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The sermon interprets Psalm 62:5 as a comprehensive summons for the soul to wait only upon God. Spurgeon teaches that believers should make God their life’s object, sole dependence, guide, protection, and expectation, trusting His providential care rather than people, wealth, reputation, or personal planning. Anxiety is answered by confidence in the Father’s knowledge and provision, while contentment and non-retaliation are presented as practical fruits of faith. The sermon concludes with a clear gospel appeal: salvation is through faith in Christ alone, followed by baptism as the visible sign of that faith.
Theological center: God’s sovereign providence and saving grace make Him the believer’s sole ground of confidence, while salvation is received through faith in Christ and signified by baptism.
Applications: Wait Only Upon God · Make God Your Life’s Object · Cast Your Care on God · Depend on God Alone
Primary texts: Psalm 62:5 · Matthew 6:26-32 · Mark 16:16
“My soul, wait thou only upon God.” Psalm 62:5 CALVIN translates this verse, “My soul, be thou silent before God.” Rest calm and undisturbed. Your enemies are round about you and have sorely beset you. Your troubles do surround you like strong bulls of Bashan. But rest, my soul, in God. Your enemies are mighty, but HE is Almighty. Your troubles are grievous, but He is greater than your troubles and He shall deliver you from them. Let not your soul be agitated. The wicked are like the troubled sea that cannot rest—be not thou like unto them. Be thou calm—let not a wave ruffle your untroubled spirit. “Cast thy burden on the Lord,” and then sleep on His bosom. Commit your way unto JEHOVAH, and then rest in sure and certain confidence, for— “He everywhere hath sway, And all things serve His might; His every act is pure blessing, His path unsullied light.” Oh! that we had grace to carry out the text in that sense of it! It is a hard matter to be calm in the day of trouble. But it is a high exercise of divine grace when we can stand unmoved in the day of adversity and feel that— “Should the earth’s old pillars shake, And all the wheels of nature break, Our stedfast souls would fear no more Than solid rocks when billows roar.” That is to be a Christian indeed. Nothing is so sweet as to— “Lie passive in God’s hand, And know no will but His.” I shall, however, this morning keep to the authorized version. “My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him.” Here is, first, an exhortation and secondly, an expectation. I. We begin with the EXHORTATION. The psalmist was a preacher and it was quite right that he should sometimes make himself his congregation. The preacher who neglects to preach to himself has forgotten a very important part of his audience. He who never in his privacy speaks a word to his own soul does not know where to begin his preaching. We must first address our own soul. If we can move that by the words we may utter, we may hope to have some power with the souls of others. And note where David begins his exhortation, “My soul, wait thou upon God.” He addresses the very center of his being. “My soul, I preach to you, for if you go wrong, all is amiss. If you are amiss, my eyes follow after vanity, my lips utter leasing, my feet become swift to shed blood, and my hands meddle with mischief. My soul, I will preach to you. My face, I will not preach to you. Some men preach to their faces and try to put on their countenances emotions which they never feel. No, countenance, I will leave you alone—you will be right enough if the soul is…