Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

It was a warm September day as Conrad Vasquez Martinez climbed to the roof of the laboratory building where he worked in Mexico City’s Roma Norte neighborhood.

The 67-year-old mechanic was working on the building’s heating system when he felt the entire structure leap into the sky as a 7.1 magnitude earthquake ripped through the city.

Immediately Martinez turned off the flow of the heating gas (which may have saved numerous lives), and then ran as hard as he could over the bucking, crumbling rooftop to a corner of the building where a large tree branch had grown close to the edge.

Martinez had always joked with his co-workers that if they ever had to get off the roof in a hurry, he was going to jump off the roof and grab that branch.

He hit the edge of the roof, leaped off and grabbed the tree branch—which promptly broke.

He managed to hold on, falling through a lower branch onto the sidewalk four stories below hard enough to break his leg and his hip.

But as he lay there, dazed from the fall, a metal balcony grill fell overtop of him, shielding him from the direct impact of rubble that tumbled over him.

The tree branch (which he was still holding onto) poked out of the debris, providing a trickle of airflow into his position.

As he tried to clear his face, nose and mouth from the rubble, he noticed that his water jug that he had with him on the roof had landed right within his reach.

“God is so great”, he said, “that even water was provided!”

He whistled and called for help until co-workers found him and rescued him from the debris.

(Retrieved from https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-mexico-earthquake-survivors-20170928-story.html,

accessed 06/16/2022)

What kind of refuge are you seeking today, as the world around you continues to be shaken?

We all have those “tree branches” in mind that we feel like we can jump onto if things start to go bad, a way that we can take refuge when challenging and difficult times come out way.

You have a good “emergency fund” built up in savings, so you figure you can manage the $5 gas prices.

You grew up with a good work ethic and were taught by your family to be industrious and self-sufficient, so you’re confident in your ability to survive.

You figure you have a good job at a company that likes you and values your contribution, and you take refuge in that good position.

You live in a quiet corner of west central PA, far away from the simmering hatred and crime of the big cities—you have a haven from all that here in this little valley.

Now, it’s certainly true that all of those things are blessings to you—your job, your home, your financial picture, your safety and security here in the hinterlands—these truly are good gifts of God for you during these days.

But David’s psalm this morning is a reminder to you that, as good as those things are, none of them can truly protect you in this tumultuous, uncertain world.

David makes this crystal-clear in this psalm, doesn’t he?

Psalm 62:1–2 (ESV)

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

2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

So here is what I want you to see from God’s Word here in Psalm 62 this morning, that

God is the only REFUGE worth SEEKING in a SHAKING world

The Hebrew word translated “only” or “alone” appears six times in this psalm; most of them are connected with David’s confident claim that only God can keep him from being shaken by the tribulations of this world.

He repeats the same lyrics, even more confidently, in verses 5-7:

Psalm 62:5–7 (ESV)

5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.

6 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

7 On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

And you can even see David’s confidence in God as his refuge growing as the psalm progresses—he says in verse 2 that he will not be greatly shaken; in verse 6 he goes even further, saying he will not be shaken at all by the trials and hardships arrayed against him, because God alone is his refuge.

As David sings this song of confidence in God his only refuge, he makes it clear that

I.

You can’t trust your ACCOMPLISHMENTS (Psalm 62:3-4)

Look at verses 3-4:

Psalm 62:3–4 (ESV)

3 How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? 4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.

They take pleasure in falsehood.

They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse.

Selah

David knew a thing or two about being attacked while he was in a high position.

We do not have an exact idea of the time this psalm was written, but several commentators suggest that this was another psalm that David composed while he was on the run from his son Absalom—who had slandered him to the people before he carried out his coup (cp. 2 Sam.

15:1-6).

David knew from personal experience that it doesn’t matter how hard you have worked to get where you are, it doesn’t matter how much honor or prestige or respectability you have earned—your accomplishments cannot be your refuge because

They are never as STABLE as you think (v. 3)

David uses the metaphor of being a “leaning wall” or “tottering fence” that someone tries to kick over—the modern idiom we would use is to “kick someone when they’re down”.

You don’t have to look very far today to see people that thought they were untouchable by hardships—that believed their position protected them from attacks—only to find out too late that their influence or reputation or authority and responsibility didn’t provide them any refuge at all.

To use a 21st Century category for this kind of thing, King David found himself “cancelled” by his enemies—enemies who didn’t care whether what they were saying was true; only that their accusations against him got them what they wanted.

To “thrust him down from his high position...”

It’s not just powerful people like senators and celebrities that are living in perpetual fear of being “cancelled”—millions of common, ordinary people live in perpetual fear of saying (or writing or posting) something politically incorrect that will bring the outrage mob down on them, and their career will collapse like a leaning wall overnight.

You know that there is no job or workplace that will protect you when that mob comes--

They will bring you DOWN with LIES (v. 4)

Psalm 62:4 (ESV)

4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.

They take pleasure in falsehood.

They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse.

Selah

Peter Vlaming was a French teacher at West Point High School in Virginia who had a female student insist that Vlaming refer to her as “him”.

He respectfully explained to his principal that he couldn’t in good conscience use masculine pronouns to refer to a female student—his principal issued Vlaming an official reprimand and explained that was the first step in terminating his employment.

Soon after, the West Point School Board voted unanimously to fire him.

(https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/commentary/12-people-canceled-the-left-after-expressing-conservative-views,

accessed 06/16/2022).

You may think that your position or your employer or your outstanding work history will be a refuge from trials—but God is the only refuge worth seeking in a shaking world.

You cannot trust your accomplishments in this shaking world—and David makes clear in verse 9 that

II.

You can’t trust your UPBRINGING (Psalm 62:9)

Psalm 62:9 (ESV)

9 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.

The word that David uses here that we translate “delusion” is related to the word “liar” or “deceptive”—you could translate this verse as saying, “those of high estate are fooling themselves!”

When it comes to finding refuge in a world that is being shaken apart,

SILVER SPOONS don’t count for much

You may have been born into a wealthy family, and the money and resources and connections from being born into wealth might certainly help you if you find yourself in trouble—but there are troubles and hardships that all the wealth in the world cannot protect you from.

David says that all of the wealth and influence and “weight” of that good family breeding will “go up in the balances”, “lighter than a breath”.

No help at all in the midst of a world being shaken.

The stock market crashes, your investments go up in a puff of inflation, your country club network dries up, and nobody at the unemployment office is impressed by your last name!

Now, of course, we’re already kind of hard-wired to take a dim view of people born into a high estate, aren’t we?

We like to think that the privileged, gated community set are going to have it rough when their shipments of Evian water and avocado toast dry up, but we’ll be fine, because we come from good old, down to earth hardy pioneer stock!

King David himself could identify with those kinds of humble roots—he was a shepherd, a common laborer who no one even thought to include in the search for the next king (1 Samuel 16:11ff).

But David makes it clear in this verse as well that, when it comes to finding a refuge in a world being shaken,

HUMBLE ROOTS don’t get you anywhere

“Those of low estate are but a breath...” David says.

There is no refuge, no confidence to be had in your upbringing, one way or another.

Whether you were born with all kinds of advantages or born with all kinds of challenges, the only refuge that is worth seeking is refuge in God Himself.

David calls his listeners—high and low alike—to trust in Him alone:

Psalm 62:8 (ESV)

8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.

Selah

David starts off exulting in God as a refuge for him, and now he turns to the rest of the world and says, “He is a refuge for us!

There is enough room in this stronghold for all of us!”

God is the only refuge worth seeking in a world that is being shaken around us.

You can’t trust your accomplishments, you can’t trust your upbringing, and

III.

You can’t trust your BANK ACCOUNT (Psalm 62:10)

Psalm 62:10 (ESV)

10 Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

At first it may seem odd that David goes to the trouble of warning his listeners not to “put their trust” in crime to save them—extortion and robbery would, at first glance, seem to be the furthest thing from the mind of someone who wants to put their hope in God!

But the Scriptures warn that it is very easy to let your trust in money and wealth become a snare that causes you to lose your integrity: