The Rock and the Bowing Wall
The righteous find confidence in God as their rock and high place, while the wicked are like a bowing wall, destined for moral disaster.
John Henry Jowett preaches on Psalm 62, using powerful symbols to illustrate the confidence of the righteous and the futility of the wicked. The righteous find security in God as their rock and high place, sheltered from life's storms and out of reach of harm. In contrast, the wicked are like a bowing wall, building their lives on shaky foundations that will lead to ruin, and like a tottering fence, easily dislodged by the winds of adversity.
Text
PSALM lxii.
Here are two symbols by which the psalmist describes the confidence of the
righteous. "_He only is my rock._" Only yesterday I had the shelter of a
great rock on a storm-swept mountain side. The wind tore along the
heights, driving the rain like hail, but in the opening of the rock our
shelter was complete.
And the second symbol is this: "_He is my high place._" The high place is
the home of the chamois, out of reach of the arrow. "Flee as a bird to
your mountain!" Get beyond the hunter's range! Our security is found in
loftiness. It is our unutterable privilege to live in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. Such is the confidence of the righteous.
In this psalm there is also another pair of symbols describing the
futility of the wicked. The wicked is "_as a bowing wall._" The wall is
out of perpendicular, out of conformity with the truth of the plumb-line,
and it will assuredly topple into ruin. So is it with the wicked: he is
building awry, and he will fall into moral disaster. He is also "_as a
tottering fence._" The wind and the rain dislodge the fence, it rots at
its foundations, and one day it lies prone upon the ground.
Sermon Outline
- The Confidence of the Righteous
- The Futility of the Wicked
- The Bowing Wall
- The Tottering Fence
Key Quotes
“He only is my rock.” — John Henry Jowett
“He is my high place.” — John Henry Jowett
“Flee as a bird to your mountain!” — John Henry Jowett
Application Points
- We can find security and confidence in God as our rock and high place.
- The wicked's futility and moral disaster are a result of their awry building and lack of spiritual security.
- We should flee to God as our mountain and find refuge in Him.