"Trust in Him at all times you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us" (Psalm 62:8).
The greatest defense we have against temptation is to focus on God and not ourselves. The more we become introspective and removed from God’s means of grace, the more vulnerable we become to the snares of Satan. In Psalm 62, David fortifies himself against temptation by praying to the Lord and meditating on His steadfast faithfulness. David does not keep his fears pent up inside, but He brings them before the Lord. God alone is our rock and our fortress; therefore, we need not hide our weaknesses and fears from Him; instead, we must cast them on Him.
Too often when we are distressed, we do not seek freedom in prayer.
Instead, we cease to pray because our problems consume our thoughts, which leads us to anxiety and despair. Calvin describes this tendency to hide our troubles from God as “a diseased but deeply-rooted principle in our nature, which leads us to hide our griefs, and ruminate upon them, instead of relieving ourselves at once by pouring out our prayers and complaints before God. The consequence is that we are distracted more and more with our distresses, and merge into a stale of hopeless despondency.”
To avoid this hopeless state, we must fortify our minds against temptation by having correct and exalted views of the power and mercy of God. Nothing will deliver us from our distress except a firm persuasion that all events are in the hand of God.
If we doubt that God is able or willing to help us, we have no hope, and we will sink into despair. Therefore, we must come to understand that there can be no real trusting in God until we put away vain confidences in ourselves and realize that only God, who is all-powerful and filled with mercy, can make us secure.
Assurance of God’s power and love comes when we look to His Word. If we neglect the Scriptures, we will not know the truth God has communicated to us, and we will easily fall under the sway of temptation.
When we study His Word, we find that His promises are true and that He is worthy of our complete trust. Be fortified by the Word that you may trust more deeply in the Lord and experience the freedom of casting your burdens on Him.
