David didn’t seem to be feeling like his faith was growing stronger. He was feeling weak and vulnerable and fragile. He felt like an old stone wall, bowing out and ready to crumble. He felt like a rickety old fence that could easily topple over. This is how we often feel when we are learning to make God our only trust.

To be brought to a place where God is our only real hope is a merciful experience. But I don’t say that lightly. Because almost always it’s also a desperate experience. Some external circumstance, or internal crisis, forces us into a place where our other comforts and hopes are removed or fail us. In these moments, we keenly feel our weakness and vulnerability, and we usually long and plead with God for escape.

But it is in these seasons that enduring faith is forged. And, usually in retrospect, such experiences — ones where we find that God really is our only rock, that our only real hope is from him — prove to be among the sweetest of our lives. It’s then we call them mercies.

Waiting for God Alone

David was experiencing a season of desperation when he composed Psalm 62.

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)

David had many desperate experiences during his lifetime. He lived in a brutal age and endured tremendous pressures. He lived much of his adult life with the threat of death looming like a shadow over him. He lived for years as a fugitive, fleeing King Saul’s paranoia. He lived for years leading armies against aggressive enemy nations and guarding against espionage. And worst of all, he lived for years with the anguish of watching trusted friends (Psalm 55:13–14), and even a son (2 Samuel 15:10), turn into treacherous enemies who delighted in his tribulations and conspired against his life.

But right from the beginning, David had made the Lord his trust (Psalm 40:4). He refused to lift his hand against Saul, whom the Lord had anointed king (1 Samuel 24:6). He sought the Lord’s guidance when it came to waging war (2 Samuel 5:19). And when conspired against or defamed, he would not personally take revenge (2 Samuel 16:5–14). Everyone knew that he claimed to trust God. Therefore, God’s name was at stake in how he conducted himself. If vengeance belonged to God (Deuteronomy 32:35), then he must trust God to preserve and vindicate him, and not pursue it himself.

Read More