In the silence we wait for the only solution with sure promise

By Dean Collins

Our numerous solutions to big problems and hopeless situations show glimmers of hope from time to time. But just as often they prove to be unreliable. They are cheap solutions and they tend to wear thin and wear out. Someone, maybe it was someone’s mother, said it best: You get what you pay for! But our theology, at least good theology, would differ from that remark. The thing we need, the thing that is reliable and sustainable, wasn’t cheap. And we did not pay for it. It came with great love and sacrifice. It came through power surrendered that life might be given.

The psalmist couldn’t have known the reach of his words when he penned Psalm 62. He likely did not see the ultimate salvation that would be offered and received in the days, years, and centuries ahead. Yet we can learn, must learn, what the psalmist found to be true in his moment, his challenging and even life-threatening situation. We’ve seen in our own lives where he was then, but we often forget. Our memory tends to fail us in times of struggle. In the face of a threat, our anxiety can create memory loss. Thankfully the psalms remind us and we must remind one another.

Heavy Concerns

I suspect most of us would agree we’ve been where he was. In fact, several times. We will continue to get to this same situation before life’s over. If this is your first time to this moment, then you might not notice the look in the eyes of some who have seen it. Hopefully, for those of us who have been here before, this time we will arrive at the right stance sooner and we will stay longer. You newcomers will be well served in the coming years to remember these moments and park where the psalmist arrived in this psalm.

Now, today, we are here again with concerns about the future. Not just the future of the Ukrainians. Their future is important, to be sure. But as has always been the case, though we tend to forget this as well, all of our futures are connected. And let’s also remember all of us are flawed and broken and in need of help beyond what we believe we can create and depend on. Time and time again we have found that what we choose to lean against eventually bends and breaks.

Time and time again we have found that what we choose to lean against eventually bends and breaks.

Some have hoped the Democrats or the Republicans, this president or the next one, would solve our problem. But political solutions have limitations (though politicians don’t always admit them). We’ve at times relied on inventors, on the rich, on various ideologies and power structures, but time and time again they fade away or crumble.

One salvation

So whatever the current crisis in our life might be, from the individual battle to the world’s great conflicts of the moment, the psalmist has a reminder of where we can turn and on whom we can rely, and that is God alone.

“For God alone my soul waits in silence. . . . He alone is my rock and salvation, my fortress.”

The psalmist’s opening may be his way of telling himself this truth. Or maybe he is declaring it in prayer to God. Sometimes we forget the things we say in our heads are said to God as well. Sometimes we tell ourselves and God the truth. Often we don’t. To stay honest with him and ourselves likely requires the silence the psalmist also mentions. “For God alone my soul waits in silence.”

I suspect we need to turn off the news, the devices, the noise of crowds and sit alone in silence where we might, in fact, meet God alone. Conversations with each other can offer comfort, but unless one or more in the conversation have discovered the truth of the psalm, the conversations may simply add more noise that needs to be silenced.

One condition

To be healthy spiritually we must find silence. Our lives fight against the noise. And we have many wonderfully noisy jobs and relationships. Children make noise. Conversations are spoken. Music is important. You get the point. But sometime in each day, even if for just a few minutes, we must find silence where we can meet God alone. Where we breathe in the silence. Where we wait, listen, and remember.

Whatever the problem personally or internationally, there will be opinions. Some will be good opinions. But strategies and wishful thinking built in the absence of some who are willing to meet God in the silence offer little lasting hope.

It doesn’t matter how much or how little money we have. Our lifetimes are but a breath of time. But in our breathing and maybe only in our quiet, simple breathing is where we will discover not simply answers. In the quiet we find salvation and strength. And from this place we will also be given wisdom.

I will stop. What is needed is to read Psalm 62 and to wait and listen in the silence.

Your time with God’s Word
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭62:1-12‬ ‭ESV

Photo by Artem Kovalev on Unsplash

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