Psalm 62: Pour out our hearts

 PSALM 62   

1For God alone my soul in silence waits; * from God comes my salvation.   

2God alone is my rock and my salvation, *my stronghold, so that I shall not be greatly shaken.   

3How long will you assail me to crush me, all of you together, * as if you were a leaning fence, a toppling wall?   

4They seek only to bring me down from my place of honor; * lies are their chief delight.   

5They bless with their lips, * but in their hearts they curse.   

6For God alone my soul in silence waits; * truly, there is my hope.   

7God alone is my rock and my salvation, * my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken.   

8In God is my safety and my honor; * God is my strong rock and my refuge.   

9Put your trust in God always, O people; * pour out your hearts before the One who is our refuge.

10Those of high degree are but a fleeting breath; * even those of low estate cannot be trusted. 

11On the scales they are lighter than a breath, * all of them together. 

12Put no trust in extortion; in robbery take no empty pride; * though wealth increase, set not your heart upon it. 

13God has spoken once, twice have I heard it, * that power belongs to God. 

14Steadfast love is yours, O God, * for you repay everyone according to their deeds. 

I read the psalms in a 30 day cycle as it is laid out in my St Helena psalter. It is part of the daily readings with which I start every day.  Often these readings wash over me and I can't remember what they even said, let alone what meaning they imparted to me.  Sometimes all of them land like trench mortars in my gut and blow open my chest.  Today, this psalm, the first of three assigned to this morning, washed the others into oblivion (which is ok, they will come around next month and the whole thing will feel brand new). 

We currently (Feb 2025) have a madman in the Whitehouse.  He is, as my sage friend Chantal pointed out, a narcissist, playing off our fear and our emotions.  We ping-pong back and forth, reacting and running in terror, hair on fire.  Which is exactly what he wants: for us to be unstable and easily made to stumble - skandalon. This does not need to be our way. We can sit still and silent and listen to, reach for, rest in God alone.

For God alone my soul in silence waits; * from God comes my salvation

2God alone is my rock and my salvation, *my stronghold, so that I shall not be greatly shaken.

3How long will you assail me to crush me, all of you together, * as if you were a leaning fence, a toppling wall?  

Here is an image for the world.  A leaning fence or toppling wall.  This completely describes the sense of having now power, no STRENGTH to hold back the forces of the Universe.  My former mother-in-law, may her memory be a blessing, lived like this, feeling as if the emotions that the world thrust on her would crush her entirely. She depended on other people to hold that wall at bay. They disappointed her, I among them.

Read this psalm through a hundred times. Memorize it.  Tattoo it on your arm (I may well do this), and hold on to it until 2029. 

God alone is my rock and my salvation, * my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken.  

Set your intention:

Who or what is crushing you?  Who or what are you crushing?  Can you shift that weight enough to lean entirely on God?