Psalm 61
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. Of David.
1 Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer;
2 from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
This simple prayer doesn’t have a specific historical context which makes it broad in its application. Every human being can identify with these words. David is asking God to hear and pay attention. The first word of the psalm is the first word of the Shema -- “Hear O Israel, the LORD is your God, the LORD is one.” David uses this same command now in addressing God himself -- “Hear, O God, my cry” (literally). Not only does he ask God to hear but also to pay attention, continually listen and be aware of his plight. David is calling to God from the “ends of the earth”. In terms of location, David feels about as far away from civilization as one can get. This feels like a long distance call for David. The phrase, “extremities of the earth” suggests the barren wastelands to the east and south of the land of Judah, a desert devoid of people and with limited life in general. In terms of emotion, David’s heart is overwhelmed, faint and feeble by this crisis. His prayer is simple, beautiful and expressed in a metaphor: “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” As David looks about the wilderness he sees plenty of rocks, but in the distance he sees a mountain, a rock that is higher, where he can gain new perspective and vision. The mountains also represented security, a place to hide above it all, protected by caves and crags. It was a place of rest where the enemy could not easily sneak up on you, where temperatures were cooler, and in some cases, refreshing rain more likely. Love for the mountains seems to be a universal human experience for the most part. I will never forget the first time I saw mountains, driving across the rolling hills of eastern Colorado and seeing Pikes Peak rise majestically above the plain. I was hooked. To David, God himself is the mountain of rest, security and refreshment, and he prays here that God would then lead him to himself, to know Him better in the midst of this crisis. The text specifically says that this Rock is higher than David himself. This suggests that David recognizes his own inability to solve his own problems. He has looked to himself as the rock to find security, rest, and refreshment, and looking within himself he realizes that he does not have the resources. He needs something, someone outside himself. We must realize the same truth. We need a rock that is higher than ourselves. We need rescue from outside ourselves, to confess our failure and acknowledge our need for help. This is the first step -- laying aside our pride and calling out to God for help. This prayer is ultimately answered by Jesus, the Rock, the chief cornerstone on whom the church is built, ordered, and secured.
3 for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.
4 Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah
David elaborates on the metaphor of God as a “rock that is higher than I” with a series of images that clarify. This rock is a refuge, a defensible fortress from enemy attack, a tent that I can sleep securely in, and it is like the shelter that little birds experience from a protective mother bird. In Psalm 46:1 the writer declares that God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. This God moves into our city and dwells with us. This psalm takes that same idea and imagines it in a wilderness. God himself is our shelter and we set up camp protected by natural rock formations that place us above the plain, enabling us to see an enemy coming from afar, and providing immovable objects behind which to hide when the arrows fly. high stone walls. We are safe and secure in him. And when the enemies do attack, not with slings and arrows but with words and thoughts, we run to the strong tower, the truth of who God is and who we are. It is a spiritual battle against thoughts and so the weapons of this battle are words. In moments like this we need to speak truth to ourselves as a strong tower. And when the day is done and the battle fought, we can sleep secure in God’s tent. Going to sleep during battle is an act of faith. How can you rest when you could be surprised by an enemy attack at any moment? You need a trusted guard who will not sleep or slumber. Then you can fall asleep in a tent and experience refreshment for your body. God is that trusted guard while we sleep. There is no tent that can stop arrows and bullets, but while we are unaware, God is watching out for us. I don’t understand this mystery, but this is what this text and others day. Psalms 901 and 121 are both psalms about God’s protection, and like Psalm 91, David employs the metaphor of a mother bird protecting her young under her wing. This frequent metaphor in the Psalms must have been easily observed in nature. Come up upon a bird’s next and you’ll be squawked at and divebombed as a tiny little creature fearlessly defends her young at the potential cost of her own life. This is also a fitting metaphor of the way in which Jesus defended us from the enemies of sin and death at the cost of his own life. God can be trusted, so shelter in him and sleep well. You can stay with him forever.
5 For you, O God, have heard my vows; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
6 Prolong the life of the king; may his years endure to all generations!
The request for shelter is immediately followed by a statement of confidence and trust as if the prayer has already been answered. David declares that God has heard him and given him an inheritance, the inheritance that all who revere God receive. The inheritance is not wealth and land, but God himself. This is particularly clear in Psalm 73:26 where God is identified as the psalmist’s strength and portion. Also, Psalm 16:5-6 where David states that “the LORD is my chosen portion and my cup. You hold my lot. The lines for me have fallen in pleasant places. Indeed I have a beautiful inheritance.” In a crisis, the believer doesn’t always receive the desired answer to prayer, but the one who trusts God in a crisis always receives God’s presence and reality as a strong tower to rest secure. This promise belongs to those who fear God, that is, those who worship and reverence him and make him ultimate in their lives. If God is your ultimate, you have all that you really need. David continues his prayer with a request for a long life, literally, “days upon day, generation and generation”, stating it now in the third person, “Prolong the life of the king”. David is the king so he is praying that he will live to see his children grow up and have grandchildren with one of his descendants always on the throne. A long life is something that everyone desires, the universal desire to see yourself passed on in the lives of your children and grandchildren, your influence and your very DNA we now know living in others for generations to come -- the closest thing that we get to immortality on the earth. This doesn’t mean that believers will never die young. Unfortunately, I know this all too well, but it does mean that in general, a believer will enjoy a long and happy life because they have a resource that the unbeliever does not, the capacity to align their life with the reality of a God who loves them and is working for their ultimate good. Alternatively, when you build your life on a foundation of lies that do not coincide with reality, you are setting yourself up for failure. Reality wins every time.
7 May he be enthroned forever before God; appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!
8 So will I ever sing praises to your name, as I perform my vows day after day.
Verse 7 echoes David’s prayer in the previous verse as he prays for the king (himself) to be seated forever before God with God’s faithful love and truth to serve as his throne attendants, palace guards. The prepositional phrase “before God” is significant because it suggests that David plans to stay in a posture of worship as long as he lives and reigns (for kings, these time periods are one and the same). This is true for everyone. We are to live our lives “before God”, facing Him, beholding his beauty and hiding nothing from him. Humans were made to relate to one another face to face -- this is why the impersonal nature of some communication technology is problematic. You can be talking on the phone with someone and be completely insincere in a way that you couldn’t face to face. Live your life with the awareness that everything you do and say is in full view of God, and likewise, look around you every day and see the evidence of his presence before you. This compels continual worship which is what follows in verse 8. The accent on timelessness is strong here as David vows to praise God’s name forever and perform his vows day after day (literally, “day day”). David promises God the same kind of faithfulness that God has shown him. The best way I can understand the phrase “performing my vows” is in the context of marriage. For 34 years now I have been performing my vows to my wife. Before many witnesses I promised to love and cherish her. It hasn’t always been easy because both of us are selfish, imperfect people, but many times those vows have kept us going when alternatives seemed tempting. Loving her is keeping my vows day after day until the day I breathe my last. It means doing things I don’t want to do. It means denying myself out of sheer obedience when I don’t feel like doing something. Performing vows is difficult and in some places in the world today, being faithful to God requires ultimate sacrifice. Help me to perform my vows today and every day-- to my wife, my children, my community, and my God.