True and False Refuge

True and False Refuge

Psalm 62

Main Idea: Since God is the only true refuge, every source of refuge in this world will fail us.

I love how God has chosen to reveal himself to us. He didn’t just ordain that there would be lawgivers and prophets and apostles. He gave us poets. Under divine inspiration these poets offer us a vocabulary of faith, truths to believe and live by and sing to one another, so that we persevere in this life of faith until the end. In other words, these are not just songs. Psalms is a book filled with the kind of singing that prepares us for living in a real world with an unshakable hope in God.

This psalm feels more like testimony and exhortation than vertical worship or prayer. David addresses four audiences. He speaks to his enemies in a kind of defiant taunt (v. 3). He speaks to his own soul (v. 5). He speaks to the people of God as a whole (v. 8), and finally, the only time in this entire psalm, he directly addresses God (v. 12). All these exhortations come together to firm up the conviction that God is a refuge for us.

There are truths here that we’re going to need for real life. How long do you have to live in this world before you’re familiar with feeling threatened or in danger? Feeling like you’re a tottering fence, a leaning wall? Feeling like there are people or circumstances in your life that are bent on bringing you down? The Psalms give us a vocabulary of faith in a fallen world. These truths are meant to be believed and internalized. More importantly, these truths are meant to offer us stability of soul.

As Christians, our problem is not that we don’t trust God. We have to trust God, at least for our salvation, to even become a Christian. The problem is that we don’t trust him alone. We always want to add in something else to trust. Here David gives you the big idea right out of the gate: “I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.”

To help us not miss the point, the same Hebrew word occurs six times in the first nine verses, four of those times in reference to God. If you mark in your Bible, you might want to circle these: “God alone” (v. 1); “He alone” (v. 2); “They only” (v. 4); “God alone” (v. 5); “He alone” (v. 6), “people are only” (v. 9). Psalm 62 is aimed at one primary effect. It’s not just that we would feel the truth that God is a refuge for us but that God alone is a refuge for us. In the course of pressing that point home, David exposes two areas of life in which we seek refuge outside of God.

False Refuge: Confidence in Men

Psalm 62:1-9

There’s some back-and-forth going on throughout the passage as it relates to trusting in God versus relying on men. It goes something like this: Trust in God alone (vv. 1-2). You can’t trust in man because men are sometimes malicious and deceptive (vv. 3-4). Rest in God alone—he is a rock (vv. 5-8). Don’t trust in men because they’re here today and gone tomorrow (v. 9). You see? It’s David toggling back-and-forth: real refuge, false refuge.

The superscription indicates that David is the author of this psalm, so it’s helpful to bear in mind things we know about David from the historical writings of the Old Testament. Knowing some of David’s story will help us grasp some of the experiences he describes here.

David had what you might call an early break. He killed Goliath the giant. That tends to bring you out into the public eye. Everybody was talking about him. Popular songs were written about him, and Israelite girls sang them in the streets. In light of that, David would have known the temptation to find security in human approval because early on David became a magnet for powerful, beautiful, upwardly mobile people. Practically overnight, he was on a first-name basis with none other than Saul, the king of Israel himself.

Who wouldn’t feel, “I’ve arrived”? “Finally, the ball is bouncing in my direction.” However, if we keep reading David’s story, we learn things change quickly for him. The thing that put him on the cover of magazines all over Israel is the very thing that aroused the jealousy of King Saul, turning David into a hunted man. By the time his story plays out, hostility from people he should be able to trust becomes a common theme (v. 4).

This psalm finds David calling this truth to mind—people are a faulty refuge for all kinds of reasons. One, because they can turn on you (vv. 3-4). Two, because they’re not around forever (v. 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” (v. 9 ESV). Low estate and high estate—it’s a Hebrew expression that takes in everybody. All human beings are but a breath. Again, that’s the same word translated “alone” or “only” in verses 1, 2, 5, and 6. Trust only in God because men are only a breath. The contrast is absolute. Human beings are a vapor, a breath. Here today, gone tomorrow. God is the only one we can trust “at all times” (v. 8).

You might be thinking, Wait, hasn’t God given us people to trust and look to? Ephesians 6 speaks of children obeying parents. Hebrews 13 exhorts church members to submit to pastors as spiritual overseers. Proverbs 17 describes the way a true friend is reliable and present during adversity. Yes, that’s how it’s supposed to be. It’s a good thing when friends are trustworthy, when parents are there for us. When they do this, they are reflecting God’s image. He is faithful, dependable, and trustworthy. Here’s the point: Those things that we are, on our best days and in our closest relationships, God is at all times. He can’t be otherwise.

Are we Christians helping one another look to God in ways that we should? Are we helping our children understand that only one being in the universe will, at the end of the day, never fail them? Are we pointing out to friends (and remembering ourselves!) that God alone is able to be always listening, always working, always present?

We need to be present, but friends, we cannot pretend to be God. You don’t have what it takes to keep me ultimately afloat. You can’t keep my happiness gauge always reading full. The day you pull that off, you’ll become an idol to me. I won’t have to get something from God because, well, I always have you to meet every need of heart and soul. When we put all our stock in human friendship and then a friend disappoints us, our world collapses. When we pursue human approval at all costs and then discover that certain people don’t like us, it shuts us down. Living in light of friends’ approval means always trying to be something to stay in. Living in light of enemies’ disapproval means always trying to prove something. We always have a chip on our shoulder.

Yes, David had enemies, and they were sometimes loud, sometimes dangerous, often deceptive. He addresses them in verse 3. He’s aware of their motives. But he comes right back in verse 5 to where he started. Resting in God alone is headquarters. This is truth. He lives right here. It was said about Jonathan Edwards that his happiness was wholly out of the reach of his enemies.

Even concerning friendships, we need to bring this truth on board. Our relationships with those closest to us are healthier when we give one another the freedom to not be God to us—the freedom to be a vapor, because God alone is my rock, my fortress.

False Refuge: Increase of Wealth

Psalm 62:10

David seems to speak of different ways of acquiring wealth, beginning with dishonorable ways of obtaining it: oppression and robbery. As king over Israel, he would certainly have had the ability to abuse his position to amass greater personal wealth. But he disavows dependence on wealth.

The word increases has to do with fruitfulness. This isn’t a bad word. Here he’s talking about the more natural and honorable way of obtaining wealth. We’re called in Scripture to be diligent: to work hard, to be wise stewards, and so on. So what’s he doing lumping all of this together—these warnings about wealth? David is saying something we hear Jesus and then Paul say a thousand years later: money is dangerous, however it comes. Wealth sticks to us. The power goes to our heads. The distractions money affords can divert us away from living to please God and serve others. So we have Psalm 62:10 and other verses like it because God knows how easy it is for wealth to turn from being a blessing to a refuge, from being a temporary good that we steward to being a ticket to the good life in a world that worships money.

It’s not the increase of wealth that’s wrong. The question is, What happens next, and what does that display? Do our hands close tightly over the money because we’re convinced this is life? Money spenders say, “This is a handful of great experiences.” Money savers say, “This is a handful of future security.” Both are putting their hope in wealth.

Christian, there’s another way to display our faith as wealth increases. We can enjoy God’s blessing and give thanks that all of this comes ultimately from him. Then we can open our hands in ways that demonstrate this stuff isn’t life! This isn’t refuge. We can look at our resources through the eyes of faith, seeking first his kingdom, prioritizing the support of the church, the cause of the oppressed, and the spread of the gospel.

True Refuge: God Alone

Psalm 62:11-12

This song points to God for salvation (v. 1). Look at the metaphors for God: my rock, my salvation, my stronghold, my refuge (vv. 2,6,7-8). David has purposed to trust in God alone, and the foundation is in these final two verses.

First, God has spoken. This is the foundation of our faith and trust in God. God has gone on record to tell us who he is, how we may know him, and what he is like. David says, “God has spoken once; I have heard this twice.” Just think about that. In parenting it’s often the opposite. You say it twice (or ten times) before they hear it once. God says it once, and David hears it twice. This is his way of describing the soul-stabilizing effect of God’s word in his life. God’s word breaks in on David’s life and circumstances in such a way that—only through grace—he can say, I don’t get my security from the people who love me or the people who pretend to love me. I don’t lose sleep over the people who want to destroy me. I don’t get my security from my wealth.

Oh, to know this grace! Where God’s Spirit works this truth down into our souls and we say, by grace, “God alone is my refuge. Let the world fall, I will never be shaken because he alone is my refuge, my rock, my salvation, my stronghold.”

What does David hear God saying? That strength and faithful love belong to God because he repays people according to their works. David’s faith is grounded in these glorious truths: God is sovereign. God is all powerful. And God loves David. God is committed to David’s good. God is a God of both sovereign power and faithful love. Therefore, he can be a refuge for us. Church, if we only had a God of brute power, he could do anything, but we’d cower before him in fear. If we only had a God of love and kindness, we’d know his care but have reason to wonder whether he could keep us safe. But we hear the prophets speak of one who would eventually come and rescue his people. He would atone for their sins. He would take their guilt into the grave. He would welcome the weary and heavy-laden into rest and free them from powers too strong for them.

And then we see Jesus Christ show up on the scene of history. He really came to this earth! He made exclusive claims about himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). He promised exclusive refuge for those who trust him. He went to the cross. He took our enemies to the grave and rose in triumph over sin, death, and Satan. Best news of all, he offers new life—absolute refuge (now and forever) to everyone who calls on him. This is the good news of the gospel. God uses this message to bring us from death to life. This is the hope of the world.

The apostles who saw him alive say, “There is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). They preach Jesus Christ everywhere they go. We come to the final book of the New Testament and hear that the Lamb alone is worthy to receive all glory (Rev 5:8-14) because the Lamb alone has redeemed and rescued his people. In that way, having walked through the Scriptures, our eyes are open to read Psalm 62 in a new way, and we understand it is Jesus Christ who extends to us the refuge promised here. We can’t do an end run around God to get security from money or other people. And we actually can’t do an end run around Jesus to get to the God who alone is our refuge. No one comes to God the refuge but through him.

This is sobering news for those who depend on any other refuge besides Jesus. As verse 12 says, God will “repay each according to his works.” You don’t want that payment. That payment amounts to your soul receiving justice from a holy God. What sinners like us need is mercy from a holy God, and that mercy comes to us through the cross of Jesus Christ.

If we spend our lives propping up one false refuge after another while rejecting the God who made us, we’ll give account for that. But there’s good news. If we turn to the one refuge God provided, and we believe that he lived and died and rose again, and that he alone has power to rescue us, we will know God not as Judge but as rock and refuge.

Reflect and Discuss

1. How do we know if we are relying on something or someone more than we are depending on God?
2. Why are people a faulty refuge? While we know such truths in our head, how do we live in a way that reflects the belief that people are a faulty refuge?
3. How do we have healthy relationships with people without making those relationships an idol in our lives?
4. What can you do to repent and correct course if you realize you have made a relationship an idol?
5. How does giving others the freedom not to be God actually free us to have healthier relationships with those around us?
6. How do we keep our view of money in its proper place in our lives?
7. Read Psalm 62:11-12. How did the truths in these verses stabilize David’s soul? Define these particular attributes of God. How have you seen God show these attributes in your own life?
8. What needs to happen for you to stay close to God’s Word today? The rest of this week?
9. How does staying close to God’s Word enable you to trust God alone as your refuge?
10. How is it true that the way our faith feels can and will change? How do we acknowledge and unpack how we feel yet not allow our feelings to dictate our lives?