Bible Commentaries

Psalms 62:1, Psalms 62:5

We have here two corresponding clauses, each, beginning a section of the Psalm. The difference is that the one expresses the Psalmist's patient stillness of submission, and the other is his self-encouragement to that very attitude and disposition which he has just professed to be his.

Notice:—

I. The expression of waiting. That one word "truly" or "only" is the record of conflict and the trophy of victory, the sign of the blessed effect of effort and struggle in a truth more firmly held, and in a submission more perfectly practised. The words literally run, "My soul is silence unto God." That forcible form of expression describes the completeness of the Psalmist's unmurmuring submission and quiet faith. His whole being is one great stillness, broken by no clamorous passions, by no loud-voiced desires, by no remonstrating reluctance. His silence is (1) a silence of the will. The plain meaning of this phrase is resignation; and resignation is just a silent will. Such a silent will is a strong will. The true secret of strength lies in submission. (2) We must keep our hearts silent too. He cannot say, "My soul is silent unto God," whose whole being is buzzing with vanities and noisy with the din of the market-place. (3) There must be the silence of the mind, as well as of the heart and will. We must cultivate the habit of detaching our thoughts from earth and keeping our minds still before God, that He may pour His light into them.

II. This man's profession of utter resignation is perhaps too high for us; but we can make his self-exhortation our own. The silence of the soul before God is no mere passiveness. It requires the intensest energy of all our being to keep all our being still and waiting upon Him. So put all your strength into the task, and be sure that your soul is never so intensely alive as when in deepest abnegation it waits hushed before God.

A. Maclaren, Weekday Evening Addresses, p. 151.

References: Psalms 62:2.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii., No. 80. Psalms 62:5.—Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 59. Psalms 62:5, Psalms 62:6.—C. Stanford, Expository Sermons and Outlines on the Old Testament, p. 237. Psalms 62:8.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 247. Psalms 62:11.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. x., p. 218. Psalm 62—A. Maclaren, Life of David, p. 255.