Psalm 62:1-4 English Standard Version (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.

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

We are emotional people. We all have primary emotional needs. Here in Psalm 62 we see King David expressing one of the primary emotional needs, security. His expressions of security can be seen in the words he uses. Fortress, leaning wall, tottering fence, being thrust down, and being cursed are all signs of emotional insecurity.

Within these lines of verse we can also see spiritual security. David is confident within his soul because of his spiritual security. His expressions change with the introduction of forces outside his relationship with God. Verse 3 introduces a sense of being attacked by human will. His defenses, position and reputation are under attack from the world he lives in.

Security of the believer helps within the Kingdom of God but we live in the world and have to deal with all those other insecurities. Financial, physical, career, relational, health, environmental, and emotional insecurities can haunt us to the point of creating self-doubt and reacting from raw emotions rather than effective planning.

David uses the word Selah at the end of verse 4. It means a meaningful pause. We are encouraged to mediate on what has been said. David’s trust in the Lord came before his concerns of the world. It is reasonable to believe that God is on our side and will help us in these trying times. The basic truth about that help has to come from our use of His Word to direct our lives in the first place.

Do we use the Word of God to direct our lives?

Proverbs 26:16 English Standard Version (ESV) The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.

My guess would be that this verse in proverbs is rarely quoted. A few days ago I mentioned that we all need to be careful of following the dog that has no sense of what he is chasing. They bark loud and appear confident.

This proverb seems to be insulting. Is it insulting to answer sensibly? No, of course not, but it isn’t going to change the mind of the loud and proud. Neither is it comely to bark back loudly.

Proverbs 15:1 English Standard Version (ESV) A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

I have seen this quote many times but had not connected it to Proverbs 26:16 until just now. As I looked into the word used for sluggard in 26:16 I discovered that it is actually a variant spelling in the Hebrew. The primary definition is indolent. The modern definition of indolent leads us to the understanding that the indolent want to avoid activity or exertion. In this case they have not challenged what they have been told because it is not in their nature.

In terms of the hound, their only recourse to reason is to bark louder. You cannot reason with a hound that has been bred to be louder. The volume of error does not make for truth. The real issue in this case is to understanding the breeding cycle. It is not the hounds fault that he was bred to howl.

Romans 1:21-22 (ESV) For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

They were allowed to breed, which is why we encounter the indolent.