Week 4
Day 4

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Psalms about Temptation

Victory Over Temptation

Psalm 62

To the victor, upon jeduthun⁹; a psalm of David.

Only with God is there stillness of my soul;

From Him is my salvation.

He only is my Rock and my Salvation;

My High Tower; I shall not be greatly moved.

How long will you assault a man?

Will you murder, all of you,

As a leaning wall, a fence thrust aside?

They only counsel to expel him from his eminence;

They are well pleased in a lie;

With the mouth they bless,

But in their inward part they revile him. Selah.

Only with God may my soul be still;

For from Him is my hope.

He only is my Rock and my Salvation;

My High Tower; I shall not be moved.

Upon God is my salvation and my glory;

The Rock of my strength, my protection, is in God.

Trust in Him at every time, ye people;

Spill out your heart before Him;

God is protection for us. Selah.

Surely the sons of man are vanity;

The sons of a man are a lie.

Going up into the balances,

They are lighter than vanity altogether.

Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery;

When your belongings are bountiful, set not the heart thereon.

Once has God spoken, twice have I heard this:

That strength belongs to God;

And to Thee, O Lord, is mercy;

For Thou repayest to a man according to his deeds.

Their inward part (v. 4)

AE 313:14. “In the midst” [or “inward part”] signifies in the whole, because in the inmost. For such as the inmost is, such is the whole, since from the inmost all the rest are brought forth and derived, as the body is from its soul; the inmost of everything is also what is called the soul. For example: The inmost of man is his will and understanding from it, and such as is the will and the understanding from it, such is the whole man. So again, the inmost of man is his love and faith from love, and such as is his love and faith from it, such is the whole man.

He only is my Rock (v. 2).

Inv. 35. The keys of the kingdom of the heavens were given to Peter, because he represented the Lord as to the Divine Truth; and Divine truth is what is meant by “a rock” throughout the whole of the Sacred Scripture. On this account [it is said], “On this rock,” that is, on this Divine Truth, “I will build My church,” namely, on this truth, that the Lord is “THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD” (Matt. 16:15-19).

AE 411:11. “Rock” means Divine truth from the Lord, and the Lord Himself... in the gospels: “Everyone who hears My words and does them, I will liken him to a prudent man, who built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, yet it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock (Matt. 7:24-25; Luke 6:48). “The house founded upon a rock” means the church and the man of the church who has founded his doctrine and life upon the Divine truth, which is from the Lord, thus upon those things that are in the Word. Consequently it means someone who is in truths from good from the Lord.

It is said, “who is in truths from good,” because Divine truth is not received by anyone who is not in good. To be in good is to be in the good of life, which is charity. Therefore it is said, “he who hears My words and does them.” “Doing the Lord’s words” is the good of life, for truth, when a man does it, becomes good, because it then enters the will and love, and whatever becomes of the will and love is called good.

Temptations, in which such a man of the church does not fall but conquers, are signified by “the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon the house, and yet it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.” For in the Word “floods of waters” and “rains,” and also “tempests of wind,” signify temptations.... This makes plainly evident that “rock” in the Word signifies the Lord in respect to Divine truth, or Divine truth from the Lord.

⁹“Jeduthun” is related to the Hebrew word for thanksgiving and confession.

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