Psalms 62

Psalms 62:1-12

God his dependence for deliverance from men, his enemies. To the chief musician to Jeduthun: a psalm of David. The first psalm of the series has already brought us to the end of it; and this is the common way with Scripture introductions: the beginning has in it the final issue; the fruit is in that sense in the seed. God, who sees the end from the beginning, brings it out. But here, therefore, we go back, and are in very different circumstances. We may infer from the general character of the series that the speaker is the same; but there is nothing apparently to indicate it. As a second psalm it is full of contrast, affirming his dependence on God alone, and the reason of this dependence; which makes him emphasize what man is, whose enmity he is experiencing. The psalm is thus very simple in character, and only bright in its confidence in God. It resembles in its lament over the vanity of man the thirty-ninth psalm; with which it is united by its title; here, however, not “to” but strictly “upon Jeduthun,” (the praise-giver); though this is taken as the equivalent of the other. It is indeed one of those “songs in the night” which show God’s mastery over the evil, and which yet men care so little to learn. The psalm has twelve verses, which divide into four sections; but a verse is taken from each of the first two sections, and added to each of the last two, making the structure quite different from the usual one; the number three entirely dropping out. This, which must have a reason, I am not, however, able to explain.

1. The psalm begins with God, as the only expectation and confidence of the soul; and this is repeated and expanded in the third section. This is indeed the rock-bottom for a foundation; but how much sifting out of abundant sand is there, before we get down fully to it! Trust in Him we may have, and blessed it is to have it; but how long, in general, it takes to learn the power of this “only”! The dealings of God with us have to be therefore very much directed to this end, and how sorrowful are the experiences through which we are brought in this way! Yet we so willingly accept experience as our master, rather than the sure word of truth, which would lead us by a pleasanter and safer path!
2. The hostility of man is seen in the second section, as by and by it will be revealed when the restraint upon it is removed, in those dreadful days which the Jewish remnant will pass through, or as brought out by the Light of the world when in it. How the gospel of John especially reveals this murderous opposition, -the plottings and endeavors to cast Him down from His elevation, who was this Light, and whose personal glory only displayed the darkness of the world through which He passed. It is not changed at all, this world, although it may change its outside demeanor, the more thoroughly to deceive; and alas, our little faithfulness to a crucified Lord permits us an easier path through it.
3. From the contemplation of this the psalmist turns to realize the more his refuge and his joy in God. He re-affirms and expatiates on what God is to him, -what God only is. The words are so simple that they need no commentary: it is the heart-felt satisfaction in them that we may well all covet; and this, as he proceeds to testify, is for all, so that he invites all people to find it where he has found it. How blessed to know, when we have reached this sanctuary-refuge, that the door is not closed behind us, and that we have now a gospel for all men, in the assurance that the door is open! \
4. But this does not relieve the darkness as to man himself, and without respect to differences of which he makes so much. All alike are vanity -breath! emptier, when weighed in truthful balances, than the breath they spend so freely in their boasting and defiance of God. He addresses them, -he with his own sure confidence in God, -upon the vain trusts which deceive so utterly: power, which they use in tyrannic oppression; wealth, which enwraps the heart away from God. In his ears a divine oracle repeats itself, which, though it be so simple, faith after all alone it is that hears, -that power belongs to God alone; and that this God, so mighty, while to Him belongeth loving-kindness too, as has been already witnessed in the door of escape still open, will yet, in the day of judgment which approaches, give to every man according to his works. Thus the psalm closes: the song of the “praise-giver,” like the song of Moses, levels all other confidence, to ascribe greatness and goodness to God alone.