In recent years, many have left evangelical churches to join the Roman Catholic or the Orthodox Church. One reason often cited is that they love the ancient rituals, which were absent in evangelical churches. Some from evangelical backgrounds have gone into old cathedrals and had a moving spiritual experience as they marveled at the architecture, art, or religious ceremonies. Even among the so-called emergent churches (which are hardly traditional!), there is an emphasis on religious rituals.

Some may shrug and say, “Well, if it helps them feel close to God, what harm is there in it?” Isn’t it just a different religious preference? Some like worship to be casual and some like it more formal. Does it really matter?

The Bible says, yes, it matters greatly! The gospels show us clearly where religious ritualism leads. They repeatedly show Jesus clashing with the religious ritualists. For example, in Mark 7, the Pharisees and scribes asked Jesus why His disciples did not go through the ritualistic hand washing that the Pharisees’ traditions prescribed. Jesus answered (Mark 7:6-8):

“Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”

There is a similar confrontation in Luke 11:37-52. In that text, Jesus pronounces six woes on the religious leaders because their religion was outward, but not from the heart (see my sermon, “Why Jesus Hates Legalism,” April 11, 1999). They performed all their rituals flawlessly, but it was they—the ritualists, not the tax collectors and sinners—that ultimately crucified Jesus. The problem was, their hearts were not right before God.

In Psalm 50, Asaph presents a heavenly courtroom drama. God, the awesome Judge, calls His witnesses and the defendants and takes His seat. He levels two felony charges against the defendants: they have fallen into religious ritualism rather than worshiping God from the heart; and, some of them are openly rebellious religious hypocrites. They still followed the religious rituals, but they lived in flagrant disobedience. The psalm ends by calling on both groups to turn to God and worship Him from the heart.

The psalm is permeated with imagery from the story of God giving the Ten Commandments to Moses. On that occasion, we read (Exod. 19:18), “Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.” Then God gave Moses the two tables of the law, prescribing how God’s people must relate to Him and to one another.

In our psalm, the setting is not Mount Sinai, but rather Zion, or Jerusalem. But when God appears (Ps. 50:3), “fire devours before Him and it is very tempestuous around Him,” reminding us of Sinai. In verse 6, the phrase “the heavens declare His righteousness,” also reflects the thunder and lightning imagery of Mount Sinai. The first section of the psalm deals with the first table of the law, how we are to worship God. The second section deals with the second table of the law, specifically citing the seventh, eighth, and ninth commandments against adultery, theft, and false speech. Also, the Ten Commandments begin with, “I am the Lord your God” (Exod. 20:2). In Psalm 50:7, God says, “I am God, your God.” The overall message of Psalm 50 is:

When we stand before God, what will matter is not that we’ve performed religious rituals, but that we have worshiped and obeyed God from the heart.

In verses 1-6, God, the mighty Judge of all, enters the courtroom and summons the heavens and earth to His tribunal. In verses 7-15, He calls the first defendant: His covenant people who have exalted their sacrifices above a close relationship with Him. In verses 16-21, God calls the second defendant: those that profess to belong to His covenant people, but are hypocrites. They violate God’s commandments and think that He is okay with them! Finally (50:22-23), God speaks to both groups. He warns the hypocrites that they are in danger of God tearing them to pieces. He instructs the ritualists and the hypocrites that the true sacrifice is a thankful heart that honors Him and an obedient life.

1. We all will stand before God for judgment (50:1-6).

Verse 1 doesn’t mess around! It brings us face to face with Almighty God: “The Mighty One, God, the Lord has spoken, and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.” In Hebrew, the three names for God here are “El,” “Elohim,” and “Yahweh” (see Josh. 22:22). “El” points to God as mighty. “Elohim” points to Him as the Almighty Creator and Sovereign of the universe. “Yahweh” is His name as the eternally existent covenant God. The three names are piled together to impress us with the solemnity and fear of standing before God as the judge (see v. 6).

The only times that I have been summoned to court is for jury duty. But if you were accused of a serious crime, it would be a fearful experience. The bailiff commands, “Please rise!” The judge enters in his black gown. All is silent until he bangs the gavel and pronounces, “The court is now in session. We will hear the case of Steven J. Cole against the Court of Heaven.” Yikes! And this is no human judge—this is “the Mighty One, God, the Lord”!

The psalmist sets the courtroom (50:2) in “Zion, the perfection of beauty,” where “God has shone forth.” Zion is the perfection of beauty because of the temple that was there. God shone forth at the temple through His shekinah glory. So the perfect beauty of Zion is the beauty of God in His holiness.

At the opening (50:2), God summons the whole earth and then repeats the summons (50:4) to “the heavens above, and the earth.” Up to this point, God’s covenant people may be thinking, “Finally, God is going to judge all those wicked pagans! It’s about time!” After all, the prayer of verse 3 is, “May our God come and not keep silence.”

But then (50:4b) the psalmist surprises us. He reveals that God has summoned all of heaven and earth to be witnesses in the courtroom as He judges His people! He calls them His “godly ones” (50:5) “to remind them of what they ought to be in consistency with their calling” (John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on Ps. 50, p. 263). So He is going to judge them according to what they are supposed to be, namely, His godly ones who have made a covenant with Him. And the psalmist reminds them (50:6) that the standard for judgment is the very righteousness of God Himself.

Do you think often about the fact that one day soon, you will stand before the judgment seat of Christ? Some, even some of those who have served Christ (may it not be any of us!) will hear the awful words (Matt. 7:23), “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” They will be thrown into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 25:30). Others will watch in horror as everything that they labored for goes up in smoke. They themselves will be saved, but as through fire (1 Cor. 3:12-13). Still others (may you and I be among them) will hear the Lord say (Matt. 25:21), “Well done, good and faithful slave…. Enter into the joy of your master.” The Bible repeatedly warns us about the coming judgment so that we will live daily in view of it.

2. When we stand before God for judgment, what will matter is not that we have performed religious rituals, but that we have worshiped God from the heart (50:7-15).

God first speaks to His people who had kept the prescribed sacrifices, but they had drifted from the reality of worshiping God in spirit and in truth. God had no complaint with their outward compliance to the sacrifices and burnt offerings (50:8), but their hearts were not right before Him. They weren’t thankful to God, acknowledging His blessings. And, they weren’t connecting their religious rituals with their daily lives. When they were in trouble, they weren’t calling to God in dependence and faith. Perhaps they presumed on the fact that they had offered sacrifices. They thought that God should deliver them because of their sacrifices. And so they didn’t honor Him when He rescued them. Rather, they congratulated themselves for keeping the rituals. Note three things:

A. There is a human tendency to fall into ritualism rather than to maintain a close relationship with God.

Because of the fall, we all are prone to perform the religious rituals, while our hearts are far from God. But then we soothe our guilty consciences by thinking, “I did the ritual this week!” Protestants often point the finger at Roman Catholics, who go to Mass and Confession and do penance, but they don’t live the rest of the week in a close relationship with God.

And yet we Protestants also fall into our own forms of ritualism. We feel that things are okay between God and us because we’ve been regular in church attendance. Or, we took communion. Or, we feel especially spiritual because we had our quiet time every day this week. Or, we put our tithe in the offering. We serve on a church committee or we even teach Sunday School. So things must be right between us and God! But at the same time, we tolerate all sorts of sin in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Even preachers fall into this trap, as we’ve seen when it comes out in the news that well-known preachers have been living a double life. So fight against your own tendency to fall into ritualism rather than to maintain a close relationship with God.

B. Ritualism gives the ritualist a sense of pride, whereas heartfelt worship humbles us before God.

These Hebrews were priding themselves for their generosity in offering their bulls and their goats, but God pointedly reminds them that He owns it all! When they offer something to Him, it is only because He first gave it to them. And He doesn’t need their offerings to sustain Himself, as if He were hungry! He owns the world and all it contains (50:12). Idolaters think that when they offer food to their idols, it’s to appease their hunger. It may have been that the Hebrews were falling into this superstition. But that insults God, to say the least! He needs absolutely nothing from His creation. He existed in eternity just fine without any of us and without anything that we can give Him.

If we find ourselves taking pride because we follow the biblical form of worship or because we tithe our income or because we haven’t missed a church service in years, then we’re guilty of ritualism. Certainly, we should seek to be biblical in our forms of worship. We should give generously to God, while remembering that everything we have belongs to Him. We should be faithful in gathering each week with the saints. But we should do it out of a grateful heart for all of God’s gracious blessings. We recognize that He owes us nothing but judgment, but He showed us mercy. True worship humbles us before God.

Some may wonder, “What if we perform religious rituals from the heart? Isn’t that okay?” After all, God isn’t condemning sacrifices here. He instituted the sacrificial system. Rather, He’s condemning sacrifices when their hearts were not right before Him. So what if a person performs various religious rituals, but does so from the heart? Isn’t that proper?

The answer is, it’s proper if these rituals are prescribed in the New Testament. The New Testament does not, for example, command us to pray the rosary or the stations of the cross or to cross ourselves or to light candles for the dead. It does command us to be baptized, observe communion, read the Bible, pray, and sing, both in private and public worship. It’s easy to allow these things to become empty rituals, which is sin. The solution is not to stop doing them, but to fight against doing them ritualistically and instead do them from the heart with gratitude to God.

C. Heartfelt worship involves thanksgiving, faithfulness, and dependence on God.

Asaph gives the remedy for empty ritualism (50:14-15), “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High; call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

The psalmist sets thanksgiving and prayer over against ritualism as a summary of all true worship (Calvin, p. 269). Thanksgiving acknowledges that God has given us every blessing by His grace. You cannot genuinely thank God unless you’re in submission to Him and trusting Him, especially if you’re thanking Him in the midst of trials. Nor can you thank Him or call out to Him in prayer in a time of need if you’re harboring sin in your heart. So genuine thanksgiving and prayer presuppose holiness on the heart level. Calvin (p. 270) points out that praise and prayer are set in opposition to ceremonies and rituals to teach us that the worship of God is spiritual. Praise is mentioned first, he says (ibid.), because, “An ascription to God of the honor due unto his name lies at the foundation of all prayer, and application to him as the fountain of goodness is the most elementary exercise of faith.”

The psalmist also says, “pay your vows to the Most High.” There is no command in Scripture to make vows to God, but if we do make them, we need to be faithful to keep them. The most important vows that we make are baptism and (if we’re married) the marriage vows. Not all would agree with me, but I don’t recommend making many other vows, because doing so tends to put you on a legal basis with God, rather than a grace basis. But if you do make a vow to God, be faithful to keep it.

So the court has now finished with the first defendant for the time being. Next, God summons the second defendant:

3. When we stand before God for judgment, what will matter is not that we have performed religious rituals, but that we have obeyed God from the heart (50:16-21).

God next calls “the wicked” (50:16). These are hypocrites, who can quote God’s statutes and who claim to be His covenant people, but they’re tolerating sin in their lives. The ritualists needed to remember that God must be worshiped in spirit and truth. The hypocrites need to be reminded that God is holy and those who worship Him must come with obedient hearts.

H. C. Leupold notes that there is some overlap and progression between the two groups. He says (Exposition of Psalms [Baker], p. 395), “Formalism cannot be cultivated with impunity; progressive degeneracy is the outcome.” In other words, the danger of continuing in heartless ritualism is that you drift into disobedient thinking and living. But to keep up appearances, you continue the rituals. This was the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. They didn’t want to defile themselves by going into Pilate’s courtyard, while at the same time they crucified the innocent Son of God (John 18:28)! Note three things here:

A. It is possible for religious people to cast God’s Word behind them.

God charges (50:17), “For you hate discipline, and you cast My words behind you.” Discipline is used often in Proverbs in the sense of instruction, or disciplining the mind through wisdom. It refers to correction through instruction. It implies that we need to change, which is always threatening and difficult. It means that when we read God’s Word or hear it preached, we don’t shrug it off or apply it to others. Rather, we take it to heart and correct whatever is wrong in our thinking, words, relationships, or behavior. We all have blind spots. The Bible is like a mirror to show us where we need to clean up. Make sure that you use it often!

B. Tolerance of sin in others is not much different than engaging in sin yourself.

“When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you associate with adulterers” (50:18). Perhaps these religious hypocrites did not engage in thievery or adultery themselves, but they were pleased to have such people as their friends. They were proud of their tolerance. They were not judgmental! They were open-minded! But God knew that in their hearts, they secretly enjoyed hearing stories of greed or sexual sin. In our day, this would include watching movies with graphic sex scenes.

These hypocrites also engaged in deception and slander, even against close family members (50:19-20). I am often amazed at how professing Christians engage in these sins of the tongue without a twinge of conscience! They’re familiar with the many portions of Scripture that forbid deception, slander, and gossip, and yet they never give it a thought as they keep on doing these things!

C. We are prone to invent God in our own image so that we don’t have to deal with our sins.

God says (50:21), “These things you have done and I kept silence; you thought that I was just like you.” They mistook God’s patience for His approval of their evil deeds. So they also mistakenly thought that God was “a good ol’ boy,” just like them! Since He hadn’t judged them, He must not mind a dirty joke or two. He understands that we all have to tell lies once in a while. Since their “god” was just like they were, they could go on living in sin, just as they had been doing. It’s safe to say that if your “god” is just like you are, then he isn’t the God of the Bible!

Then God gives a final appeal to both groups:

4. If we live in view of the coming judgment, we will not forget God and we will worship and obey Him from the heart (50:22-23).

God begins with the disobedient hypocrites (50:22): “Now consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be none to deliver.” God hits these hypocrites hard, because otherwise they will deride all correction. But His direct confrontation is at the same time “a remarkable proof” of His grace “in extending the hope of mercy” to such corrupt sinners (Calvin, p. 279). But they need to respond quickly because the door of mercy may not always stand open. Like a fierce lion, the Lord may tear them to pieces and it will be too late.

To those that repent, God shows the way to live (50:23), “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; and to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.” Or, as the NIV translates, “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.” In other words, by sincerely offering thank offerings, we honor God and prepare the way to experience further instances of God’s salvation or deliverance.

The problem with the rebellious hypocrites was that they forgot God (50:22). But the ritualists were not much different, in that they did not acknowledge God’s many blessings by offering Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Calvin (p. 280) applies verse 23 by saying, “We do not assign that importance to the duty of praise which it deserves. We are apt to neglect it as something trivial, and altogether commonplace; whereas it constitutes the chief exercise of godliness, in which God would have us to be engaged during the whole of our life.” He adds (pp. 280-281), “There must be an experience of the goodness of the Lord before our mouths can be opened to praise him for it, and this goodness can only be experienced by faith.”

Conclusion

An American newspaper asked William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, what he regarded as the chief dangers ahead for the twentieth century. He replied tersely, “Religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God and heaven without hell” (The War Cry, Jan. 5, 1901, p. 7, cited by Iain Murray, The Old Evangelicalism [Banner of Truth], p. xi). Booth succinctly described religion (or ritual) without reality. Psalm 50 warns, make sure that this doesn’t describe you! When we stand before God, what will matter is not that we’ve performed religious rituals, but that we have worshiped and obeyed God from the heart.

Application Questions

1. What are some “Protestant rituals” that we’re prone to? How can we keep our hearts right before God in these matters?
2. Is it hypocrisy or ritualism to obey God when we don’t feel like it? Why/Why not? How can we get our feelings right?
3. Do you agree that we should avoid making many vows to God? Why/why not? When are vows legitimate?
4. Since we’re prone to dodge the hard commandments of God’s Word, how can we avoid this?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2009, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

In 1777, Dr. William Dodd, a London clergyman, was condemned to be hanged for forgery. When his last sermon, delivered in prison, was published, a friend commented to Samuel Johnson that the effort was far better than he had thought the man capable of. Dr. Johnson replied, “Depend upon it, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”

The difficulty with applying Psalm 62 is that very few of us have ever been in the desperate straits that David was in and so we cannot truly relate to what he says here. Evil men were threatening David’s life and scheming how, not only to topple him as king, but also how to kill him.

A few times in the past 32 years, people have tried to get me fired. But I’ve always joked to Marla, “At least they’re only after my job. So far no one has threatened my life!” But they were trying to murder David. They were saying, “He’s like a leaning wall or tottering fence. Just push and he’ll go down!” Under that real threat of death, David’s mind was wonderfully concentrated to write this psalm. The message is:

In life’s most threatening times, you will be at peace if God alone is your salvation and refuge.

The main theme of the psalm is the right and wrong objects of faith. If we trust in God, we’re secure. If we trust in men or in things, we’re depending on that which is lighter than breath (62:9). Interestingly, even though David was in a life-threatening situation, the psalm contains no prayer. H. C. Leupold writes (Exposition of Psalms [Baker], p. 459), “There is scarcely another psalm that reveals such an absolute and undisturbed peace, in which confidence in God is so completely unshaken, and in which assurance is so strong that not even one single petition is voiced throughout the psalm.” Of course, David experienced this peace through prayer, and he exhorts God’s people to pour out their hearts before Him (62:8). All of us want to have this same peace that David had in this crisis. At the heart of his peace is his confident trust in God alone.

The word only, which translates a little Hebrew particle, is also a recurring theme in this psalm. It occurs six times, four in reference to God (62:1, 2, 5, 6; also in 4, 9). Each time it begins the sentence for emphasis. The word itself conveys emphasis and may be translated in different ways, depending on the context (Theological Word Book of the Old Testament, by R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke [Moody Press], 1:39). Sometimes it is translated “but.” Calvin here prefers “nevertheless” (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on Ps. 62, pp. 417-418). It sometimes means “surely” or “certainly.”

But the most authoritative Hebrew lexicon and most modern translations translate it in Psalm 62 as “only” or “alone” (A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, by Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs [Oxford, 1977], p. 36). Thus by repetition, David hammers home the concept that we will enjoy God’s peace in the midst of life’s most threatening moments when God only—God alone—is our salvation and refuge. Since we all struggle to get to that place—and as we’ll see in the psalm, David himself struggled to remain there—I’ll try to focus on how to come to that place of complete trust in God.

The psalm falls into three stanzas, the first two ending with “Selah.” The first section (62:1-4) we may label “Composure in threatening times.” The second section (62:5-8) is “Composure reaffirmed.” The final section (62:9-12) is “Contrast,” where David shows us what not to trust in and whom to trust in.

1. Composure: In threatening times, you can be at peace if God is your salvation and refuge (62:1-4).

While David begins with his calm waiting on God (62:1-2), it’s helpful to work our way back by looking first at the fierce enemies that were threatening him:

A. You will face times when you’re under attack (62:3-4).

Some think that David wrote this psalm in the context of Absalom’s rebellion, but we can’t know for sure. The attacks seem to have been prolonged, as seen by David’s cry, “How long?” The New King James Version translates verse 3b, “You shall be slain, all of you, like a leaning wall and a tottering fence,” making it David’s words against his enemies. But the ancient versions and most modern versions take it as David’s enemies’ words against him (Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72 [IVP], p. 221). They were counseling together how to thrust him down from his role as king by assassinating him. They were spreading falsehoods and using flattery, telling him that he was a great king, while inwardly cursing him.

Hopefully you’ll never have anyone plotting to kill you! But if you’re in any kind of leadership position, whether in the church or in business, you will have times when you’re under attack. You’ll be criticized and slandered. I’ve known pastors that left the ministry because they couldn’t handle the criticism that inevitably goes with the job. But the Bible never promises exemption from such attacks. Rather, it shows us what to do when you’re under attack.

B. When you’re under attack, make God alone your salvation and refuge (62:1-2).

David begins (61:1a), “My soul waits in silence for God only.” Calvin (p. 418) helpfully explains what David means by “silence”: “The silence intended is, in short, that composed submission of the believer, in the exercise of which he acquiesces in the promises of God, gives place to his word, bows to his sovereignty, and suppresses every inward murmur of dissatisfaction.”

The key word there is submission. When difficult things happen to us, we can either angrily complain to God, “I don’t deserve such treatment!” Or, we can submit to Him, agreeing with His promises, giving supremacy to His Word, bowing before His sovereignty, and suppressing our tendency to grumble. I can’t think of a more remarkable demonstration of this than that of Job. When God inexplicably took his possessions, his ten children, and his health, Job humbly proclaimed (Job 1:21b), “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” While the rest of the book of Job shows how he wrestled through his pain and his complaints against God, by the end of the book we find Job again in a posture of worship, bowing before God’s sovereign hand (Job 40:4-5; 42:1-6). So, humbling yourself “under the mighty hand of God” (1 Pet. 5:6) is a key element in experiencing God’s peace when you’re under attack.

David adds (62:1b-2), “from Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.” In this context, salvation refers to God’s deliverance from David’s enemies. And yet we’re not amiss if, with C. H. Spurgeon, we apply this to God being the only source of our salvation from sin and judgment. He preached two sermons on this psalm. In one (“God Alone the Salvation of His People,” Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit [Pilgrim Publications], 2:210) he writes, “If anyone should ask us what we would choose for our motto, as preachers of the gospel, we think we should reply, ‘God only is our salvation.’” He goes on to say that this sentence is the sum and substance of Calvinism (which he held to, as do I), to say that salvation is of the Lord. Then he adds,

I cannot find in Scripture any other doctrine than this. It is the essence of the Bible…. Tell me anything that departs from this and it will be a heresy; tell me a heresy, and I shall find its essence here, that it has departed from this great, this fundamental, this rocky truth, “God is my rock and my salvation.”

I said at the outset that most of us cannot relate to this psalm because we’ve never been in the desperate situation David was in, where fierce enemies threatened our lives. While that’s true physically, it’s not true spiritually. The Bible teaches that we all were born spiritually dead into Satan’s domain of darkness (Eph. 2:1). We were in danger of eternal separation from God if we should die in that condition. Well then, how did this change? Paul explains (Eph. 2:8-9), “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

My point is this: If God alone is your salvation from eternal death, if He raised you from death to life and gave you the faith to believe in Jesus Christ, then you also can take refuge in Him from less threatening trials. As Paul puts it in Romans 8:31-32, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” So if you know God as your only source of salvation from sin, then when problems hit, submit yourself to His sovereign hand and trust God alone as your salvation and refuge from the problems.

2. Composure reaffirmed: When God is your only source of salvation, you can rest secure in Him (62:5-8).

In verses 5-7, David repeats what he already said in verses 1-2, with a few variations. Why does he do this? In verses 3 & 4, he has been thinking about his enemies and the extreme threat that they represented. So, he may have been a little bit shaken (not, greatly shaken, v. 2). Calvin (p. 422) explains, “Here it is to be remembered, that our minds can never be expected to reach such perfect composure as shall preclude every inward feeling of disquietude, but are, at the best, as the sea before a light breeze, fluctuating sensibly, though not swollen into billows.” In other words, we never reach a place of perfect composure, where severe trials don’t affect us. And so we have to fight to regain our peace in God. But how?

A. Repeat these truths as often as you waver due to the attacks of the enemy (62:5-7).

First, David talks to himself (“My soul”). They say that talking to yourself is a sign of senility, but the Bible often tells us to do this very thing. In Psalms 42 & 43, the psalmist repeats (42:5, 11; 43:5) the refrain (43:5), “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.” The opening chapter of Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ wonderful book, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure [Eerdmans], is on Psalm 42. He asks (p. 20), “Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?” He goes on to explain that rather than just going along with the thoughts that come to you in the morning, which bring back all of the problems of yesterday, you’ve got to take yourself in hand, preach to yourself, and question yourself. You ask yourself, “Why are you cast down?” Then you exhort yourself to hope in God. Lloyd-Jones continues (p. 21),

And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: “I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God.”

That’s exactly what David does in Psalm 62. He piles up description after description of who God is. After telling himself to wait in silence for God only (62:5), he adds (62:5b-6), “for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be moved.” This time he does not say, “I shall not be greatly shaken” (62:2), but he advances to, “I shall not be moved” at all! Then he goes over it again (62:7), “On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.”

Don’t miss the pronoun my (9 times in vv. 5-7!). Also, God is either directly named or referred to with the pronouns Him or He five times in these verses. David knew God personally as his hope, his rock, his salvation, his stronghold, his strength, and his refuge. If we want His peace in severe trials, we must know God personally and experientially as our God and remind ourselves of who He is.

So the point is, David is fighting here, while under these life-threatening attacks, to put these comforting truths front and center in his mind. Calvin astutely notes (p. 424),

One expression is here heaped upon another, and this apparently because he wished to rein that infirmity of disposition which makes us so prone to slide into wrong exercise. We may throw out a passing and occasional acknowledgment, that our only help is to be found in God, and yet shortly display our distrust in him by busying ourselves in all directions to supplement what we consider defective in his aid.

Isn’t that so true! We say we’re trusting in God alone, but then we quickly scheme how to deliver ourselves, rather than waiting on Him! It’s not that it’s wrong to think about how to get out of a difficult trial, or to use methods to do so. In fact, more often than not we should use plans and methods in dependence on Him. But it’s wrong to give God a token nod of trust and then set Him aside while really we trust in our schemes and methods. Rather, with David we must fight to make God our only source of deliverance: “He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold.” Then, “I shall not be shaken” (62:6). If we trust in plans and methods we’ll fail. But if God only is our rock, we will stand firm.

B. Use your peace through trials to encourage others to trust in God alone as their refuge (62:8).

David can’t contain the joy of knowing God as his salvation, so he writes (62:8), “Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” What a wonderful verse! Sadly, I’ve heard supposedly Christian psychologists say that it is useless, pat advice to tell hurting people to trust in God. I don’t know what Bible they were reading! David isn’t giving out pat, useless advice! He’s telling us how he endured this terrible attack on his life by these fierce, cunning enemies. He trusted in God; he poured out his heart to God; he took refuge in God. He’s telling us to do the same. What God was to David in his extreme trial, He can be to you in your crisis.

How does pouring out your heart to God (62:8) fit with waiting silently for Him (62:1, 5)? Obviously, they’re not contradictory. Waiting silently for God only, as we’ve seen, is to put our hearts in submission to His sovereign love in the face of trials that seem to contradict either His sovereignty or His love. It’s an attitude of trustful submission. Pouring out our hearts is to unburden ourselves in prayer, where we empty all of our anxieties and confusion and pain onto the Lord, while still remaining in submission to His sovereign love. As 1 Peter 5:7 puts it, “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

Calvin (p. 425) points out how prone we all are to keep our troubles pent up in our hearts until we’re driven to despair. We show much anxiety and ingenuity in seeking to escape our troubles without God. But in so doing, he says, we only get ourselves into “a labyrinth of difficulties.” The answer is to pour out our hearts before Him, taking refuge in Him, because He cares for us.

David has shown us that we can be composed or at peace if God alone is our salvation and refuge. He has reaffirmed it, showing that it is usually a battle to get to this place and remain there in the face of difficult trials. He concludes with a contrast, showing us what not to trust and repeating again who to trust:

3. Contrast: Do not trust in men, in crime, or in riches, but rather trust in the God of power and love (62:9-12).

In the first stanza, David looked at his enemies primarily in relation to himself, so that he was acutely aware of the danger that he was in. He was like a leaning wall. Here, he looks at them in relation to the powerful, loving God, who is his stronghold. By comparison, these supposedly dangerous men are “lighter than breath” (insights from James Boice, Psalms 42-106 [Baker], p. 513).

A. Do not trust in men, in crime, or in riches (62:9-10).

“Men of low degree are only vanity, and men of rank are a lie; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than breath” (62:9). Derek Kidner (p. 223) says that the point here “is not so much that we have nothing to fear from man (as in 27:1ff.), as that we have nothing to hope from him.” So, by implication, don’t trust in men, whether in men of low degree (thugs who can knock off your enemies) or high degree (men of influence or power), because you’re putting your hope in thin air!

Also, David goes on to say that we should not put our trust in oppression or vainly hope in robbery. Even if you gain riches through legitimate means, he adds (62:10b), “do not set your heart upon them.” Kidner (ibid.) astutely observes that “absorption with riches counts as no less perilous than a life of crime.” Most of us probably aren’t tempted to use oppression or robbery to get out of our trials, but we may be tempted to trust in money. But (Prov. 11:4), “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.”

B. Rather, trust in the God of power and love, knowing that He will render justice to all (62:11-12).

“Once God has spoken; twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God; and lovingkindness is Yours, O Lord, for You recompense a man according to his work.” The “once, twice” language is a common Hebrew poetic device. Here it probably means that God repeated the answer or impressed it upon David more than once to drive the point home. Matthew Henry (Matthew Henry’s Commentary [Revell], 3:467) says, “To some God speaks twice and they will not hear once; but to others he speaks but once, and they hear twice.” Make sure that you hear twice God’s answer for how to deal with threatening problems: First, God is powerful; second, He is loving. Therefore, He will justly judge all of our enemies. If anyone opposes God’s power and resists His love, he will know His justice.

Satan always attacks either or both of these truths when we face trials. He tempts you with the thought that if God is all-powerful, He could have prevented these trials. So, He must not love you. This is where by faith we have to join Joseph, who told his brothers who had sold him into slavery (Gen. 50:20), “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good….” By faith, affirm both God’s power and His love.

Conclusion

Years ago, we knew a young family in Dallas with two children and a third on the way. At seven months along, the wife became deathly ill. The doctors finally decided that they would deliver the premature baby by C-section and then attempt to save the mother’s life. Thankfully, everything came out well. The baby and the mother both survived. But during the height of the crisis, the wife’s parents, who were not believers, thought that their son-in-law must not really love their daughter, because he was so calm. He explained to them that he loved her dearly, but he was trusting in the Lord, who gives His peace to those who trust Him.

The main reason that we should “fight” for God’s peace in threatening times is not so that we will be at peace, but so that God will be glorified and others will be drawn to Him through us. God’s peace comes to us in life’s threatening times when He alone is our salvation and refuge.

Application Questions

1. Are some more bio-chemically disposed to anxiety than others are? How does this psalm apply to them? Is it wrong to take medication to control the anxiety?
2. Why is it important to keep in mind that the goal is not our peace, but God’s glory?
3. How do we explain those that trusted in God and yet were martyred? How does their experience fit with this psalm?
4. Where is the proper balance between trusting in God alone versus using plans and methods for deliverance?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2009, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

I begin this message with the words that traumatize every college student: “We’re going to have a pop quiz!” For this quiz, please listen carefully as I read Psalm 66:1-4 and then I’m going to ask you a question:

Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;

Sing the glory of His name.

Make His praise glorious.

Say to God, “How awesome are Your works!

Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You.

All the earth will worship You,

And will sing praises to You;

They will sing praises to Your name.”

The question is: To what extent did those verses describe your life this past week? Don’t answer out loud, but on a scale of 1-10, would you rate a ten? Seven? Five? Three? Zero? If your score is somewhere in the bottom half of the scale, then you definitely need to hear this message! If it’s a nine or ten, maybe you should be preaching it! I confess that I’ve got a lot of room to improve in keeping the command of verse 2, “Make His praise glorious.”

We don’t know the author or the historical situation behind this praise psalm. H. C. Leupold (Exposition of Psalms [Baker], pp. 478-479 thinks that King Hezekiah wrote it after God delivered Israel from Sennacherib’s invasion and then delivered Hezekiah from an early death. These two events are reflected in the two halves of the psalm: Verses 1-12 have a corporate focus and mention a time of severe trial, when God refined His people (66:10-12). The second half (66:13-20) is individual, where the psalmist praises God for some personal answer to prayer. But it’s only speculation to say that this was the situation, since the psalm does not say so.

Psalm 66 is the second of four psalms that all call upon the whole earth to praise God (Ps. 65:2, 5, 8; 66:1-4, 7-8; 67:2-5; 68:32). Although at this point in history, God was especially the God of Israel, He is at all times the Sovereign Creator and Lord of all the earth. Therefore, all the earth should praise Him. His chosen people—Israel in that day and now the church—have the privilege and responsibility of spreading His praise to every corner of the earth. The message of Psalm 66 is:

Both corporately and individually we should make God’s praise glorious.

Last week, Marla and I watched the Disney film, “Earth.” It has some spectacular photography of the earth and its creatures, from whales and great white sharks to land mammals to birds and insects. How anyone can watch it and believe that it all happened by random chance is beyond me. It should cause every person that sees it to exclaim, “Praise God for His amazing creation!” And yet few that watch it will have that response, because few have bowed their hearts in submission to the Sovereign Lord of creation.

1. We should make God’s praise glorious corporately (66:1-12).

This corporate section of the psalm has three stanzas:

A. We make God’s praise glorious corporately when we praise Him exuberantly and extend His praise worldwide (66:1-4).

Except for having “Yahweh” instead of “God,” Psalm 100:1 is identical to Psalm 66:1: “Shout joyfully to God, all the earth.” The dominant theme of verses 1-4 is that of exuberant praise to God because of what He has done (His awesome works, 66:2) and who He is (His “name,” 66:2, 4). In case you need it spelled out, exuberant praise is the opposite of apathetic, heartless mouthing of words while you look out the window as you think about what you’re going to do after church. Rather, it is joyous praise that comes from the heart as you realize who God is and what He has done. The psalmist is not satisfied with our declaring God’s praises moderately. Rather, he insists that we celebrate God’s goodness in some measure proportionate to His excellence (paraphrase of John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on Ps. 66, p. 467).

John Piper argues (Let the Nations be Glad! [Baker Academic], p. 226, italics his) “that the essential, vital, indispensable, defining heart of worship is the experience of being satisfied with God in Christ.” He points out that the New Testament has “a stunning indifference to the outward forms and places of worship” (p. 222). Rather, the emphasis is on this (p. 227) “inner spiritual treasuring of the character and the ways of God in Christ. It is a cherishing of Christ, a being satisfied with all that God is for us in Christ.” Thus, shouting joyfully to God, singing the glory of His name, and making His praise glorious (Ps. 66:1-2) does not mean getting pumped up by group enthusiasm or by music that has a catchy beat. Rather, it is the overflow of our hearts when we are captivated by God’s all-satisfying glory in Christ (Piper, p. 227, note 19).

The psalmist acknowledges (66:3) that some of God’s enemies will not give Him this heartfelt worship. Rather, literally, they will lie to Him. Outwardly, they may go along with the crowd in singing to God, but inwardly their hearts are not right with Him. They’re faking it, pretending to obey. The psalmist mentions this to show that true worship is a matter of the heart and also to warn us, who have tasted God’s kindness, not to fall into this kind of hypocrisy (Calvin, p. 467). The antidote, as Calvin observes (as cited by J. J. S. Perowne, The Book of Psalms [Zondervan], p. 506) is, “Nothing so compels us to a due reverence towards God, as when we place ourselves before His face.”

In verse 4, the psalmist sets forth a prophecy or hope that is often repeated in the Old Testament: “All the earth will worship You, and will sing praises to You; they will sing praises to Your name.” The message of God’s awesome works and glorious name will spread beyond the Jews to all the nations. This is also the theme of Psalm 67. It refers to the nations sincerely worshiping God, stemming from hearts made right with Him through the transforming power of the gospel. Here are a few other texts:

Psalm 22:27: “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before You.”

Psalm 86:9: “All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your name.”

Psalm 102:15: “So the nations will fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth Your glory.”

John Piper lists over four pages of similar quotes just from the Psalms and Isaiah (Let the Nations be Glad! pp. 170-174). I think that they point to a future time when Christ will reign on earth and some from every tribe and tongue and people and nation will join together in singing His praise (Rev. 5:9). We now have the privilege of beginning that praise in our corporate worship and of extending the worship through our world mission efforts.

B. We make God’s praise glorious corporately when we contemplate His awesome works in redeeming His people and in ruling the nations (66:5-7).

Psalm 66:5-7: “Come and see the works of God, who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men. He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot; there let us rejoice in Him! He rules by His might forever; His eyes keep watch on the nations; let not the rebellious exalt themselves.”

Calvin (p. 469) observes, “An indirect censure is here passed upon that almost universal thoughtlessness which leads men to neglect the praises of God. Why is it that they so blindly overlook the operations of his hand, but just because they never direct their attention seriously to them?” Specifically, the psalmist invites us to contemplate God’s awesome power as seen in the parting of the Red Sea in the exodus and His parting the Jordan River forty years later when the nation crossed into the Promised Land. These were stupendous miracles, which all the surrounding nations heard about (Josh. 2:10). But with the exception of Rahab the harlot, they did not repent of their sins and humble themselves before the Lord.

Throughout the Old Testament, the exodus is extolled as showing God’s mighty power in redeeming His people according to His great power. The armies of Pharaoh, the most powerful king on the earth at that time, were not a problem for God. But, as Perowne (P. 507) points out, “That ancient story is not the record merely of a bygone age, but is daily new, daily repeats itself to those who have eyes open to see and hearts open to perceive.” Thus the psalmist says (66:6b), “There let us rejoice in Him.” It was there, at the Red Sea and the Jordan River, that God “showed himself to be the everlasting Savior of his people; so that it proved a common source of joy to all the righteous” (Calvin, p. 470).

The application for us is that our corporate worship should be centered on the New Testament fulfillment of God’s redemption of His people, namely, on the cross of Jesus Christ. The message of the cross, that Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God gave Himself to redeem us from our sins, that He was raised from the dead, ascended on high, and is returning in power and glory to judge the earth, is our only hope. Though it may seem that the rebellious nations are not under His sovereign control, that is not true. He “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11). And so, “Let not the rebellious exalt themselves” (Ps. 66:7). Our God “is coming to judge the earth” (Ps. 98:9). His redeeming love and His sovereignty over the nations should be the focus of our praise.

C. We make God’s praise glorious corporately when we see His providential goodness in using trials for our ultimate good (66:8-12).

The psalmist continues (66:8) by inviting all peoples (the Gentiles) to “bless our God,” and “sound His praise abroad, who keeps us in life and does not allow our feet to slip.” The world should be able to see how God has preserved His people in spite of their weakness and praise God for it. As His people, we should recognize that the very fact that we are alive and that we have not fallen away from Him is due completely to His grace.

Then (66:10-12) the psalmist directly addresses God, rehearsing how God has tried His people and refined them as silver is refined. He brought them into the net and laid an oppressive burden on their loins. He made men ride over their heads. They went through fire and through water. But the end of this terrible time of testing was (66:12b), “Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.” The last word is used one other time in the Old Testament, in Psalm 23:5, where David says, “My cup overflows.”

Note several things here. First, the psalmist emphasizes that God inflicted these trials on His people. He repeated says, “You have tried us,” “You have refined us,” “You brought us into the net,” ”You laid an oppressive burden” on us, “You made men ride over our heads.” These difficult experiences did not happen by accident or bad luck. God didn’t just permit them. Rather, He did these things to them.

Second, although God does these things through evil people whom He will judge for their sin, He is not responsible for the evil. Centuries before, Job knew this truth. When Satan afflicted Job by wiping out his possessions, killing his children, and afflicting him with boils, Job attributed everything to the Lord: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away” (Job 1:21b). The Sabeans, whom Satan used to slaughter Job’s servants and steal his livestock, were responsible for their terrible crimes. God was not responsible for any evil in the whole proceeding. Yet He is rightly said to be the one who did it! Even so here, the Lord used a pagan army to ride roughshod over His people for the purpose of refining them. The pagans were sinning and will be judged for it. Yet God did it without sinning and used it for His sovereign purpose.

Third, God brings these difficult trials on us through sinful people for our good. His final purpose is to bring us into a place of abundance. Hebrews 12:11 puts it this way, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” It is important for us, as we go through difficult trials, to submit to God’s dealings with us. We do that by not regarding lightly His discipline and not fainting when He reproves us (Heb. 12:5). And, by faith we must remember that He disciplines us for our good, because He loves us as a Father (Heb. 12:6, 10). So even in our trials, we can make God’s praise glorious as we trust Him.

So the first section of the psalm exhorts us to make God’s praise glorious in our corporate worship.

2. We should make God’s praise glorious individually (66:13-20).

Derek Kidner (Psalms 1-72 [IVP], p. 235) has a helpful comment here: “If this is a strange climax, to have the nation’s thanksgiving capped by a single worshipper’s, it is a strangeness not unlike the paradox of God’s ways, which leave room for the few and the small, who matter to Him as much as the many, and who find themselves, not lose themselves, in His great congregation.” There are two stanzas in this final section:

A. You make God’s praise glorious individually by coming into God’s house with the sacrifice of total dedication to Him (66:13-15).

When the psalmist was in dire straits, he vowed to offer sacrifices to God if He would deliver him. Now, God has delivered him, so he follows through. I agree with Spurgeon (A Treasury of David [Eerdmans], 3:187), that “we should be slow in making vows, but prompt in paying them.”

Normally, thank offerings consisted of a portion that was burned on the altar and other portions that were shared by the worshiper and his friends. These sacrifices emphasized the joy of fellowship, along with thanksgiving to God for the blessing that prompted the thank offerings. But the sacrifices mentioned here are totally God-ward. Everything was consumed on the altar. So they spoke of total dedication to God, suggesting, as Kidner puts it (ibid.) “a mood of chastened rather than exuberant gratitude, as if to reflect the gravity of the threat that has now been lifted, and the depth of the offerer’s debt. The lavishness of the gifts in these verses underlines the point, saying in poetic fashion that the whole gamut of sacrificial beasts would scarcely do the occasion justice.”

In New Testament terms, Jesus Christ is our God-ordained, acceptable sacrifice. His body, offered on the cross, is the once and for all sacrifice for sins that we need (Heb. 10:4-10). We can only approach God through Him. We can only worship God in spirit and truth after we have trusted in the shed blood of Christ.

But then we have another sacrifice of worship that we must offer. Paul describes it in Romans 12:1, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” In other words, God’s great mercy towards us in Christ should move us to present our bodies to God as a worshipful sacrifice. As Paul goes on to say, this involves not being conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we work out in our experience God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will. He means that true worship flows out of first giving yourself totally to God. You rightfully belong to Him because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. You cannot make God’s praise glorious on an individual basis until you first trust in Christ and then give yourself totally to Him.

B. You make God’s praise glorious individually by telling other believers what He has done for your soul (66:16-20).

In the final stanza, the psalmist is not addressing the nations (as in 66:5), but rather “all who fear God” (66:16). He invites us to “come and hear” as he tells what God “has done for my soul.” He cried to the Lord with his mouth and extolled Him with his tongue (66:17). And the Lord graciously answered (66:20). Calvin (p. 477) observes that answers to prayer serve to illustrate God’s goodness to us and confirm our faith in it. Also, he says that the word extol suggests “that we cannot honor God more in our worship, than by looking upwards to him for deliverance.” So when we pray and He answers, our faith is strengthened. And, we are to tell other believers what God did for us, so that they, too, will trust Him.

In the middle of this, the psalmist interjects an important principle for proper prayer (66:18), “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” Hypocrites can offer prayers that impress those that hear, but God looks on the heart. We can’t play games with Him. This does not mean that we must be perfect before we can pray, but it does mean that we truly fear God and desire to be holy, so that we judge our sin on the heart level. We confess it openly before Him who sees it all. Then, cleansed by the blood of Christ, we can bring our requests to the Father and expect to be heard.

Although I reject the late Normal Vincent Peale’s theology as heresy, I read a story from his life that illustrates this text. As a boy, he found a big, black cigar, slipped into an alley, and lit up. It didn’t taste good, but it made him feel very grown up—until he saw his father coming! Quickly he put the cigar behind his back and tried to be casual. Desperate to divert his dad’s attention, he pointed to a billboard advertising the circus. “Can I go, Dad? Please, let’s go when it comes to town.”

His father’s reply taught Norman a lesson he never forgot. “Son,” he answered quietly but firmly, “never make a petition while at the same time trying to hide a smoldering disobedience.” (In Leadership Journal, Fall, 1983, p. 87.)

If we want God to answer our prayers, we must not regard (the Hebrew verb means “to look at with favor,” A Hebrew Lexicon of the Old Testament, by Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles Briggs [Oxford ], p. 907) sin in our hearts. The fact that God did hear the psalmist leads him to end the psalm by blessing God for His lovingkindness (66:20). Kidner (p. 236) observes on this final verse of praise that the psalmist’s “gratitude is not for the answered request alone, but for what it signifies: an unbroken relationship with God, which is pledged …, personal, and—since it might deservedly have been removed—ever a gift of grace.”

Conclusion

I conclude with four applications that sum up this psalm:

*Don’t neglect public singing. Sometimes we tend to view the time of corporate singing as filler to let latecomers arrive before the main event (the sermon). Some stand outside and chat with others, slipping in just in time to hear the sermon. Others read the bulletin rather than engaging wholeheartedly in the songs. While I hope that the sermon is a time of genuine worship, we should not neglect the command (66:2), “Sing the glory of His name.” We must make His praise glorious by our public singing.

*Don’t neglect private worship. Our public worship should be the overflow of hearts that have been worshiping God all week long. Take time each day to spend alone with Him.

*Don’t neglect frequent heart cleansing. Since God looks on our hearts, we must deal with sin on the heart level. As many times a day as we yield to pride, lust, greed, selfishness, and other sins, we should bring it to the Lord for cleansing.

*Don’t neglect prayer, even if the answers are delayed. Don’t forget that Israel had prayed for deliverance from Egypt for 400 years before God answered. In the situation described in verses 10-12, God’s people did not get instant relief from this terrible enemy. God’s timing is not our timing! But if we seek Him in prayer, eventually He will bring us out into a place of abundance. When He does, give it your all to make His praise glorious!

Application Questions

1. How can we worship God exuberantly if we don’t feel like it? Should we “work up” our feelings? If not, how do we get the right affections?
2. In a personal email, a well-known Christian leader told me that he winced when he read my comment, that “God took Francis Schaeffer and James Boice” (they both died of cancer). Was I wrong or was he? Does it make any practical difference?
3. Why is it important to acknowledge that every trial is from God, rather than just being impersonal, chance circumstances?
4. Is genuine praise related to our personality-type? Can a person prone to depression become a person of praise? What would this look like? How can it happen?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2009, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

There is something which everybody wants and yet almost everyone fears: growing old. Old age has many frightening aspects: an aging body which is more susceptible to illness; declining strength; feelings of uselessness (especially after retirement); the loss of friends and loved ones through death; the reality of one’s own death drawing nearer; loneliness; feelings of alienation from one’s children and grandchildren, who are busy with other interests and pursuits; and, very often, financial concerns due to dwindling income.

Sadly, our American culture does not esteem the elderly. We are a self-centered, utilitarian society. The younger generation often views the elderly as a financial burden and, if they require our care, as an interference in the pursuit of pleasure and success. This was most outrageously stated a few years ago by then-Colorado governor, Richard Lamm. In a discussion of spiraling health care costs, he said that terminally ill elderly people have “a duty to die and get out of the way.” Most would be more polite, but the underlying attitudes are there. Dr. Kevorkian is helping Governor Lamm’s wish come true, by assisting the terminally ill in suicide.

It is interesting, by the way, that in China old age is still viewed as the most respected stage of life. In Shanghai, one of the five largest cities in the world, in the late 1970’s there was only one home for the aged. Most of the elderly there are cared for in the family context.

But as you and I face the prospects of growing old in America, we need to ask ourselves, “What should I be doing now, however old I am, to prepare for old age?” The fact is, you will be then what you are becoming now. If you are not becoming a person of faith now, you will not be a person of faith then. If you are a negative, grumpy person now, you will not be a positive, cheerful person then. If you aren’t developing a walk with God now, you won’t have one then.

Psalm 71 is the psalm of an old man. He is an old man with many trials and problems, but he is obviously a joyful man who is able to put his focus on the Lord in the midst of these trials. The psalm shows us, to put it simply, that

God’s way to grow old is to develop a walk with Him now.

The reason that the psalmist could handle his problems so well as an old man was that he had developed a walk with God in the years leading up to this time. He had a proven resource in the Lord which enabled him to be strong inside, even though his body was growing weaker and his enemies were powerful.

We don’t know for sure who wrote Psalm 71. Some scholars think it was the prophet Jeremiah. But I agree with those who think that David wrote this psalm at the time of Absalom’s rebellion, perhaps as he was quartered across the Jordan, awaiting the outcome of the battle. The psalm pieces together a number of elements from other Davidic psalms (22, 31, 35, 40, 109). The reference to praising God on the harp and lyre (71:22) sounds like David, and the reference to having his greatness increased (71:21) could refer to David’s being restored to the throne. The circumstances in which the psalmist finds himself fit David at the time of Absalom’s rebellion: “shame” (71:1); oppressed by evil men (71:4); enemies speaking against him and seeking to kill him (71:10, 11, 13, 24); a life of many troubles (71:7a, 20); he had trusted God from his youth (71:5, 17); now he was old and gray (71:9, 18). (David was in his early 60’s; he died at 70.)

At any rate, there were three aspects of his walk with God which the author had developed over the years which stood him in good stead at this time of trial in his old age, which we need to develop:

1. We need to develop a deep knowledge of God.

The psalm is permeated with a deep personal understanding and practical knowledge of the Lord God. He had been taught of God even from his youth (71:17). The man knew God as his refuge (71:1; “strong refuge,” 71:7) and his righteous Savior (71:2). John Calvin (Commentary, pp. 632, 633) argues that God’s righteousness, frequently mentioned here (71:2, 15, 16, 19, 24), refers to His faithfulness to His own people in keeping His promises. He calls God his rock of habitation, his rock and fortress (71:3); his hope and confidence (71:5).

He talks of God’s mighty deeds (71:16), His strength and power (71:18), and the great things He has done (71:19). He realized that it was God who brought him into trouble and God who delivered and restored him (71:20). God was his source of comfort in this trial (71:21). God had redeemed his soul (71:23). As he exclaims, “O God, who is like You?” (71:19). He could testify that his mouth was filled with God’s praise and glory and righteousness all day long (71:8, 22, 23, 24).

This man knew his God! It is obvious that he had known Him for years and had proved God’s faithfulness in a number of previous difficult situations. So in this instance when he needs to trust in God, it is not a matter of, “God, if You exist, whoever You are, if You’re out there I need your help!” He didn’t need to take a blind leap of faith because he knew his God in a personal, practical, proven way.

May I ask: Do you know God like that? Are you growing in the process of developing such knowledge through His Word and through applying His Word to your experience? One of the most important things that each one of us can do to prepare for whatever crises we may have to face in the future is to be spending time now in God’s Word, getting to know God. As you read His Word ask yourself, “What does this passage teach me about my God?” And then seek to apply it to your daily problems.

A number of years ago, our neighbor’s two daughters, who were in grade school and junior high at the time, came running out of their house in a panic. Smoke came billowing out the door behind them. I discovered that there was a grease fire in their oven and their parents were not home. I ran into the kitchen and assumed that they must not have a fire extinguisher or they would have used it, so I tried to smother the fire with flour. That didn’t work. Finally, in desperation, I asked, “Do you have a fire extinguisher by any chance?” It turned out that they had three of them! One of the girls gave me one and I had the fire out in seconds.

The fire extinguisher was an adequate resource for that crisis, but the girls didn’t know how to use it or had no experience in using it, so it didn’t do them any good. To benefit from the extinguisher, I needed to know what it could do and how to use it in that emergency. In the same way, we need to know our God and what He can do so that we can lay hold of the tremendous resources that belong to us as His children. If we’re learning that now, then we will know Him as our confidence when the crises of old age come upon us.

2. We need to develop the godly habits of trust, praise, and hope.

A habit is developed by frequent repetition over a period of time. Once it’s in place, a habit becomes almost involuntary. Our attitudes, how we respond mentally and emotionally to life’s problems, tend to become habitual responses. Some people become habitual worriers; some become habitual complainers; some become habitually negative, pessimistic, and angry. Others become habitually cheerful and positive. The habits we develop in our younger years tend to take us further in that direction as we grow older.

A little Hebrew word repeated in verses 3, 6, and 14, translated “continually” (NASB; “always,” “ever,” NIV) tips us off to the habits the psalmist had developed. They are not habits we pick up naturally. They must be deliberately cultivated (“But as for me,” 71:14, points to firm resolve). In fact, they stem from his knowledge of God. They are the habits of trust (71:3); praise (71:6); and hope (71:14).

A. The habit of trust (71:3).

The whole psalm is an affirmation of the psalmist’s trust in the Lord. Spurgeon calls it “the utterance of struggling, but unstaggering, faith” (Treasury of David, [Baker], 3:294). He was struggling because he was in difficult circumstances, with many seeking his life; but he was unstaggering in his faith because he knew whom he believed.

Such faith stems from a knowledge of God. True knowledge dispels doubt and fear. We fear and mistrust that which we do not know, whereas we are more inclined to trust that which we know well, assuming it is trustworthy. When I was in the Coast Guard, we had to go out on a search and rescue mission in a gale. The waves were twenty to thirty feet high. We were taking green water over the bridge of our 81-foot boat. I was afraid that we would capsize and drown. But the skipper, while not relaxed, at least wasn’t afraid. He had taken this boat through other such storms and he knew what it could handle. His knowledge dispelled his fear.

Because the psalmist knew God, he had learned to trust God through some other tough times (71:20), and he knew therefore that God would see him through this time.

Are you developing a habit of trusting God in the difficult times of your life? Or are you frequently filled with worry and doubt and fear? If you have trouble trusting, concentrate on getting to know God. Also, review what God has already done for you. There is a tremendous emphasis in the psalm on what God has done (71:5, 6, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24). That strengthens faith! Has God ever preserved your life? Has He saved you from your sins? Has He sustained you this far? Then you can trust Him for your present problems and for any which arise in the future.

B. The habit of praise (71:6).

Praise is not a natural habit, at least not for me. I am a grumbler and complainer by nature. But God wants us to be people of praise. Even when difficult times come, God wants us to learn to praise Him. The psalmist had deliberately developed that habit. (See also, 71:8, 14, 22-24).

How can we learn to praise God when trials come? The answer is, “Learn to trust Him.” Because just as trust stems from knowing God, so praise stems from trusting God.

This is true on the human plane as well as on the divine. You can’t praise a person you don’t trust. If you feel that there is something about a person that you can’t trust, you won’t sing his praises to others. It’s the same way with God. If deep-down inside you doubt God’s goodness or faithfulness for allowing some trial to come your way, then you don’t trust Him. And not trusting Him, you cannot honestly praise Him.

If you are a complainer and have trouble developing a habit of praise, I would suggest the same two steps I mentioned under trust: First, concentrate on getting to know God and His ways. This psalm emphasizes God’s righteousness (71:2, 15, 16, 19, 24) because the psalmist was fearing unjust treatment at the hands of unrighteous men, and he wanted to affirm the righteousness of the God he trusted. He is good and faithful, even when He brings troubles and distresses (71:20) into our lives.

Second, review what God has already done for you. “Count your many blessings, name them one by one.” We tend to forget His many benefits on our behalf (all undeserved), and thus we fail in praise.

C. The habit of hope (71:14).

The psalmist had not only developed habits of trust and praise, but also of hope. We need to understand that there is a big difference between secular hope and biblical hope. Both forms of hope contain the idea of future expectations. But secular hope is uncertain because its object is uncertain, whereas biblical hope is sure because God is its object (71:5). When I say, “I hope that my investment will earn 10 percent,” there is uncertainty because the object of my hope (the stock market) is unstable. But when I say, “I hope that Jesus Christ will return bodily,” I’m expressing something certain, but not yet realized. Thus biblical hope is built upon trust in God and His faithfulness.

Believers should be people who have a habit of hope built on the promises of God. The great missionary pioneer, Adoniram Judson, was suffering from fever in a wretched prison in Burma. A friend sent him a letter, asking, “Judson, how’s the outlook?” Judson replied, “The outlook is as bright as the promises of God.” Unfortunately, many Christians have picked up the negative, hopeless spirit of the world because they focus on the problems instead of God and His promises. If you’re developing that habit, it will make you bitter, not better, as you grow older. God’s people should be people who hope in God.

Thus the psalmist was in good stead in his old age because he had developed a deep knowledge of God and he had developed the godly habits of trust, praise, and hope.

3. He had developed a lifestyle of ministry for God.

Although the psalmist was old (71:9, 18) and could have kicked back and said, “I deserve some rest,” he did not. He still had a concern for ministry, for testifying to others of God’s faithfulness and power (71:8, 15-18, 24). As long as he had breath, he wanted to keep telling people about God’s greatness and glory.

A worldly attitude has infiltrated the church. It goes like this: “I work all week, so my weekends are my free time to spend as I please.” If we give God a couple of hours by going to church on Sunday, we feel like we’ve paid our dues. We don’t want to be tied down with any kind of Christian service that would hinder us from taking off for the weekend when we feel like it.

I’m going to make a radical statement that might step on some toes. But check it out in the Bible to see if I’m right: If you’re not involved in some kind of Christian service, you’re too self-centered. I know that there are times in life when we’re busier with family and job than at other times. But if all you’re doing is coming to church to take in, if your focus is, “What can I get out of the church?” rather than “How can I serve the Lord through His church?” you’re out of balance. There should be no such thing as a non-serving member of the body.

With regard to old age, I think we need to challenge the American idea of retirement. We tend to go with the cultural view that retirement is a time in life when we can do what we want to do. But as Christians, we never earn the right to do what we want to do with our time! We never have the right to live selfishly. All of life must be lived under the lordship of Christ. And where in the Bible do we find the magic number 65? If you’re freed up from your job at 65 and you’re healthy, why not view it as an opportunity to serve the Lord full time? I’d like to see more retired people going back to Bible college for some training and then heading out to serve on the mission field. If you live to be 80, you could have more than a decade of self-supported ministry!

The point is, the psalmist didn’t want to be delivered from his problems so that he could play golf and go fishing every day. He wanted to be delivered so that he could proclaim God’s power to the next generation (71:18). He had a vision to hand off the baton to the younger generation. He saw a longer life as an opportunity for extended ministry. And his ministry was built on his knowledge of God and his habits of trust, praise, and hope, so he had something worth handing off! How about you? Are you developing a lifestyle of ministry now, built on your personal walk with God? It makes for a meaningful old age.

Conclusion

Bishop John Reed of Sydney, Australia, was preaching in Christ Church Cathedral one Sunday when a 75-year-old woman named Ethel Hatfield got saved. Mrs. Hatfield had attended that Anglican church for decades, but the message had never gotten through to her until that day. The following day she came to see Bishop Reed and said, “I could hardly sleep last night I was so excited about what happened. I want to do something to serve God with the few years I have left. I was wondering if I could teach Sunday School.”

Bishop Reed looked at this 75-year-old, white-haired lady and just couldn’t picture her controlling the rambunctious third or fourth grade kids. So he said, “I’m sorry, but we don’t have an opening in our Sunday School.” Her face fell. Bishop Reed said, “You mean business, don’t you? I don’t know what kind of service God may have for you, but let’s pray.” So they prayed for God to reveal His will for her.

The next day Mrs. Hatfield was out in her yard tending her roses when a Chinese student from Taiwan walked by. He stopped and complimented her on her roses and they began to talk. She thought, “He seems like a decent chap; I’ll invite him in for a spot of tea.” So she did and she told him her testimony. He found it an interesting story, so when he had to leave he asked if he could come back and talk further. She said, “Yes, and please bring a friend.”

He came back and brought a friend and she again shared how she had come to put her faith in Jesus Christ after all these years and how Christ had forgiven her sin and given her eternal life. These students came back and brought more friends, who brought even more. Within two weeks, Mrs. Hatfield was leading a weekly Bible study with 70 Chinese students in attendance! She led many of them to personal faith in Jesus Christ. That which seemed a hindrance to Mrs. Hatfield’s serving the Lord--her age--God turned into the key to reaching a group of people who respect old age!

The September, 1993, “Global Prayer Digest” tells the story of Jonah, a 73-year-old Chinese evangelist, who, since 1976, has traveled around the People’s Republic spreading the good news about Jesus Christ. “His days are full, and his energy unflagging. In one weekend Jonah may bicycle nine hours, spend 40 hours on a hard railway seat and eight hours on a bumpy bus just to bring the message of Jesus Christ to people in remote villages, or to urban churches with 5,000 members, or to young soldiers .... The schedule is grueling, but 73-year-old Jonah says, ‘Rest is for the next world.’”

God’s way for us to grow old is for us to develop a walk with Him now--a walk that involves a deep personal, experimental knowledge of God, a walk that includes the habits of trust, praise, and hope, and a walk that involves a lifestyle of ministry for God. Then, as long as we have life and breath, we can show and tell and sing of the greatness of our God to the next generation. What a way to go!

Discussion Questions

1. The psalmist had served God all his life and now, in old age, was beset with problems. Didn’t he deserve better treatment? Why wasn’t he bitter?
2. In what ways have we Americans developed a worldly view of retirement?
3. Agree/disagree: A non-ministering Christian is too self-centered.
4. How can we develop genuine praise when we face overwhelming problems? Is praise a feeling or an act of obedience?

Copyright 1993, Steven J. Cole, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, © The Lockman Foundation