pour out your heart before him.
God is a refuge for us.
You see that in verse 7?
My refuge is God.
First end of verse 8,
God is a refuge for us.
He wants all of God's people
to experience God as his refuge.
God wants all of us to experience him as our refuge.
But what's interesting then is where he goes.
In verse 9,
David says to God's people,
Hey, don't find shelter in status.
Whether you're of low estate or high estate,
it's not going to matter.
Shelter's not there.
You can't find peace there.
And then in verse 10,
he says,
Hey, don't look for shelter in extortion,
manipulating people.
Don't look for shelter in robbing people,
gaining ill means.
And don't find shelter in increased riches.
Money's not going to give you safety and shelter.
Money's not the source of shalom.
Don't find shelter there.
And then he lands it in 11 and 12.
Once God has spoken,
twice I've heard this.
And he points to three things.
Power belongs to God.
God,
that to you,
O Lord,
belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man according to his work.
He reminds us of God's unlimited power,
his unrelenting love,
and his unrivaled sovereignty.
So there's a thumbnail sketch of Psalm 62.
And the whole purpose of it is to help us understand that when we're shaken,
when we're feeling all alone in the shake,
feeling out of control,
we must learn to trust in God alone.
For the rest of the time now,
I want to help you learn the process of waiting on the Lord
when your world is being shaken.
Four steps.
You must recognize when you're being shaken.
Second,
you must surrender control to God.
Third,
you must rest in God as your shelter.
And then fourth,
delight in the shalom.
When your world is being shaken,
you're feeling all alone and all out of control,
you must learn to trust in God alone.
So let's spend the rest of our time bringing this home.
The first step in this process of learning to wait on the Lord
is recognizing when you're being shaken.
For David to say in verse 2,
I will not be greatly shaken.
And then in verse 6,
I shall not be shaken, period.
You know what that means?
He was being shaken.
He was getting his world rocked.
And like I just said minutes ago,
we know what it was.
There was a group of people
who were seeking to verbally assault David
and undermine him
and unseat him from his high position.
And so,
what we're recognizing there
is David being shaken.
But that's not the only way
that God's people get shaken, is it?
Verbal assaults,
seeking to undermine,
that's not the only way people
will experience being shaken.
I find it interesting that in verse 8,
David's call to all the peoples
is to trust in God at all times.
Because
being shaken
shaken comes at any time.
My sister lives in L.A.
Recently,
there was a couple earthquakes out there.
And so,
what you need to realize,
if you're living in L.A.,
it's not a matter of if
when you're going to get shaken,
it's a matter of when
you're going to get shaken,
because you're living so close
to the San Andreas Fault.
If you're living close
to a fault line,
it's just a matter of time
before you get shaken.
We're all living close
to fault lines.
Fault line of relationships.
Unpredictable shaking can occur,
whether that's in your marriage,
or in your parenting,
or caring for your older parents,
in a working relationship
with your neighbors.
It's a fault line that can shake us,
isn't it?
Your health.
It's like a fault line.
You get an unwelcome diagnosis.
That'll shake your world.
Employment changes suddenly.
That's a shake-up.
Sudden loss of finances.
That shows up on the Richter scale.
Questions about your future.
Unknowns.
What's going to happen?
That can shake you.
These areas represent
different fault lines
that range with different degrees
of seismic activity
because of its unpredictability.
So let me ask you, my friends,
what do you do
when your world gets shaken?
Where do you go?
What do you look to?
Do you get angry
because you feel out of control
and you want to attack?
Do you withdraw?
You want to hide,
and so you binge.
You don't lean on
God's understanding.
You're leaning on your own.
brothers and sisters,
where are you being shaken today?
Where is it?
And how are you responding?
The first step
in learning to wait on the Lord
in the midst of seismic activity
is to recognize
that you're actually being shaken.
The second step
is surrender.
To surrender control
of your life to God
when your world
is being shaken.
This is not as easy
as it sounds
because what's at stake
is your well-being.
What's at stake
is who controls your life.
So in order for you
to surrender to God,
you've got to die to yourself.
Kyle quoted Jeremiah 17, 7 and 8.
17, 7 says,
Blessed is the man
whose trust is the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
17, 5 says,
Cursed is the man
who trusts the man
who makes flesh his strength.
When we get shook,
it exposes our hearts.
It exposes
what we trust in.
And if you're anything like me,
when I get shaken,
my first instinct
is to trust in myself.
I want to figure it out.
I want to fix it.
I want to control it.
I want to define it.
I want to plan it.
And if it's not working out,
I'm going to blame others.
I'm going to want to hide.
I'm going to want to throw
a pity party.
All of this
is a way of exposing,
trusting in yourself.
But that's not how David
responds in this song.
He's getting verbally assaulted,
undermined,
people seeking to unseat him,
and he doesn't turn to himself.
He trusts God.
He surrenders himself
to the Lord.
Look at verse 1.
For God alone,
my soul waits in silence.
He's trusting God.
Verse 5.
For God alone,
oh my soul,
wait in silence.
There's a difference
between verse 1 and verse 5.
Verse 1 is descriptive.
For God alone,
my soul waits in silence.
And then in verse 5,
for God alone,
speaking to his soul,
for God alone,
oh my soul,
command,
wait in silence.
Wait on him.
When David is shaken,
here,
he does not turn to himself.
He waits on God.
And that means he must
surrender himself to God.
And it's not as easy
as it sounds
because you've got to die
to yourself
and you controlling
your own life.
Did you notice
there's this waiting
in silence?
What does that mean?
For God alone,
my soul waits in silence.
What does that mean
to surrender this way?
To wait in silence?
Is there,
does this mean that David
is not saying anything to God?
I don't think
that's what it means
because in verse 8,
he's going to tell
the peoples
to pour their hearts
out to God.
In fact,
what we see,
what we read in 1 and 2
and 5 and 6
is David pouring out
his heart to God.
So I don't think
this means
he is saying nothing
as he waits.
I think this silence
is more about
what he is feeling.
He's feeling isolated
in the waiting.
He's feeling alone
as his world
gets shaken.
In the midst
of the seismic activity
of relational conflict,
of unwanted health diagnosis,
of unanticipated job change,
of a sudden financial loss,
you can all of a sudden
feel the isolating silence
of being all alone.
It's amazing
how silent
my house gets
at 2 a.m.
in the morning.
I can feel all alone.
We all experience this.
Many of us
don't want to deal
with the silence
and so we turn up
the noise
to try to distract
ourselves.
But brothers and sisters,
God's in the silence.
He's there.
He's using the whole thing
to draw our hearts
to him.
David commands his soul
to wait on the Lord
in silence.
Turn to the Lord,
my soul.
Why so downcast within me?
Hope in God.
Now,
despite the silence,
God's there.
Essentially,
what this is
is a surrender
of one's control,
of one's life
in the midst
of being shaken.
Oftentimes,
it's the last thing
you want to do,
but it's the greatest
thing to do.
To pour out your God
in the midst
of being shaken,
surrendering yourself
this way.
Verse 8,
I already alluded to it.
There's another way
that we wait
on the Lord.
Verse 8,
David says,
to the peoples,
trust in God
at all times.
Pour out your hearts
to him.
To pour out your heart
is a picture of laying
open your soul
to God.
And again,
it is really uncomfortable.
It is really difficult
to pour out
all that you're feeling
to God
before him.
Oftentimes,
what makes this
so difficult
is that when you're
being shaken,
it stirs up
such intense emotions,
it's difficult
to unburden
your emotions
to God.
You feel out
of control.
It's not easy.
A lot of us
are emotionally
unaware.
A lot of us
are emotionally
constipated.
A lot of us
are just
emotionally afraid.
Maybe no one
has ever taught you
or modeled to you
how to deal
with your emotions
or your fears
or your anxieties,
your intense feelings
in a way
that is good
and right
and wise.
And here we are
being told
how to do it.
Pour out your heart
before him.
That's how we trust him.
So this is what
that looks like.
When something
is going sideways
in your life
and you're getting shaken,
a way to surrender
yourself to God
is to say,
God, I am so scared
right now.
God, I am so scared.
God, I am so angry.
God, I am so confused.
God, I feel out of control.
These are the stuff
of laments.
You see it all
throughout the Psalms.
This is how we surrender
to God
to lay control
over to him.
We do so
honestly.
The first step
of waiting on the Lord
when you're in the midst
of seismic activity
is to first recognize
you're in seismic activity.
Your world's getting shaken.
And the second step
is a hard one
because you've got to
die to yourself.
It means
surrendering yourself
to the Lord
through prayer,
pouring your heart out,
waiting on him
in silence.
The third way,
the third step,
after you've surrendered
yourself
to God
is to rest
in God,
to trust
in him,
to
come
under
him.
when you get shaken
and you're all alone
and you feel out of control,
you must learn
how to trust
in God
alone.
Not just to recognize it,
not just to surrender
yourself,
but to actively
trust
to rest
in God.
Did you notice
all the descriptions
of God
in this Psalm?
I love it.
He says my salvation
four times.
He's basically saying,
God,
you are my 911.
rescue me.
Come to my aid.
You're my hope.
He says twice
in verse 2 and 6,
my rock,
verse 7,
my mighty rock.
If you look over
to 61,
2,
you see another reference.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I,
for you've been my refuge,
a strong tower
against the enemy.
It's a picture
of safety,
of shelter.
If you've been
down to the marina
on a windy day
and you're standing
at a point
where you can look
at the lake
and look at the marina,
the boats
and the slips
at the same time,
on a windy day,
the water in the lake
is just a mess.
Splashing.
It's all shaken up.
Simultaneously,
you look over
into the harbor
and the water
where the boats sit
is like a bathtub.
Do you know the difference?
Those mighty rocks
piled up.
It's a break.
It's a jetty.
It's a shelter.
It's safety.
So it's possible
during a shake-up
when everything else
is going crazy,
you can find
shelter in God
and your waters
be still.
My rock,
my mighty rock,
my fortress.
I don't know
what the Lord of the Rings,
what that giant
white city is
up on those
huge cliff face,
but that's
the fortress image.
Safety,
protection.
God is my fortress.
Verse 2 and verse 6.
And then in verse 7,
David says,
God is my refuge,
my shelter,
and ever-present help
in time of trouble,
46.1.
All these descriptions
point to God
as an unshakable
shelter.
Rocks,
fortresses,
refuge,
unshakable
shelter.
But let's ask
a question.
What makes God
so unshakable?
What is the stuff
about God
that makes Him
unshakable?
Why
should I trust
in God?
Not because of
how He's described.
described.
Why is He
described that way?
And in verses 11
and 12,
we're told why.
Once God
has spoken,
twice have I
heard this.
It's a Hebrew
way of saying,
listen up.
That power
belongs to God.
Unlimited
power
belongs to God.
Think about it.
Genesis 1,
creation.
God speaks
and things
come into existence
that never existed.
That's power.
Think of Jesus.
John 11
walks up
to Lazarus'
tomb.
It's been days.
His corpse
stinks.
Jesus says,
Lazarus,
come forth.
And Lazarus
comes forth.
Power!
Unlimited
power.
Jesus on
the seas.
It's raging.
He says,
be quiet!
Bathwater.
Power.
Jesus'
own resurrection
from the dead
in which He has
victory over
sin, death,
and the devil.
Power!
When Jesus
comes back
and He makes
all things new
and unshakable
shalom in the
new heavens
and the new earth.
Power!
That's your God.
love.
That's your shelter.
That's God
and why you can
trust Him.
But that's not
the only thing.
And that to you,
O Lord,
belongs
steadfast love.
Not only
is our God,
our shelter,
a God of
unlimited power,
He's a God
of unrelenting
love.
Unrelenting.
It's steadfast love.
It's the Hebrew
chesed,
His covenant
loyalty.
He binds
Himself to a
people and
says,
I'm going to
be faithful
to you no
matter what.
I'm going to
be committed.
I'm going to
love you
forever and
ever and
ever.
The greatest
example,
of course,
of God's
unrelenting,
steadfast love
is the cross
of Jesus Christ.
But God
demonstrates His
own love
towards us
in that while
we were yet
sinners,
Christ died
for us.
It's a
demonstration of
His love.
And at the
cross,
God in
Christ dealt
with the
greatest
spiritual
earthquake and
threat we
could ever
experience,
God's hostility
towards us for
our sin.
And Jesus
bore it all
and brought
peace for
us because
He loves us.
I just want
to remind you
something.
God doesn't
love you,
Christian,
because of
your obedience.
God loves
you,
Christian,
because He's
God.
It flows
out of Him.
It's not
dependent on
your obedience
to Him.
When you
realize this
kind of love,
you just want
to obey Him
though.
So don't
think like you
become a
Christian,
okay,
God loved
me to save
me and then
God turns
off the
spigot of
His love.
love.
No,
He saves
you by
His love
and then
He's faithful
all the way
through,
all the way
to the end
because He
loves you.
Unrelenting,
unstoppable.
And His love
governs His power.
His commitment
to you
governs all
of the power
that He has
for your
good.
That's our
shelter.
But there's
one more
thing I want
you to see.
For you
will render
to a man
according to
his work
sovereignty.
God's
unrivaled
sovereignty.
God is
in control
of all
things.
Remember
in our study
of the book
of Revelation,
Revelation 1,
Jesus has
got the keys.
He's got
all the keys.
He's got
all authority.
Jesus sits
on the throne.
Jesus breaks
all the seals
to that
great scroll
of God's
plan for
the fullness
of time.
He's over
it all.
All things
under His feet.
He's in control
of it all.
Which means
this.
He's even
in control
of what
shakes you.
He allows
it or
causes it
and the
reason why
He does
is because
He loves
you and
He wants
you to
trust Him.
Wants you
to learn
to come
under His
care,
to pour out
your heart
to Him,
to learn
of Him.
In God's
economy of
things,
your heart
being satisfied
in Him
alone is
far more
valuable to Him
than your
comfort.
So He
uses
shake-ups
to cause
you to
come to
Him,
to surrender
and find
shelter
in the
God of
unlimited
power,
unrelenting
love,
and unrivaled
sovereignty.
Did you notice
the word
my?
My
salvation,
my rock,
my fortress,
my refuge.
this God
is David's
God.
He has
bound
Himself to
David,
coveted
Himself to
David,
and Jesus
has bound
Himself to
us.
He's made
a covenant
with us.
He'll never
leave us
nor forsake
us.
That's why
we can say
He is
my salvation
and my rock,
my fortress,
my refuge.
It's a
blood-bought
my.
I just
need to
say this
because it's
in the
text.
David warns
us,
in light of
your shelter,
who it
is,
unlimited
power,
unrelenting
love,
unrivaled
sovereignty,
don't trust,
verse 9,
in status,
trying to
get a
position.
You're not
going to
find shelter
for your
soul there.
Whether it's
low estate
or high
estate,
it's all
lighter than
a breath
in God's
economy
things.
He says
in verse
10,
put no
trust in
extortion,
set no
vain hopes
on robbery,
if riches
increase,
set not
your hope
on them.
Hey,
don't find
shelter in
you trying
to manipulate
something.
Find
shelter in
God,
unlimited
power,
unrelenting
love,
unrivaled
sovereignty.
Rest
in your
shelter.
Trust
in God's
character
and you
will find
shalom.
You recognize
when you're
being shaken,
you surrender
to God in
the midst
of it and
then you
rest in
God's
character and
as a result
there is
shalom.
Shalom is
the Hebrew
word that
means peace
and it's
just not
the absence
of hostility,
it's the
fullness of
goodness,
God's goodness,
God's blessing.
So when
David goes
from saying
in verse
two,
I shall
not be
greatly
shaken
to saying
in verse
six,
I shall
not be
shaken
period,
what that
shows us
is a
progress
in David's
experience
of God's
shalom
in his
life.
It should
give you
some
encouragement.
You can
experience
more of
God's
peace.
What I
want you
to see
here is
that
shalom
is the
result
of trusting
God.
It's the
result of
trusting God.
It's the
result of
finding
shelter
in your
unshakable
God.
So when
stuff goes
sideways
and you're
like,
oh Lord,
just give
me peace.
God is
saying,
I want
to give
you
me.
I want
you to
trust me
and shalom
will come.
Isaiah
26,
three,
you keep
him in
perfect
peace
whose
mind
is stayed
on you
because he
trusts in
you.
Kyle's
name and
blessed is
the man
who trusts
in the
Lord,
whose
trust
is the
Lord.
That's
what that's
talking about.
Shalom is
the result
of trusting
in God.
God.
When your
world is
being shaken
and you're
feeling all
alone and
out of
control,
you must
learn to
trust in
God alone.
He is your
unshakable
shelter.
When you
do,
you will be
able to
say this,
because God
is my
refuge,
I shall
not be
shaken.
Though the
lake
waters
rage,
I'm in a
safe
marina.
My waters
are still.
we live
on the
fault
lines,
brothers and
sisters,
and the
best thing
that you
can do
when you
are being
shaken
is to
recognize
it,
to surrender
yourself,
to find
shelter in
God the
Most High,
and then
to give
thanks for
the shalom,
because it's
not going to
last,
because you
live on
fault lines.
this side
of Christ's
return.
This morning
we've looked
at four
steps of
what it
means to
wait on
the Lord
when there
is seismic
activity in
your life.
We live
on the
fault lines,
and when
our world
is shaken,
and you're
feeling all
alone,
trust in
God alone.
and we
help each
other that
way too.
Brother,
sister,
trust in
God at
all times.
Pour out
your heart
before him.
God is a
refuge for
us.
Let's
pray.
God in
heaven,
thank you
so much
for Psalm
62.
God,
would you
use these
words now,
and would
you attend
to the
hearts in
this room,
those hearts
that are
being shaken.
God,
would you
cause your
word now
to go
and bring
shalom,
a shalom
that is the
result of
trusting you,
our great
God and
shelter.
Amen.