God Alone

A Sermon Preached at Salem United Church of Christ

Higginsville, Missouri

24 January 2021

I. Quiet Trust

• There is a temptation to read this psalm simply as a celebration of trust in God alone without keeping the opening verses in mind – those first four verses tell us that the singer of the psalm is not naïve or out of touch with reality – they tell us that the singer is well aware that there are enemies all around, which then tells us that the singer’s trust in God comes only with difficulty
• The singer begins with a declaration that his soul waits quietly for God – this is not a statement about not speaking aloud, but of having a peaceful spirit, of living peacefully with trust in God alone
• Several times in this psalm the singer uses the word for “alone” or “only” – and, honestly, for many of us, maybe most of us, maybe even all of us, that is the problem – there are just so many competing powers in the world around us that trusting in God alone is not easy – and the singer of the psalm knows this, too
• The psalmist knows this because even though God is the rock and deliverance and the haven for him, and even though the singer does not believe he will be shaken, the psalmist is also surrounded by others who attack him, to crush him as if he were a leaning wall or a tottering fence – these are images of instability and weakness – all it takes is a nudge and the fence or the wall could fall – and the others are ready to give the singer that nudge
• The others plan and plot against the singer, telling lies, and speaking out of both sides of their mouths, as we might say – outwardly blessing and inwardly cursing the singer – the singer knows very well that all is not as it could be, not as it should be
• So, the singer restates the opening declaration as an inward statement – instead of averring that his soul waits quietly for God, the singer now implores his soul to wait quietly for God, reminding himself that God is the rock and deliverance and haven – reminding himself that he relies on God, trusts in God
• Then the singer turns to the congregation, or to us, encouraging them also to trust in God alone – as it has been with the singer, trusting that God is a constant and unwavering refuge, so it can be with everyone around him
• Standing before God, the singer tells the congregation that all people are merely a breath, a momentary exhalation of air, here one second and gone the next, an illusion, nothing – if all people were on one side of a scale, a breath would outweigh them
• The singer next turns to the things that we human beings trust, so he can demonstrate that we trust in the wrong things – do not trust in violence or robbery or force – these give false hope, false security – these human ways promise peace and safety, but they cannot deliver
• Power, true power, belongs only to God – steadfast love, faithfulness, belongs only to God – and God rewards all people according to their deeds, which is not a threat of punishment but an affirmation that only when we trust in God alone will we actually find what we hope to find through our futile trust in ourselves and our own ways

II. God Alone

• When the psalmist exhorts us to trust in God, what do we think it means? – too often in our modern world, we equate trust with belief – we reduce trust in God to beliefs about God – then our relationship with God becomes simply a matter of having right beliefs without regard to how we live our lives
• Just as did the ancient people, we trust violence and robbery and force – we trust wealth and worldly power – we trust status – we trust ourselves – this is not a condemnation of us – it is simply true –Jesus knew it – in his Sermon on the Mount, he said “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6.21), and even though we wish it were the other way around, that our treasure would go where our hearts already were, we know at some level that Jesus is correct – and in Jesus’ statement, we could substitute “trust” where he said “heart”
• We trust what we can see, and we see the effects of worldly power – we see the violence all around us and we trust in violence to protect us – we believe that the way to overcome our weaknesses is with a show of strength and force – it is what we do
• In the lectionary readings for this week, from Mark 1, I Corinthians 7, and Jonah 3, we read about repentance – we see what can come of it – we hear of Jesus proclaiming it – we see Paul telling the Corinthians that the form of this world is passing away and calling for a change of heart and mind away from what is passing and toward what endures – we feel Jonah’s anger at God’s grace on Israel’s enemies who change their lives
• And in this psalm, the singer’s exhortation to readers and hearers of the song is also a call to repent, to turn away from human ways of violence, robbery, and force, and toward trust in God – not toward right beliefs, but toward a loving relationship of trust in the one who holds true might and steadfast love
• The ways of the world are seductive – they claim to offer hope and peace and security – they claim to be a haven, a refuge for us – but the hope and peace and security and refuge are not for everyone – the world might offer such things to a few, but never to everyone – and we forget the fine print on the offer – Jesus referred to it when he asked what profit we have even if we gain the whole world when the cost is our souls (Mark 8.36)
• Our hope is in God alone – our security is in God alone – our deliverance from the ways of the world and from ourselves is in God alone – our refuge, our protection, is in God alone – it is not a matter of what we believe, but of whom we trust
• One thing God has spoken; two things have I heard: that might belongs to God alone, and faithfulness is yours, O Lord

III. Conclusion

• Human ways and self-serving and selfish and inevitably disappoint us, and God never disappoints us – God’s power is never power over us or over anyone – it is always power for us and for all, to bring abundant life fully into this world – and it comes from God alone
• Steadfast love belongs to God alone – and in that love we can be quiet, at peace, serene, because that love is all over us, all around us, and fills us – and it comes from God alone
• The psalmist recognizes that God alone holds life, and that is the life in which we live and move and have our being (Acts 17.28) – for us and for all people, everything we need we find in God alone