We're not just having a preaching
service, we're going to have a time of corporate prayer that
we thought it best to use the whole of the chapel and keep
our social distances. Hence, I find myself here in
the pulpit and you scattered, as it were, to the four corners
of the chapel. May the Lord help us as we turn
for a little while to his word tonight and that psalm that we
read. Psalm 62 and verse 5 Psalm 62 5 my soul wait thou only upon
God for my expectation is from him my soul wait thou only upon
God, for my expectation is from him." And here, of course, we
have a soliloquy, as the psalmist addresses himself, speaks to
his own soul. What a revelation we find here
in Holy Scripture. The Bible is the place where
God reveals himself and how God speaks and speaks. to us in a
variety of ways. We know that there is, besides
the Scripture, that general revelation. God has spoken in His works,
in creation, and in providence. And we are familiar with the
words of the 19th Psalm that speak so clearly of how the heavens
have a voice. The heavens declare the glory
of God. And the firmament showeth his
handiwork, day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night
showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through
all the earth, and their words to the end of the world, and
so forth. God has revealed himself in his
works and so None have any excuse. His eternal power and his Godhead
is revealed as Paul says there in writing to the Romans. But
as we know what we have here before us tonight is that special
revelation. We have here God's holy words
We're reminded how all Scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, says Paul, that the man of God
may be perfect. In other words, there's a maturity
in those who are governed by the Word of God. It's all the
breath of God, the breathings of God. That's the force of the
words that are used there in 2nd Timothy 3.16. And we know
also that those of the Old Testament, those who were the Lord's prophets,
they spoke the words of God. Peter says, holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Spirit of God. They were born along,
carried along by the Holy Spirit, speaking not their own words,
but the very words of God. And so when we turn to the prophetic
scriptures, what do we read? For example, Isaiah 42, 5, Thus
saith God the Lord. Malachi 1, verse 1, The burden
of the word of the Lord to Israel. These men are not speaking by
their own authority, they are speaking the words of God. And so we recognize that here
when we come to the Bible it is God himself who is addressing
us. But the great beauty of the book
of Psalms of course is the way in which God does speak to us
here because really in the Psalms we discover that men are speaking
to God. So many of the Psalms are definitely
in the form of a prayer. Here in Psalm 61, Hear my cry,
O God, attend unto my prayer from the end of the earth, will
I cry unto thee. Again in in Psalm 63. O God, thou art my God, early
will I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for
thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. In the Psalms
that we find then either side of this 62nd Psalm, we evidently
have the Psalmist addressing himself to God in prayer. And yet, We have to recognize
that this is still God's Word to us. It might be God speaking
to men. And yet by the way in which they
speak to God, He in turn comes to us in those very words that
they prayed before Him. But then, here in the verse that
I've announced as our text tonight, we have David not speaking to
God, but David actually speaking to himself. This is a soliloquy. And it's
not the first time, not the only time. In Scripture we have a
remarkable example of soliloquies back in the 42nd and the 43rd
Psalm. And there, three times in Psalm
42, 5 and 11, Then again at the end of Psalm
43, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted
within me? The psalmist speaks to his own
soul. And yet even as the psalmist speaks to himself, this is part
and parcel of God's Word to us. And so coming to the words that
we have here in our text, Psalm 62 and 5, As David speaks to
himself in this soliloquy, we see how David is encouraging
himself. And I want tonight to divide
what I'm going to say into some three parts with regards to the
way in which David is encouraging himself here. To say something
then with regards to the object of his prayer And then we see
him waiting in his prayer, and we see him also coming with that
spirit of expectation in his prayer. Those three things, and
for a short while before we again seek to turn to God with our
prayers tonight. First of all, the object. What does he say here in verse
5? Wait only upon God. Isn't that what prayer is? Wait
only upon God. He is looking to God alone. In the opening verse, truly,
he says, my soul waiteth upon God. And you might observe that
truly is in fact the same words that is rendered only here in
our text. Only my soul waiteth upon God. Who is the God that he waits
upon? It is the true God. And that true God, of course,
is a Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And how remarkable it is that
when we come to God In prayer we enter in some measure into
that first and that greatest of all mysteries. We come to
experience something of who God is. How is it that we pray? I think of the language that
Paul uses there in Ephesians 2.18. He's speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ and he says, Through Him we have access by one Spirit
unto the Father. That's prayer. Through Christ access to the Father by the Holy
Spirit. All the persons in the Godhead,
mediation of God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the ministry
of God, the Holy Spirit helping us in our infirmities and our
meeting with God the Father. And this is what David is speaking
of in the Psalm. how he addresses his soul and
he encourages his soul in this blessed object of his prayer,
wait only upon God. I like the remark of the old
Puritan John Trapp in his quaint way. He says, they trust God
not at all, who trust him not alone. They trust God not at
all, who trust him not alone. How does David continue here
in the next verse, verse 6? He only, he only is my rock and
my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. We were reading this psalm this
morning at home in our devotions and after we'd read the psalm,
Annette said, how striking is that sixth verse. How encouraging
is the content of that sixth verse. concerning this great
God? Or do we know this God, this
God as He has revealed Himself? Because here in verse 6 we do
see something of the character of God, something of the attributes
of God. This is the God then that David
is looking to, David is waiting upon, He only is my rock and
my salvation, He is my defense, I shall not be moved. The character of God then, we
see it here, He is the rock. He is the rock. Remember how
back in Deuteronomy 32 where we have the song of Moses, many
times He speaks of that God who is the rock. Deuteronomy 32 verse
4, verse 15, verse 18, verse 13. four times, maybe more. There,
in his great song, Moses speaks of God as the Rock. And when
we come to the last words of David, in 2 Samuel 23, in the
opening verses again, we see how David addresses himself to
the Rock of Israel. Who is the Rock of Israel? that
spoken of so much by Moses and by David? Well, we come to the
New Testament to find the answer to that question and we're told
quite clearly by the Apostle 1 Corinthians 10.4 that spiritual
rock that followed them was Christ that spiritual rock was Christ
the only is my rock or that is the rock upon which the church
is built. But the foundation can no man
lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Upon this
rock I will build my church, the Word of the Lord Jesus, to
Peter at Caesarea Philippi, where Peter had confessed, Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Oh, this is that one that we
come to when we pray. And see how David goes on to
describe him in verse 7, he speaks of him as the rock of my strength,
the rock of my strength, or the person and the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what we look to. There
is all our hope, there is all our salvation. Again, previously,
Psalm 61, 2, from the end of the earth will I cry unto thee,
When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher
than I. All the rocks end. It is the
Lord Jesus Christ. And there we must look and there
we must rest. And then, this God is also spoken
of as a refuge. God is my salvation and my glory,
the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. He is my defense. He says in
verse 6. The place of refuge. Oh, remember
the words of the wise man in the book of Proverbs. He tells
us the name of the Lord is a strong tower. who are righteous runneth
into it and is saved. Who are those righteous ones?
They are those who are the justified. They are those who are justified
by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And there they are constantly
running to that place of safety. Oh, this is God's name, you see,
God's character. And when God declares Himself,
when He declares His own name, He is revealing to us something
of His attributes. He is the Unchanging One. I am
the Lord, I change not, He says. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Or He is that One who is the
Great God of the Eternal Covenant. That One who reveals Himself
to Moses at the burning bush, the I Am, that I am and how we
need to be kept by this God he is the only place of safety for
us the only place of refuge the only place of defense we need
to be kept and kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
oh this is the object then of David's prayer it's that God
who is the rock that God who is the refuge and his defense
that God who is his salvation. What does he say? God is my salvation. God himself, God himself is the
salvation of his people. Not something apart from God,
not something that God has done for his people, but God in all
that he is, in all the fullness of his triune being. all true
Christians, this may boast a truth from nature never learned that
Father, Son and Holy Ghost to save our souls are all concerned. God is my salvation. Again. And this is so emphasized
in Scripture. Think of the experience of a
man like Jonah, you know I'm sure you're all familiar with
the account that we have in Scripture concerning Jonah and in that
second chapter the remarkable prayer that Jonah is moved to
pray from the fish of the bell there in the very depths of the
sea. And at the end of that prayer
what does he say? The final word salvation is of
the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord and
the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon
the dry land and the Lord spake a second time unto Jonah Jonah
concludes his prayer salvation is of the Lord and immediately
the Lord speaks to the fish and Jonah is on the dry land and
then God's word comes again When he had received the Word of God,
he disobeyed the Word of God. He'd gone the very opposite way
to God's Word, and God had pursued him. God had pursued him even
as he was fleeing from him. He'd been cast into the sea,
he'd been swallowed by the fish, and there, from the fish's belly,
how he had prayed to God, how he had cried out in all the agonies
of his soul, and God heard his prayer and that prayer concluding with
that remarkable statement salvation is of the Lord and he knew he
experienced that salvation oh look at what David says then
here in the psalm truly my soul waiteth upon God. Again, it's always interesting,
always instructive, I believe, to look at the reading, the alternative
reading in the margin. Because so often, of course,
when the translators come to their task, they can't always
bring out fully what is being stated in the original. And so
we sometimes find there's an alternative reading that probably
brings out a certain nuance in the particular Hebrew word that's
been used. And what do we find here? In
the margin, it says, truly my soul is silent. Truly my soul is silent unto
the Lord. Oh, there's no murmuring, you
see. There's no complainings, no disputings
with God, but there's that bowing to God's sovereignty and God's
absolute sovereignty. And isn't that the spirit in
which we should come to God in prayer? We're not to complain. We're not to kick against the
pricks. We are to pray that God would
favor us with that spirit of meekness and humility before
Him. It's interesting because when we look at Psalm 65 we see
the same word being used there in the opening verse. Praise
waited for thee, O God, in Zion. How strange, praise is silent
for thee, O God, in Zion. How can praise be silent before
God? Well, if we think about it, what
is our praise compared to all God's dealings, all the goodness
of God, all the grace of God, all that we receive from God?
Anything that we offer to Him in the way of worship or praise
seems to be so inadequate He cannot reach, really, to all
that God has shown of His goodness He is so high above anything
that we could ever offer to Him. How humility is that that becomes
us when we come before this God. Here then is the one who is the
object. The object of David's prayer. He addresses his own
soul. My soul, he says, wait thou only
upon God. In the second place, see how
he speaks of the need to wait in prayer. And this waiting in
prayer is so easily misunderstood by us. What is it to wait in
prayer? Well, it's not something that's
passive. Waiting in prayer is not passive, it's not doing nothing
at all. Where there is real waiting upon
God in prayer, there is a great deal of inward activity in the
soul of that person. There is even, oftentimes in
the soul of that person waiting upon God, all the agonies of
soul. And yet, in the midst of all
that, there is so much that is an encouragement. So much to
encourage a man when he comes to pray unto God. And the encouragement is found
where? It's found in the Word of God. Look at what God says,
look at the promise that God gives. Isaiah 40, 31. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as
eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk
and not fail. Oh, we do not wait upon God in
vain. As we wait upon Him in all the
agony of soul, in all the midst of our many trials and troubles,
all our doubts and fears, and seek to lay these things before
the Lord, we have that promise to encourage us. This waiting
then, what is it? Well, it's not waiting in unbelief. It is waiting in faith. Waiting in faith. That faith
which worketh by love. That's how Paul speaks of faith.
It worketh by love. He speaks of the work of faith.
And the labour of love. And the patience or the endurance
of hope. This is the graces of the Spirit
where a man is brought to wait upon God. What is faith? Well,
we have that definition given to us at the beginning of Hebrews
11, that's the great chapter that speaks to us of faith, the
faith of the signs of the Old Testament. those remarkable men
and women who were so favoured with the gift of faith, who had
that gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit, that faith was of
the Spirit's operation. And remember how at the very
beginning of that chapter the Apostle speaks of what that faith
is. Faith, he says, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. the substance, or it could be
rendered the ground, or the confidence. That's what faith is, the ground,
the confidence, the substance of things hoped for. And so we see that as this waiting
has nothing to do with unbelief, it has a lot to do with faith,
so this waiting is not slothful, but it's a waiting in hope. It's
a waiting upon God in expectation. Isn't this what David says to
his very soul? My soul wait thou only upon God
for my expectation is from Him. Oh hope, what a blessed grace
is that of hope. Paul speaks of it there in the
8th chapter of the epistle to the Romans. Verse 24, we are
saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope for what
a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for
that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it, or with
endurance wait for it. How faith and hope are the sister
graces. And how we see in Abram, who
is the father of all them that believe, in scripture Abram is
the great example of faith. And how Abram's faith is clearly
married to hope. Romans 4.18 we read of that man
who against hope believed in hope. Concerning the promised
seeds that Sarah was to have that child and it seemed utterly
hopeless he was a hundred years old Sarah herself many many years
past the age of childbearing but against hope he believed
in hope and so the child was born and Isaac of course that
remarkable type of the Lord Jesus Christ The guy, let me quote
dear old John Trapp, listen to this. He says, Waiting is nothing
else but hope and trust lengthened. Truly my soul waiteth upon God.
What is waiting upon God? It is hope and it is trust lengthened. Oh, Trapp's commentary, it's
full of little nuggets, little gems like that. and notice here
how as David is addressing his own soul there's a certain emphasis
and we see it of course in the pronoun he says my soul wait
thou only upon God he could have said my soul wait only upon God
that's perfectly good language English but no there's there's
a there's two pronouns here aren't there? my soul wait thou only
upon God it's so emphatic as he addresses himself and we have
it again in in the 40 in the 42nd Psalm that I referred to there in verses 5 and 11. Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, he says. It
doesn't just say hope in God, but hope thou in God. Oh well, this man then is really,
as he speaks to himself, addressing his own soul, only seeking to
encourage himself in this true attitude of prayer, this real
waiting upon God. And then finally, there is here
the expectation of prayer. The expectation of prayer. He
is expecting an answer. He's expecting an answer. Isn't
that seen in the word expectation? He expects something. He will not pray in vain, God
will hear, God will answer. Now, again, that's made quite
plain in another of the Psalms, Psalm 85 and verse 8. In the first part
of the Psalm, the first seven verses, we have the prayer that's
being addressed unto God, It seems to be the time of the Babylonian
captivity, the deliverance from that period of exile. We have the prayer in verses
1 to 7, and then verse 8, I will hear what God the Lord will speak.
For he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints,
but let them not turn again to father. Why have they been in
exile? Because of their sin. But God
will deliver his people. And here is the Psalmist. Oh,
he will hear what God the Lord will speak. He's listening as
it were for the echo of his prayer. There will be an answer. There
will be an answer. And it's that particular text
in Psalm 85 that is really being expounded by the great Puritan
Thomas Goodwin in his little book on the return of prayer. the return of prayers. There
is a return to our prayers. God has purposed things and God
in order to accomplish his purpose sets his children praying. He
says so, doesn't he? I will yet for this be inquired
of by the house of Israel to do it for them. Again, historically
that's the the return from the exile that would come in due
time God would deliver them out of captivity they would return
to the promised land but God says there in Ezekiel 36-37 I
will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel I will
do it for them they shall be increased with men as a flock
all Jerusalem will be peopled again God will do it, how will
God do it? they'll inquire of God, they'll
pray to God and the Lord Jesus so emphasizes that, ask he says
and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and
it shall be opened unto you everyone that asketh receiveth, he that
seeketh findeth, him that knocketh it shall be opened all friends
let us be those who know what it is to come with that spirit
of expectation. We expect that our prayers, being
heard of God, will surely be answered also by God. Again, let me, as we draw to
a conclusion, direct you again to Romans chapter 8, and the
language there. Verse 19, he says, The earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the
sons of God. For the creature was made subject
to vanity not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected
the same in hope. Because the creature itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. He's speaking really of the great
consummation of all things. You know how God's curse is upon
the earth because of man's sin, but Christ has come. and Christ
reconciles all things unto himself. And he's speaking of creation,
and he speaks of the earnest expectation of the creature. And the interesting thing is
that the word that he uses there, earnest expectation, it literally
means the stretching out of the neck, looking as it were, straining
to see the answer. That is the idea that we have
in that, translated, the earnest expectation. Or is that how we
are with regards to our prayers? We pray, are we then looking?
Are we watching? Are we waiting? Well, this is
what David is doing here in the psalm. My soul Waiteth upon God,
from Him cometh my salvation. My soul waits thou only upon
God, for my expectation is from Him. O God, grant that we might
know such a spirit of earnestness in all our praying, in all our
pleadings with God. Not imagining that we're going
to be heard for how much speaking, Now, the only ground of our hope
is all together in the Lord Jesus Christ. He only is my rock and
my salvation. He is my defense, he says. Oh,
let us be those then who would come and seek to magnify our
Lord Jesus Christ in all our prayers to God. Father Lord,
bless this word to us.