Let us wait in silence for God only.

[Psalms 62]

We must learn to be silent before God.  Henry Nowen said like this about silence in his book “The Way of Heart”: ‘In directing all the organizational activities of the church, the question that should be of greatest concern is not how to keep people busy, but how to keep them not to be busy so that they can hear the voice of God speaking in silence’ (Nowen).  We are living so busy.  Especially, our hearts are too busy.  To what extent are our hearts busy?  Our hearts are so busy with other things that we cannot afford to hear God’s voice silently before Him.  We must hear what prophet Isaiah said: “…  In quietness and trust is your strength  …” (Isa. 30:15).  We must hear that it is our strength to trust in God quietly.

Look at Psalms 62:1, 5 – “My soul waits in silence for God only …” (v. 1) and “My soul, wait in silence for God only …” (v. 5).  I want to listen to God's voice by staying quietly before God under the headline “Let us wait in silence for God only.”

First, what does it mean to wait in silence for God only?

The phrase “My soul, wait in silence fo God only” means that a person completely trusts in God without any desire or movement to do something on his own (Park).  Look at Psalms 62:8 – “Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.”  David urged the people who were loyal to him to always trust in God completely.  And he urged the people to pour out their hearts before God.  This word means to devote their hearts to God like pouring water (Park).  Dr. Park Yoon-sun says that there are two things to think about when we dedicate our hearts to God: (1) To receive God's love, we must love God with our whole hearts.  (2) Pouring out our hearts before God means telling God about all our difficulties, trusting in Him completely, and live without fear.

We must wait in silence for God only.  We must rely solely on Him at all time.  We must offer our whole hearts to God who looks at the heart.  And we must go quietly to God and pour out our hearts to Him in prayer.  Look at the chorus of the hymn “Go, Carry they Burden to Jesus”: “O, steal away softly to Jesus, To Him let thy heart be outpoured; Thy Father, who seeth in secret, Shall give thee a gracious reward.”  We must go quietly before God and pour out our hearts to Him. 

Second, when should we wait in silence for God only?

                David waited in silence for God only when his enemies, Absalom's people, rebelled against him and persecuted him.  Look at Psalms 62:3-4: “How long will you assail a man, That you may murder him, all of you, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?  They have counseled only to thrust him down from his high position; They delight in falsehood; They bless with their mouth, But inwardly they curse. Selah.”  David's rebels somehow tried to take King David, whom God had established, from his throne.  Their tricks was to bless King David with their mouths, but cursed him inwardly.  Those who enjoyed lying tried to kill David all at once.  At that time, David trusted in God completely.  Interestingly, he described the people of Absalom who rebelled against him as “a leaning wall” and “a tottering fence” (v. 3).  Although Absalom and his people seemed strong to many people when David was running away from Absalom, David, who waited in silence for God only, saw them “like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence” (v. 3).  The lesson this fact teaches us is that the perspective of a person who waits in silence for God only in a crisis is different from that of a person who doesn’t wait in silence for God.  In other words, the average person who doesn’t wait in silence for God only in the midst of crisis, that is, he who doesn’t trust in God solely, see a group such as those of Absalom, who rebelled against David, as strong and powerful people.  However, the perspective of the person who waits in silence for God only, like David's, sees such group as people like the leaning wall and like the tottering fence.  What is our perspective now?  Do we see the adversities and difficulties that we encounter as “like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence” like David, who waited in silence for God only?

Third, why should we wait in silence for God only?

The reason is because “my salvation” and “my hope” come from God.  Look at Psalms 62:1, 5 – “My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation.  …  My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him.”  The reason why David waited in silence for God only even in the dangerous situation due to Absalom's rebellion was because he knew and believed that only God was his salvation and his hope.  That was why he confessed like this: “My soul waits in silence for God only” (vv.1, 5) and “He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold” (vv. 2, 6).  

What is our problem?  The problem is ‘God + Alpha', that is, the tendency to rely on someone or something other than God.  In order to solve this problem, God cuts off everything else we depend on other than God.  Therefore, He makes us to confess as in the lyrics of  the verse 3 and the chorus of the hymn “My Hope of Built on Nothing Less”: “His oath, His covenant, His blood, Support me in the whelming flood; When all around my soul gives way He then is all my hope and stay.  On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.”  One of the things that is still unforgettable is the memory that my grandfather asked me to sing the hymn “O Thou, in Whose Presence”.  Whenever I sing that hymn, verses 1 comes to my heart: “O Thou, in whose presence my soul takes delight, On whom in affliction I call, My comfort by day, and my song in the night, My hope, my salvation, my all!”

Fourth and last, what must we do in order to wait in silence for God only?

(1)   We must know who our God is. 

We must know that our God is “my rock,” “my salvation” and “My stronghold”.  Look at Psalms 62:2, 6 – “He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken” (2x).  Those who know God, that He is “my rock,” “my salvation” and “My stronghold” wait in silence for God only and thus they aren’t shaken.  In other words, those who know God are strong.  Those who know God and trust in Him solely aren’t shaken.  But those who don’t know God and those who don’t make His their rock and salvation and stronghold are “Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence” (v. 3).

(2)     We must not trust anyone or anything other than God.

(a)     We must not trust people. 

Look at Psalms 62:9 – “Men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are a lie; In the balances they go up; They are together lighter than breath.”  People cannot be trusted.  So David confessed in Psalms 60:11 – “…  For deliverance by man is in vain.”  He trusted in God only and acted courageously (v. 12).

(b)     We must not trust power or riches. 

Look at Psalms 62:10 – “Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.”  Our human nature tends to depend on power or wealth as power or wealth increase.  Therefore, David advises not to trust in extortion or take pride in stolen good or riches.  We must completely trust in God only.

(3)   We must trust in God’s power and lovingkindness.

Look at Psalms 62:11-12: “Once God has spoken; Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God; And lovingkindness is Yours, O Lord, For You recompense a man according to his work.”  The word of God that David heard is that “That power belongs to God” (v. 11).  The battle belongs to God, and the victory in that battle belongs to God.  God is the God who recompense a man according to his work (v. 12).  God saved David who wait in silence for God only and who trusted in Him only.  But Absalom and his people who tried to kill David were destroyed by God.

Let’s wait in silence for God only!  Let’s trust in Him who is our rock, our salvation and and stronghold completely.  And let us all go quietly before God and pour out our hearts to Him.  Let’s not trust in people, power or increasing riches.  When we do so, no matter how difficult the problems are in people's eyes, we who wait in silence for God only will see them like the leaning wall and the tottering fence.  Let us all wait in silence for God who is our rock, our salvation, our stronghold!

“My soul waits in silence for God only”

James Kim

(Trusting in God who is my salvation and my hope)