God Alone
by Sharon Betters
Today’s Treasure
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
Psalm 62:1-2 ESV
The first devotional in this series, A Steadfast Woman in a Shifting World, was introduced with the following words:
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
Psalm 62:1-2 ESV
Though the earth moves beneath his feet, David declares that he shall not be greatly shaken. God, alone, is David’s Rock, Rest, Rescue, and Refuge.
In our new devotional series, The Steady Woman in a Shifting World, we’ll take a look at Psalm 62 as well as review some practical disciplines that help us stay steady when our world shifts beneath us. There are treasures in this Psalm that helped me walk a steady path when the earth shifted beneath my feet. I’m eager to share them with you.
King David has mentored us on how to walk a steady path when the earth shifts beneath our feet. What could be worse for a parent than for a beloved son to plot a takeover of the throne and murder his father? Those who know deep grief resonated with the description of David’s gut-wrenching reaction to his beloved son’s death:
The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom,
O Absalom, my son, my son!”
2 Samuel 19:4 ESV
The more we learned about David’s life, the more we realized the credibility of his message:
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us.
Psalm 62:5 – 8 ESV
As we end this series, listen to the encouragement from Psalm 62. Can you hear the pathos, the ethos in David’s words? I picture David standing before a large or small gathering of people desperate for hope. Joyful tears stream down David’s cheeks because He has experienced God as his Rock, Rest, Rescue and Refuge, and he longs for others to experience the same comfort and strength.
During a recent conversation with Lindsay for a MARKINC Help & Hope resource, she struggled to speak without tears. Her voice broke several times and then she said, “These are not tears of sadness, they are tears of joy and wonder that God rescued me from a life of drugs, loneliness and thievery. I don’t know how to express my gratitude. He used prison to turn my heart toward Jesus. What others might think was a nightmare – prison – was actually a gift from Him. My tears are tears of joy because of Jesus.”
This is how I interpret David’s response to the shattering betrayal and death of his son, Absalom. Did he wish that Absalom lived differently? Of course, but in the dark pit of betrayal, God was there and He met David’s need. When the earth shifted beneath David’s feet, God saw and David learned to trust Him as His Rock, Rest, Rescue and Refuge.
These past two weeks Tammy Maltby has shared how the Lord is teaching her to walk toward restoration when the earth shifts beneath her feet. While waiting in silence before the Lord, she has learned to also “wait on Him” as a surrendered and beloved servant. She encourages us to make intentional choices that help us move forward, but also prepare the soil of our hearts for those profound moments when God does something we never expected.
LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
It’s my prayer that David’s story and Tammy’s story will encourage each of us to be silent before the Lord as we “wait on Him” in obedience. May our lives and hearts be surrendered to the magnificent and supernatural love of that Jesus has for each of His children.
Do you know Him? Have you reacted to those hard places by hardening your heart against His love, believing He is nowhere to be found, that He has forgotten you?
Today, right now ask Jesus to soften your heart. Just the fact that you are reading this devotional is evidence that your heart is softer than you may think. If you don’t know where to begin in a quest to experience what it means to wait in confident expectation before the Lord, start with reading the book of John in the Bible. Read through the book in one sitting. Then read a portion each day after asking the Lord to reveal to you the heart of His Son, Jesus. Walk along the dusty roads of Galilee and watch Jesus interact with the people. See His love and compassion. You are watching the very heart of God in action through His son, Jesus.
It’s our prayer that you will pursue a renewed intimacy with Jesus as you wait in silence before our God, Who is our Rock, Rest, Rescue and Refuge.
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Contact Sharon with comments or questions at dailytreasure@markinc.org.