We rely on this Psalm during scary times in our walk with the Lord. Before we knew each other and now, in marriage, our scariest moments have been when we make decisions. And almost every decision we’ve made as a couple has been met with opposition.

Both of us care way too much about what other people think. It’s stressful, to say the least.

In just two years of marriage, we’ve collected a long list of decisions that were challenged by people we love: to date long-distance, Alyssa moving to California, getting engaged, getting married, working in ministry together, moving to Texas, buying a house, learning to understand people from radically different backgrounds than our own, and most recently, adopting our baby girl.

As we recount these moments in our story, how we’ve faced our fear of disappointing people we love or taken on new challenges that were harder than we imagined, we continue to hear these words from Psalm 62:

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress,
I will never be shaken.

We hear the still, small voice whisper, “Wait on me in silence. Don’t wait for the pain to be over. Don’t wait for the celebration to come. Don’t wait for people to understand you. Don’t wait for people to approve of you. Don’t wait for harmony. Wait for me, and you will not be shaken.”

Each of us will face a fork in the road. Maybe you already have. It’s that spot where you realize life is hard and you can do life hard with God or you can do life hard without God.

Our hope is that you choose to walk through the hard stuff of this season with God. We hope that sitting in Psalm 62 this week reveals that He is for you, and He is a firm foundation when things feel shaky.

The Psalmist writes about waiting in silence. I recently heard on a podcast that silence in prayer is the way that God empathizes with us. Silence is the very space we learn to look into the eyes of God, bringing whatever doubt, pain, joy, and celebration we have before God’s throne.

Our souls don’t always need answers as much as they just need to be heard. It is in the quiet that we find God loving us in ways we cannot express with words. The Psalmist describes God as a rock, salvation, and a fortress for our souls. These words convey strength, and still, there’s some tenderness to it. When everything seems out of balance, the one thing that remains steadfast and unshakeable is the presence of the Living God. And in the presence of God, we are freed from judgment, freed from the compulsion to achieve and accomplish, allowed to let go of our need to please others. All of these things slowly slip away.

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

God never promised to take away our pain – at least not on this side of heaven. But He is the only one who has promised to stay with us in it and to see us through.