Only in God

I  recently landed on a television show about Death Valley. It’s the hottest place in North America—134 degrees on record—and yet, beneath the surface are deep, water-filled caverns. One of them, called Devil’s Hole, drops 500 feet and holds a rare species of fish found nowhere else on earth. But that tiny population is almost gone. Scientists don’t know why.

I thought about what it means to be endangered. To be on the verge of extinction. To be fragile and uncertain of tomorrow. Sometimes life feels like that—when discouragement closes in, when you feel forgotten, when your faith wavers under pressure.

David knew that feeling. In Psalm 62, he describes being surrounded by enemies who treated him like “a leaning wall, a tottering fence.” But instead of giving in to fear, David turns to God and finds peace. He doesn’t pray for revenge. He doesn’t panic. He quietly trusts. “I am at rest in God alone,” he says. “My salvation comes from him.”

That phrase—God alone—is the heartbeat of this psalm. In Hebrew, it appears six times in the first nine verses. David is driving home one point: Only God is worthy of trust. Not God plus someone else. Not God plus wealth, power, or human approval. Just God.

It’s easy to say we trust God. But often, we trust Him and something else. We lean on our savings, our reputation, our friends, or our plans. James Boice once said, “To pretend to trust God but not to trust him only is like having one foot on a rock and another on something that’s moving away.” That’s how many of us live—half on the rock, half on shifting sand.

David learned the peace that comes when you stop straddling the line. “He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will never be shaken.” His calm wasn’t denial; it was surrender. The storm hadn’t passed, but his heart was steady because it rested on something unshakable. In verses 5-8, David’s faith deepens. He begins by saying he will not be greatly shaken. Later, he says, I will not be shaken at all. Trust grows when you keep walking with God through the storm. Each day you survive becomes another reason to trust Him again tomorrow.

Then David turns outward: “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is our refuge.” This is not just his testimony—it’s his invitation. What David found in God, he wanted others to find too.

And that’s what the church is—a gathering of people who have fled to God for refuge. You’re surrounded by people who have been where you are: in the valley, under pressure, fighting fear. Some have failed, repented, and started over. Some are still in the storm. But all have found mercy and strength in the same place—in God alone.

If you’re looking for peace, you’ll never find it by adding one more thing to your list of securities. You’ll find it when you stop striving and rest in the only One who cannot fail. He alone is your rock. He alone is your salvation. Trust in Him at all times. God is our refuge.