Psalm Meditation 1053 Proper 16 August 23, 2020 Psalm 62 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 never be shaken. 3 How long will you assail a person, will you batter your victim, all of you, as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence? 4 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. Selah 5 For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 7 On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah 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. 10 Put no confidence in extortion, and set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them. 11 Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, 12 and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord. For you repay to all according to their work. (NRSV) Sometimes it is more important to know what is beyond our ability than to know what is possible for us. I was lucky enough to have older brothers to teach me that things like jumping off the garage roof wearing a beach towel cape does not make flight possible. (I don't remember any of trying such a thing, but it makes my point.) Knowing that we can’t fly keeps us safer than knowing we can get on to the garage roof and jump off. There is a long list of God things that we are unable to do as well, and the psalmist points out some of them. We are not able to achieve salvation on our own. We can’t work hard enough or do enough to get ourselves into heaven. We can’t stand unshaken in any permanent way on our own. We can stand firm against a lot of challenges, however, eventually we will fall to the ground broken on our own. We can’t take refuge on our own, especially from adversities with eternal consequences. For all of these things we need something, someone bigger than ourselves, and bigger than the adversity. We need God. We each have an impressive list of things we can do on our own. Those around us appreciate when we do what we can to care for ourselves, as well as when we offer our talents and abilities to help others. There is also a long list of things for which we need help to accomplish. Most people are happy to help out where they are able. This list includes the things that only God can do. God acts in our lives out of steadfast love for us. There is nothing we can do to earn or deserve God’s love, we can only accept it as a gift given out of love. August 17, 2020 LCM