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Psalm 62 reads as follows from the Oxford Annotated Bible: For God alone on my soul waits in –silence; From him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, My fortress; I shall never be shaken, How long will you assail a person, Will you batter your victim, all of you, As you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence? Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence, They take pleasure in falsehood, They bless with their mouths, But inwardly they curse, For God alone my soul waits in silence, For my hope is from him, He alone is my rock and my salvation, On God rests my deliverance an my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God, Trust in him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before him; God is refuge for us, Those to low estate are but a breath, Those of high estate are a delusion, In the balances they go up; They are together lighter than a breath, Put no confidence in extortion, An set no vain hopes on robbery; If riches increase, do not set your heart on them, Once God has spoken; Twice have I heard this: The power belongs to God, An steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord For you repay to all, According to their work. This psalm talks about seeking the Lord at all times or on all occasions. There can be a tendency to seek the Lord while you are on your way up, and then when you get what you want, settle in a bit and feel secure with what you have obtained. One of the things that can take on the illusion of security might be riches. Wealth can get us a lot in terms of comfort and having any number of things, and wealth is something that there often is a buildup towards so there is a feeling of achievement that comes with obtaining it. Yet according to this psalm this is not to be our place of confidence. Verse 9 says,” Those of low estate are but a breath, Those of high estate are a delusion; In the balances they go up; They are together lighter than a breath.” What this is saying is that yes, the help or assistance of others is something, but it doesn’t amount to enough. If you were in deep trouble, all of the help you can get from others is the equivalent of just getting on deep breath of relief. You do get something however limited it really is. With the Lord’s help, you can keep breathing easily. This is not to say that the help of others might be critical, but the essence of this help is limited. And this verse speaks of the help of everyone, added up collectively as containing the equivalent of a deep breath of relief. By analogy, someone might be on a adventure in the arctic and end up with just one patch of ice to stand on against the surrounding seas. This would represent what you might get with the help of men, the S.O.S. would be limited to maybe a little icy landscape. With the Lord’s help, you would get onto the vast open terrain of icy land to travel on, with the full protection from the seas and room to maneuver in these icy regions. This might be one possible metaphor, but of course it is much more extensive that than, when you would compare the help of man to the help of God. Another metaphor might be someone who is farming just a small patch of land, and the Lord’s help might represent vast plains of farmland made available in contrast to this small patch. In the book of Genesis, when Joseph gathered grain in Egypt for the coming famine which was to be for years and worldwide, the grain he gathered at first was large in amount then became without measure. This is a metaphor for the help of the Lord which is without measure. It might be that the farmer is used to the small patch of land and just accepts that and this is what he is used to. With this he might lose sight of possible opportunities that have a larger vision. We often operate expecting narrow windows of opportunity that we may or may not get through and this is what is familiar. If I am used to just trying to catch that one breath of opportunity, then I'm not going to be looking for the other chances that are more extenuating. Something to meditate on and ponder from this psalm is that some of the presenting opportunities from the Lord may have a much wider band to them, in any number of possible ways and there is the need to be able to see this and recognize this. In the book of Genesis, Joseph had his troubles and narrowly escaped them and this might have given him limited vision towards the Lord’s subsequent grandness for his life and presenting situations. Later in his story we see just how extensive the circumstances became to where the whole known population of the world needed to seek him out for grain for years on end. How did Joseph find this great vision from the overwhelming troubles that he did have, which could have been like clouds shadowing all but the smallest of possibilities. In this story, he did get help from man, but it was the help of the Lord, which got him to a spot that was far removed from his own prior difficulties. He did not, as he rose in the ranks to head of Egypt, look to bring down any person of prominence. Those who were prominent, shared in his success and he looked out for them as well. He didn't rely on falsehoods find his way. It might be for a given individual, that the window of a call, whatever that call might be, is rather large and longstanding and the call is to discuss this at all times but also to recognize it's largess, rather than just trying to search for narrow windows, when the wider opportunity is presenting itself. This is why there might be at times the need to look past the help of man just to see what the larger vision of God is and become cognizant of it. Because of the greater breath of this vision, it might seem to be too much. But the help of the Lord is something that from this psalm is to be for all times, when the matter can be of the point of discussion with him at all times if and when you do proceed into the vision. But with regards to all opportunities, options and possible ways to proceed, the help of man represents according to this psalm one good collective breath of fresh air which is essentially useful but also of a limited nature and greater help is needed. The key to this psalm is this ratio never changes and the comforts of life which may include wealth doesn’t change the truth that no matter what it is always going to be where the help of man is just about the equivalent of one deep breath as compared to the vastness of the Lord’s presence and help. This is why you can never be in a position where it isn’t worth it to seek the Lord at all times, and at all times, there will be an astounding and astonishing difference between the help of man and the presiding help of the Lord. This illusion is that any type of plateau you are on or have gotten to is not going to change this, the truth is the help of man and this includes the help you can give yourself, is basically always going to be strongly limited. Self reliance is not the answer either. Even viewing things more broadly, such as the achievements and advancements in society, along the lines of science, knowledge and computers, it still doesn’t change mathematics of all this help just amounting to one deep breath of relief and or vision. Nothing anyone can do is ever going to change this ratio. It is always going to be that small amount of help you can get from yourself and others, compared to the vastness of the Lord’s help and vision . This is the reason, why it is always worth it and advisable to seek the Lord at all times and on all occasions even when things seem to be going smoothly and great. Verse 8 says,” Trust in him at all times, O people pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. This key verse is partly an admonition but it is also an open invitation. Imagine in human terms having a chance to be with the people you most wanted to be with and then having them say, talk to me any time about anything. That is the most desirable scenario. This verse is saying to share anything with the Lord. This psalm is an invitation but also shows the practical aspect of how going to any other source is very limited in terms of actual help and value, and both now and in the moments and days ahead, it will be the superseding and presiding help of the Lord that rules and overrules all situations and surrounding circumstances.
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