Psalm 62

My Hope comes from Him

One question that people often ask of God is why bad things happen to good people.  It seems like David attempts to answer that question in this psalm of praise.  He attempts to tell us that living a wicked life is hollow and pointless, whereas God is a refuge and fortress for your soul, which provides comfort through tough times and throughout eternity.  The final line states that God rewards everyone based on what they do, perhaps meaning that while the wicked may prosper in this life, but God will reward the righteous in the next.
David takes comfort in the fact that those who oppose him are meaningless in the grand scheme of things.  "They are nothing" he tells us, "They are only a breath".  Personally, I find those to be comforting words.  We don't need the Lord to be the fortress against the wicked that David speaks about, because God does not need a fortress against the wicked.  Those who oppose God are no match for God.  They are only a breath, and they can be blown away with no effort.  Whatever wealth they acquire, whatever lies they tell, all of the honor they think they have won?  It is nothing.  It just blows away.  God's fortress can never blow away.

Those opposed to David are like the hypocrites Christ spoke out against.  These people bless God in speech, "but in their hearts they curse".  Their faith is meaningless and insignificant, as it is fake.  It's a house that looks beautiful on the outside, but inside it is rotting out.  It too, is only breath.  It will be blown away.  David speaks of the importance of allowing God in your heart, rather than merely offering praise.  David uses the word "Salvation" 6 times in 12 verses.  God is his salvation from the evil of the world.  While the wicked around him may try to injure his body and reputation, God is within his soul, providing him salvation.  God is a refuge from the wicked.

Even in our own lives, we feel like bad people seem to get all of the breaks, while those who do the right thing are marginalized and ridiculed.  People may treat your values as childish, naive, or out-dated and pointless.  David tells us that this is not the case.  The Lord is with you in "unfailing love".  To me, that love is worth more than the approval of those whose actions are meaningless; Only breath.  It's important to me that I put my faith in something that matters; something that is deep and has meaning.  I  won't blow away.

1 Truly my soul finds rest in God;
    my salvation comes from him.
2 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

3 How long will you assault me?
    Would all of you throw me down—
    this leaning wall, this tottering fence?
4 Surely they intend to topple me
    from my lofty place;
    they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless,
    but in their hearts they curse.

5 Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
    my hope comes from him.
6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God;
    he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, you people;
    pour out your hearts to him,
    for God is our refuge.

9 Surely the lowborn are but a breath,
    the highborn are but a lie.
If weighed on a balance, they are nothing;
    together they are only a breath.
10 Do not trust in extortion
    or put vain hope in stolen goods;
though your riches increase,
    do not set your heart on them.

11 One thing God has spoken,
    two things I have heard:
“Power belongs to you, God,
12     and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”;
and, “You reward everyone
    according to what they have done.”