Upon God alone, O my soul, rest peacefully; for my expectation is from him.
A man hemmed in by enemies turns away from them and speaks to his own soul. He tells it to be still and to look in one direction only. Writers focus on two things here: the small word "only," and the gap between saying you wait on God and telling yourself to do it.
(Note: the ESV reads "my hope is from him." The writers below quote older wordings, such as "my expectation is from Him," and their comments turn on those words.)
One small word runs through this psalm and sets its tone.
The word "only" is the characteristic of this Psalm. The first verse should read, "My soul waits only upon God," and the word is repeated in verses 2, 5, 6. We need to weigh it and think it over in the presence of God. The soul can never be at rest until it grasps its blessed meaning… Nearly all of us know what it is, under the strain of conflict or temptation, to turn to human help, and so to lose the blessedness of waiting only upon God.
What kind of waiting is this? Gaebelein gives the literal sense of the psalm's opening line.
The first verse literally rendered is, "Only unto God my soul is silence"; that is, hushed in His presence, in confident submission. To expect all from Him, nothing from man, to look away from self and magnify the Lord, is the secret of a life of rest and victory.
Verse 5 looks almost identical to verse 1, but Hole points to a change. In verse 1 the psalmist reports what he is doing; in verse 5 he tells himself to keep doing it, and adds something new.
Not only does he urge his soul to wait only upon God, instead of stating that he was doing so, but he now says that his expectation is from Him. It is not that he has any doubt of his salvation being from Him, for verse 1 states that plainly. But it is very possible to be quite clear that salvation is of the Lord while still holding expectations which have their centre in ourselves.
Hole then asks what we can still expect from ourselves.
Most of us know that in our flesh there is a great deal of evil. But if that were all, there might still be a little bit of good, and on that little bit we might base certain expectations. But the truth is that in the flesh good is totally absent. Selfishness and sin spoil the finest thing it produces… Once we have learned that lesson well, all our expectations of good will centre in God. And we shall not then be disappointed.
C. H. Mackintosh asks what real waiting looks like, and what ruins it.
The waiting must be a real thing. It will not do to say we are waiting on God, when in reality our eye is glancing sideways at some human prop or creature confidence. We must be absolutely shut up to God. We must be brought to the end of self, and to the bottom of circumstances. Only then do we fully prove what the life of faith is, and what God's resources are. God and the creature can never occupy the same platform. It must be God alone.
Hole draws out what follows when a soul waits like this.
Let us join with the Psalmist, and each of us call on our soul to wait in silence, or rest peacefully, upon God alone, basing all our expectations on Him. Then He only, and nothing else, will prove Himself to be all that we need — our Rock, our Salvation, our High Fortress… The soul that finds all its expectation, as well as its salvation, in God stands where nothing can touch it. Verse 8 shows all that is needed after that — trust Him at all times, pour out your heart before Him in every emergency, and He proves Himself to be a Refuge.
- Only — the keyword of the psalm. Rest begins when we rule out every other help.
- Silent — waiting here is a hushed soul in confident submission, not busy activity.
- Expectation — verse 5 goes beyond verse 1: salvation is God's, and so is every hope.
- Shut up to God — waiting is not real while the eye glances sideways at a human prop.
- Unmoved — the soul that finds both hope and salvation in God stands unshaken, pours out its heart to Him, and finds Him a Refuge.
He only is my rock and my salvation; my high fortress I shall not be moved.
Psalm 62 comes from a man surrounded by enemies, who had learned that help comes from one place only. Verse 6 repeats verse 2 almost word for word — but one small word is missing, and that gap is where the commentators concentrate.
The whole psalm turns on a single small word, which the writers treat as its key.
The word "only" is the characteristic of this Psalm. The first verse should read, "My soul waits only upon God," and the word is repeated in verses 2, 5, 6. We need to weigh it and think it over in God's presence. The soul can never rest until it grasps that blessed meaning.
That word is not comfortable. It rules out every quiet alternative the heart keeps in reserve.
This word "only" is deeply searching. Nature cannot say this. Nature will not shut God out altogether, except when a bold and blasphemous scepticism drives it. But it certainly cannot say, "He only."
The three titles are not decoration. Each one names what God Himself is to the man saying them.
The Psalmist is very emphatic on this point. His soul waited on God alone. Literally, it is that his salvation came from Him, and that He, and no one else, was his Rock and his Tower of defence. Since this is so, we might take it for granted that he was in a place of complete security and full assurance.
Verse 2 says he will not be greatly shaken. Verse 6 drops that one word, and the gap measures how far the man has travelled. (The writers quote an older translation, which reads "moved" where the ESV reads "shaken.")
"I shall not be greatly moved" (v. 2) had been what his mouth said; "I shall not be moved" (v. 6) is the assurance of his heart. It is God's battle, so the victory is sure. What a difference this confidence can make!
What changed was not the truth but the man's grip on it.
He knew it before, but now he had made his own what he knew, and so was in the present enjoyment of what had been worked out in his soul through his trials.
The caution of verse 2 is not treated as a fault. It is the way many believers speak.
In the earlier verse the Psalmist speaks with a certain hesitancy, or at least with extreme caution. He will not say more than he is sure of. He is sure that he will not be greatly moved — moved a little, perhaps; but greatly, no. Many of us, without a doubt, have been just like the Psalmist here. Our trust has been in God, indeed in God alone; and yet we could not altogether forget ourselves.
The same writer points to a further phrase in the psalm: his expectation is from God.
A person can be quite clear that salvation comes from the Lord and still hold on to expectations centred in himself... "My expectation is from Him." What a great secret of spiritual liberty and blessing lies in those simple words.
One writer sees the path of Jesus Himself in this psalm, and that is what makes it useful to us:
No doubt we have here the path and experience of the Lord Himself. But that makes it all the more valuable and instructive for His people. He was the first to walk the path of faith in full and perfect measure.
The verse is not just David's private record. Anyone may take the same place.
Then He only, to the exclusion of everything else, will prove Himself to be all that we need — our Rock, our Salvation, our High Fortress. Each of us will then be able to say with the full assurance of faith, "I shall not be moved." The soul that finds all its expectation, as well as its salvation, in God is in an unassailable position. All that is needed then is shown in verse 8 — trust in Him at all times, pour out your heart before Him in every emergency, and He proves Himself to be a Refuge.
One thing has to happen first:
We must be left with God alone. We must be brought to the end of self, and to the bottom of our circumstances. Only then do we prove what the life of faith is, and what God's resources are. God and the creature can never occupy the same platform.
- Only — the repeated word of the psalm rules out every backup plan; nature can say "He also," never "He only."
- Rock — God Himself is the unmoving ground, the rescue and the tower of defence: three needs met in one Person.
- Greatly — verse 2 hedges; verse 6 does not. One dropped word measures the growth from cautious hope to settled certainty.
- Expectation — stop expecting anything from yourself. Look for everything from God, and the last hesitation goes.
- Unmoved — the end is not bravado but safety. Nothing can storm this position, and you hold it by trusting Him at all times.