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Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. Psalm 61 A meditation on the sixty-first psalm J. Parker, D. D. In the first verse it is not the Jew but the man that speaks. The same idea can be found in all languages. When David speaks thus, he speaks for the whole world! There is no doubt the most intense personality in the petition; it is "my" cry, it is "my" prayer. What then? Even when the man individualizes himself most carefully, he does but mingle most familiarly with all other men. This is the voice of an exile — a man far from the city which he loves most; yet even at the extremity of the land he says he will cry unto God. Why not? God can give the exile a home! Wherever God reveals himself in loving pity and all the riches of His grace, the soul may take its rest, knowing that no lion shall be there, neither shall any ravenous beast go up thereon. David cried from the end of the land! We have cried from the same extremity. By processes too subtle for us to comprehend, God has often caused our misfortunes to become our blessings, In the midst of the psalmist's trouble there rises an aspiration — "lead me to the rock that is higher than I. "The" self-helplessness expressed in this prayer moves our entire sympathy. "Lead me" — what a blind man who had wandered from the accustomed path would say; "lead me" — what a lame man would say who had fallen by reason of his great weakness; "lead me" — what a terrified man would say who had to pass along the edge of a bottomless abyss. It is in such extremities that men best know themselves. David wished to be led to the rock; he wished to stand firmly, to stand above the flood-line, to have rest after so great disquietude. Then there is a rock higher than we? We have heard of Jesus Christ by this strange name; we have heard of Him as the Rock of ages; we have heard of Him as the Rock in the wilderness; we have heard of Him as the Stone rejected of the builders but elected of God to the chief place. The aspiration is succeeded by a recollection (ver. 3). History is rightly used when it becomes the guide of hope. The days of a man's life seem to be cut off from each other by the nights which intervene; but they are continuous when viewed from the altitude of Divine providence. Yesterday enriches to-day. All the historic triumphs of the Divine arm stimulate us in the present battle. We may say of God — What Thou hast been, Thou wilt be; because Thou hast inclined Thine ear unto us, therefore will we call upon Thee as long as we live. "I will abide in Thy tabernacle for ever, I will trust in the covert of Thy wings." Here is a beautiful combination — worship and confidence! The relation is not only beautiful, but strictly sequential; for worship is confidence, and confidence is worship. Truly to kneel before God is to express trust in Him, and truly to express trust in Him is to bow down and worship at His footstool. This is the complete idea of worship: not prayer only, not hope only, not adoration only, not a blind dependence only; but all combined, all rounded into one great act of life. "Under the covert of Thy wings" — how tender the figure! The bird spreads her wings over the nest where her young ones lie, and thus gives them warmth, and affords them all the little protection in her power. What a beautiful image of unity, defence, completeness, safety, is so frail a thing as the nest of a bird! Multiply that image by infinitude; carry it far above all the mischances which may befall the little home of the bird, and then see how full of comfort is the idea. We have heard of a "shelter," and a "tower," and a "tabernacle," — words which have much meaning for the heart when its distresses are not to be numbered, and which reach their full explanation only in that great Saving Man who was wounded for our transgressions. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) The pious experiences of an exile Homilist. I. A DEEP SENSE OF ISOLATION. "From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee." Few feelings are more saddening than the feeling of lonelihood. It hangs like a cold leaden cloud over the heart. In this lonelihood, and far away from the scenes of his home and populations of men, he prays. The Great Father is accessible in all seasons of the soul, and all points of space. II. A FELT NEED FOR DIVINE HELPS. Many things would tend to overwhelm the heart of David with sorrow — the conduct of Absalom his son, the treachery of professed friends, the disorders of his country, and, above all, remorse on account of the many wrong things he had done and which had perhaps brought all these distresses upon him. Under such a load of sadness, he feels that his only hope is in God. The soul in its sorrow requires something outside of itself and greater, and there is a Rock for tempest-tossed souls. III. A YEARNING FOR LOST PRIVILEGES. "I will abide in Thy tabernacle for ever." He was far away from this tabernacle now, — a scene where he had often worshipped and experienced the raptures of religion. Profoundly does he feel the loss, and hence he resolves on his return to abide there, not only to visit it occasionally, but to continue as a resident, "dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life." When there, he had felt like the young bird under the wing of its parent, warm, safe, and happy; and this privilege he yearned for again. "I will trust in the covert of Thy wings." It is an old adage, that "the well is not missed until it is dried up." The loss of blessings is evermore the means of deepening our impressions as to their value. IV. AS ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF DIVINE KINDNESS (ver. 5). The "heritage" mentioned is participation in the honours and privileges of the chosen people, and such were indeed great ( Romans 9:4, 5 ). What a heritage! And this David acknowledges as being given to him by God. Whatever privileges we have, personal, social, political, or religious, our "heritage" is the gift of God. V. AN ASSURANCE OF FUTURE PROSPERITY. "Thou wilt prolong the king's life." He seems to have been assured of two things. 1. The lengthening of his rule as a king. "Thou wilt prolong the king's life" — add days to that reign which was nearly brought to an abrupt termination. 2. The continuation of his privileges as a saint. "He shall abide before God for ever." These two things he seems to have been assured of — that he should live for years, and for years to come enjoy the presence of his God. Blessed assurance this! VI. A CRY FOR MORAL EXCELLENCE. "Mercy and truth." These are the cardinal virtues. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." A soul full of benevolence and in harmony with eternal realities. In this all good is comprised. Herein Paradise blooms and blossoms. The profoundest hunger Of all souls should be for these two things, grace and truth. Having these, all else follows. VII. A RESOLUTION TO WORSHIP FOR EVER. Worship is the highest end of being. Religion, or worship, is not the means to an end, it is the grandest end of existence. ( Homilist. ) From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Reek that is higher than I. Psalm 61:2 David's refuge J. W. Reeve, M. A. This psalm, like very many others, begins with tears and ends with praise. It is very often so, in coming to a throne of grace day by day. Many a believer has gone down upon his knees with a broken heart, and has risen with it healed and fully cured. I. DAVID'S RESOLUTION. "I will cry unto Thee." Now, the term "cry" is of very frequent use in Scripture, and it is very expressive. It signifies earnestness — it signifies desire for relief; it is the expression of want. A child cries, a child cries long before it can speak: and how prevailing is that cry! How a mother's heart yearns at the cry of her infant! II. THE CIRCUMSTANCES. "When my heart is overwhelmed." You see the circumstances here are most serious. He might have taken up the language of Hezekiah and said, "Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me." But still, although he was overwhelmed, he pursued the right course. For what is the remedy in affliction? "Is any afflicted? Let him pray" — "pray." It is, perhaps, reasonable, and to a certain extent natural, that men under the pressure of affliction should go down upon their knees, Many a tear has been dried so; and the deeper the sorrow, the more reason there is to cry to God. III. But, you see, not only the circumstances, "When my heart is overwhelmed," but "From the end of the earth" — IS WHATEVER PLACE YOU MAY BE. The psalmist mentions the end of the earth, however distant he might be from that which was the appointed place of prayer, the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, where the saints were in the habit of assembling together. We know now under the Gospel dispensation, that wherever there is a place of prayer, the most obscure position cannot cut off the communication between a spiritual heart and Heaven. How blessed is this! For our encouragement, how very numerous are the instances recorded in the Word of God of definite prayers on the part of God's saints, and definite answers on the part of God! No fewer than eighty-eight distinct prayers of men of God, and eighty-eight distinct answers from the Lord, are recorded in the Old Testament; and no fewer than forty-eight instances of the same kind occur in the New Testament. And, doubtless, these are only just sprinkled in that we may be encouraged, whenever we find them, to see that there is a reality about it — that God's saints of old have endeavoured to cultivate this state and condition, and that God has marked it by His especial favour. IV. WHAT THE PSALMIST PRAYED FOR — "Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." This gives us an idea of safety in the midst of trial, and support when one is almost ready to be swallowed up. Now, the rock that you and I must look to is the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and to Him the Holy Spirit must lead us. We need to be led, or we shall never come to Him. And observe in the next verse to the text the way in which the psalmist draws his encouragement. "For Thou hast been a shelter to me, and a strong tower from the enemy." You see, the experience of the past may confirm our hope for the future, for He is the "same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever," and "they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee." ( J. W. Reeve, M. A. ) Faith and its aspirations E. H. Chapin. I remark, first, that this is the expression of faith, as distinguished from science, and it justifies that faith. The present age is not, I think, to be characterized above all others as an age of intellect. It is an age of wonderful control over the forces and facts of nature. By this knowledge, certainly, man has great power, as he has by all intellectual acquisition. Intellectual strength is a wondrous faculty. In yonder closet there sits a pale thinker, in body puny almost as an infant, shrinking from the cold, and withering under the heat like a sensitive plant. And yet upon some occasion that man will stand up, and his words will run like an electric shock through the hearts of thousands, and they will be swayed by the sheer force of his mind like the leaves of the summer forest. He sets his pen to the vindication of some truth, and his documents flying abroad, alarm councils, change faiths, and alter polities. It is possible you may find a few rare instances of men who can make out what is called a scientific religion, and live by it; having a cause for every effect, and a law for every crisis; finding the source of their own suffering at -the end of the scalpel, and counting up their beating pulses by the tick of the watch. But there are few people who can stand on the level of the mere facts of nature and say it is enough to know that the earth turns on its axis, and that all things move in order. We want something higher than all this. These forces of nature have no particular sympathy with us. They are relentless, silent, stern. We crave something akin to ourselves — something near to our own souls, as nature is not — something that is higher than ourselves, to lift us up. It must be above the facts that prevail around us. Therefore, we say, what comes through science does not make up the complement and perfection of human nature. We need an element of faith — that kind of faith with which this grand old psalm was written. The soul wants something more than what the mere intellect gives; something that can reach the depths of its affections, and strengthen it in its moral weakness. So I come to observe, finally, that there are occasions in life when religion demonstrates itself to be a special need and prompting of the soul; when not only is this text found to be the language of religion, above all science and all mere morality, but above all mere logical arguments, above all debates, above all controversy; when there breaks out a demonstration of the truths of religion in just such language and experience as that which is contained in the words of the text — "When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I."( E. H. Chapin. ) The believer's refuge in distress N. Meeres, B. D. I. There is no speck in this earth, no place in the vast extent of God's boundless creation, WHERE HIS POWER, WISDOM AND GOODNESS DO NOT EXTEND. For whither will you flee, where the hand of God cannot reach you; or where the eye of God cannot see you, and witness your every thought, word and deed? "Who by searching can find out God? Who can find out the Almighty unto perfection?" For what proportion can any series of finite numbers bear to Infinity? II. CONTEMPLATE THE PERIOD WHEN THIS URGENT REQUEST IS MADE, AND WHEN THIS EARNEST SUPPLICATION IS POURED FORTH; namely, when the heart is overwhelmed, when the spirit is sorrowful, and when the soul is bowed down; when deep calleth unto deep, and when the waves and billows roll over the sinking and sorrowing soul. It would be easy to explain why the heart of the sincere Christian is often overwhelmed. Not only has he his troubles and trials in common with the rest of the world, but he has those which are peculiar to him as a member of the household of faith — as a traveller who is journeying to a foreign country — peculiar to him as a citizen of that city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God — peculiar to him as a soldier who is marching through an enemy's country to take possession of the promised land. III. THE GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL ENCOURAGEMENT EVERY TRIED, TEMPTED AND TREMBLING SINNER HAS TO REPAIR TO THIS ROCK OF DEFENCE. For every believer freely acknowledges, and from his inmost spirit feels, that he is a weak, defenceless creature, unable to contend in his own strength against the powers of sin and death leagued against him; he finds that he has not only to wrestle against "flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places"; consequently he had need to take upon him the whole armour of God — he had need to fly for refuge to a stronger arm than his own for protection. ( N. Meeres, B. D. ) Man's need of the superhuman Homiletic Monthly. Unless the rock be beyond our height it cannot shield us from the sun-glare, nor from the arrows of the enemy. We need — I. A FAITH THAT IS BEYOND THE RANGE OF EARTHLY KNOWLEDGE. Daniel Webster said he would not believe in a religion whose doctrines he could comprehend. II. A POWER TO HELP US THAT IS BEYOND OUR OWN POWER, in order to conquer ourselves. ( Homiletic Monthly. ) The higher life W. Birch. We all feel within us that there is something higher, purer, and more firm and endurable than the ignoble and unstable level on which we are living just now. We feel that a higher state is what we should aim at; and it is this instinct which always seems to draw us on. When a man reverently reads the life of Jesus and the writings of the apostles, he feels there is a higher, nobler and purer life to which he is drawn; and I think a prayer in harmony with our feelings is this, "Lead me to the rock, or to the life, that is higher than I." One feature of this higher life, and one step towards it is this — that in the midst of our crosses and worries and troubles we shall endeavour to be patient and cheerful. Cheerfulness is a great promoter of happiness in ourselves and others. If we have not naturally a cheerful disposition, we should try to cultivate it. "Assume a virtue if you have it not." We may learn many a lesson of the higher life from the book of Nature. Some one has advised us to go to the ant for a lesson in industry, to the dove to learn innocence, and to the serpent to see wisdom; but let us go to the robin redbreast for a picture of cheerfulness. What can be a finer lesson in patient cheerfulness than the warbling of the robin on your window-sill in a winter morning, when the whole earth is like one hard piece of ice? Tucking one leg under his wing to keep it warm, the robin chirps and warbles to us a lesson of unalloyed patience. There is a step which leads us still higher; it is to be gentle. Gentleness is very high up on the rock of the heavenly life, and therefore it is a step which is rather difficult to mount. Gentleness is the disposition of God. Twice in the Bible we have these remarkable words, "Thy gentleness hath made me great." Another characteristic of the higher life is willingness to voluntarily suffer for the good of another. I trust we all believe in this kind of religion. We may have it by prayer. "Lead me," says the psalmist; "I cannot be self-denying for others unless Thou lead me to be so. Lead me therefore, O God, and it can be done." ( W. Birch. ) The sheltering rock G. Stockdale. I. THE SEASON REFERRED TO — "When my heart is overwhelmed." There are such seasons in Christian experience. 1. From a sense of the Divine claims we owe obedience ( Deuteronomy 6:5 ; Matthew 22:37 ). 2. From the pressure of heavy trials ( Psalm 55:12-14 ). 3. From the keenness of temptation to which the very best of men are subject. Moses, David, Daniel, Job, and even our Lord Himself, were all tempted. 4. From the anticipations of future evils. II. WHITHER THE PSALMIST DESIRES TO BE LED — "To the Rock that is higher than I." "The rock" gives the idea — 1. Of strength ( Psalm 62:2, 6, 8 ). 2. Durability: "I am the Lord, I change not." "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday," etc. III. THE GROUNDS OF THE PSALMIST'S PLEA — "from the ends of the earth." 1. This prayer is prompted by a consciousness of need. 2. It is addressed to the true source of ability. 3. It is encouraged by past experience ( Psalm 61:3 ). ( G. Stockdale. ) God the saint's rock There are two things here — 1. The state wherein the psalmist was — "the end of the earth," in loneliness and distant from the house of God. And his heart was overwhelmed, and he fainted under his distress. 2. The course he takes in this state. He cried unto the Lord. His faith made him do so, for faith makes the heart sensible of affliction, and complain of it unto God, and earnestly endeavour to come near to God. What it craves is, that God would lead him to the rock, that is, that God would give him access unto Himself by Christ, in whom God is our rock and refuge. I. NOTE SOME INSTANCES OF THIS CRY OF FAITH ( Jonah 2:2, 3 ). David in many instances. II. THE GROUNDS OF IT. 1. Faith does this, because it is able to distinguish between the covenant itself, which is firm, stable, invariable; and the administration of the covenant, which is various and changeable; I mean the outward administration of it. And this God teaches us ( Psalm 89:30-34 ). 2. Faith will naturally thus act, as it is the principle of the new nature in us that came from God, and will tend unto Him, whatever difficulties lie in the way. III. WHAT IT IS, THAT IN SUCH AN OVERWHELMING CONDITION AS I HAVE DESCRIBED, FAITH REGARDS IN GOD, to give it a support and relief, that it be not utterly overwhelmed. 1. The first thing faith considers in such a condition is the nature of God Himself, and His excellencies. There are three or four circumstances that may befall us in our distress, that faith itself can get no relief against them, but from the essential properties of the nature of God. 2. Believers may be brought into distress in all places of the world: in a lion's den with Daniel; in a dungeon with Jeremiah; they may be banished to the ends of the earth, as John to Patmos; or they may be driven into the wilderness, as the woman by the fury of the dragon, Now, what can give relief against this circumstance of distress which may befall the people of God? ( Jeremiah 23:28 ). 3. God is ever the same. 4. There is relief to be found in God, and only in Himself, in the loss of all, when nothing remains. This was Habakkuk's comfort if all should fail him; yet, saith he, "I will rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of my salvation." 5. The last circumstance of distress is death, with the way and manner whereby it may approach us: and how soon this will be we know not. The soul's relief lies in God's immutability, that we shall find Him the same to us in death as He was in life, and much more. ( J. Owen , D. D. ) The strong sanctuary T. G. Selby. An ineradicable sense of dependence inheres in every finite being as he is brought into conscious life. A created nature must go out of itself and make its sanctuary in a greater and a holier nature before it can be rightly centred and rationally satisfied. This predisposition to lean, to nestle, to seek sanctuary, is the common birthmark of everything in which there is the breath of life. Rather than have no refuge at all, the troubled man will fly to one who is weaker and less discerning than himself. He will consult an authority he cannot trust rather than be shut up within the ring-fence of his own infirm and imperfect personality. The castaway on an unknown shore will make the savage he has tempted into his service a confidant, and will teach his own speech to the parrot, so that he may hear some other voice, rather than be abandoned to his own resources. The general who has lost a battle, and whose habit it has been to maintain a severe aloofness from every member of his staff, will take counsel in the days of his defeat and humiliation with a dependant, and discuss schemes of campaign with a cook or a campfollower, rather than be left to himself. The lost traveller in the desert will yield himself at last to the instincts of his horse or camel, for he has a maddening horror of the repeated misjudgments which are taking him farther and yet farther from wells of water and palm-trees and the tents and habitations of men. We must have some kind of refuge outside ourselves, if it be but the beggar's cave. It would be a poor look-out for us if there were nothing within our horizon measuring up to a loftier altitude than our own few paltry cubits of stature. What a wilderness of peril, torture, trepidation, this earthly life would be if there were no high tower, no strong fortress, no enduring refuge, open for us to run into! We need to lean on one towering aloft above this poor, decrepit nature of ours, to fly to the overshadowing power of the Most High, to penetrate the inmost secrets of His love. We demand that which transcends ourselves, and yet is at the same time gentle, gracious, sympathizing. "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Nothing which is on our own level can quiet our fear and appease our distress. Fleeing from ourselves and from all the terrors that pursue us, bidding farewell to the very sins that seem as inseparable from us as our shadows, we may make our dwelling-place and our abiding home in the brightness of His ever faithful presence. This strong and enduring sanctuary can only afford its peace and shelter to our troubled spirits when we are willing to accept terms of reconciliation with God. "God is a refuge for us," and we cannot hide in the refuge and at one and the same time be estranged from God. The melancholy perplexity of many around us consists in this, that they crave a hiding-place from the evils and terrors which infest human life, and yet they cannot or will not turn their faces Godward. The centrifugal tendency seen in Cain when he fled from the face of the Lord, and yet shuddered at the thought of the pain, execration, antagonism, which were everywhere confronting him in his flight, reappears in us. We want to leave both God and the terrors which beleaguer our steps behind; and the two things are absolutely incompatible. We must humble our pride, consent to be contrite, accept God's truce, if we are to come into the impregnable sanctuary of His gentleness and power. ( T. G. Selby. ) The rock higher than I G. F. Cushman, D. D. Palestine was not only a land that flowed with milk and honey, but a land of rock and river, and of towering mountains, presenting to his eye a diversified scenery of valley and height, of hill and dale. To apply the term Rock to God, as the refuge and defence of His people in times of difficulty and danger, as the natural rocks were to the distressed Israelites, became as it were a proverbial form of speech, which almost ceased to partake of the nature of metaphor. The Lord is my rock and my fortress. Who is a rock, save our God? Then he forsook the God that made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. So in the New Testament Christ is called the Rock that supplied the Israelites with means to quench their spiritual, as the rock of Horeb quenched their natural thirst. He was the Rock that followed them. The prayer, then, of David in the text, "Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I," is a prayer for all people and in all times. Adversity is a painful school, but it seems to be the order of God's providence that the majority of men, if saved at all, should be saved so as by fire. The weakness of humanity requires to be demonstrated, not only in the truth of Scripture, but in their own persons, in order to bring conviction to their minds and to impress their hearts. When merry, we find it easy to sing psalms; it is only when afflicted that we heed the injunction to seek relief in prayer. It is only when sick that we apply to the Great Physician, when lost that we seek to be saved. Not the mighty, the noble, the wise, but sinners are called to repentance; it is only in weakness that we are made strong. When we are victorious upon the plain we turn our backs to the fortress and the rock; it is the routed army that flees to it for shelter and support. But God is no less the needed Rock that is higher than we in prosperity; indeed, if possible, the more needed than in adversity. Of the two we think the history of the human heart will show that the former is the more dangerous and the more fraught with perils to the souls of men. There is no one of us but at some time has felt the need of the Rock that is higher than I. If we have had full garners, we have feared lest in gaining the world we might perchance lose our own souls; if we have been called to suffer and endure, we have wanted beneath us the everlasting arms to be our comfort and support. It is a necessity of our natures, it grows out of our relations to God. We are His creatures; He is the source of our spiritual and natural life, and it is only His sustaining power that can preserve that life in being. If left to ourselves, Scripture, reason, experience, all teach us that we grope as the blind, we totter and fall, and are made painfully conscious of our own weakness and infirmities. To give us confidence, to enable us to to forward without faltering or fear, we must have some other reliance than our own strength and efforts, some other trust than our own unaided resources in the fierce warfare with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Are we weak? there is the source of strength. Are we sorrowing? there is comfort. Are we penitent? there is pardon. Were it merely a Rock, the symbol of strength alone, of that power which can destroy as well as save, our faith might falter and our hopes might fail; but it is the Rock of Love as well, Jesus is a High Priest who can be touched with a feeling for man's infirmities, for He was tempted and tried in all points as are we, only without sin. ( G. F. Cushman, D. D. ) Christ our Rock J. D. Carey. I. THE STATE DESCRIBED. 1. Man is an emotional being; so delicate and subtle is the organization of the human heart, that a single sound will influence it. So highly wrought that it may be operated upon by the most refined instrument which creature skill ever constructed. So tenderly susceptible, that a word is often times enough to lift it into ecstasy, or depress it to despair — so sensitive, that the glance of an eye can fill it with joy, or transfix it with grief. 2. We may understand, therefore, how it is, that in some circumstances, under strong influences — a sudden influx of joy, or prosperity, or under a storm and inundation of woes — the heart becomes overwhelmed. The Christian is not exempt from the troubles and trials of life; and, in addition to them, how frequently is he overwhelmed with a sense of his own unworthiness — his imperfections; the smallness of his faith — and the coldness of his love. How often does he make the language of the psalmist his own, and say unto God, "When my heart is overwhelmed within me, lead me," etc. II. THE IMPORT OF THE PRAYER. Here is the expression of conscious weakness, "Lead me." He feels the need of assisting grace, and Divine support — and with the self-diffidence and conscious weakness of a little child, he tries to grasp his Father's hand — "Lead me." "Higher than I." This implies confidence — faith in God — in the sufficiency of Christ. He acknowledges in Christ some one to look up to, superior to any human source; here is humility, ( J. D. Carey. ) The appeal of the human to the Divine C. E. Stone. No irreligious man, no liver of the lower life, no man sunk in the material, could pray this prayer. It is the cry of the spiritually awakened man, for only he knows there is anything higher than himself, and only he would ever cry out for its possession. 1. This man's conception of Deity has two sides to it — a physical and supernatural. He conceives God in the form of a natural and poetical image; sees Him as a Rock. To others God might be Father, lover, friend, but to him He was the rock, that against which birds and armies and tempests dash themselves to pieces, but also that on which flowers bud out of the winds, and birds build their nests, and men hide from the march of tempests. But it is possible that in this other phrase "higher than I" — we have another conception of the Divine. Change "higher than I" into "too high for me," and you have the conception which held his mind. Too high! i.e. on a higher level, of another order, of a greatness I can never attain, nor match, nor rival! Too high, i.e. God is everything man is not. Man, frail, tainted, limited, weak, foolish. God, enduring, holy, omnipotent, unchangeable, all-wise. Too high! i.e. beyond human apprehension I "Too high for me," makes Him the unknowable, the unsearchable splendour, homed in unapproachable light, and worshipped from afar. 2. This discovery and conception of the Divine is not without its effect on the man. First it creates a thirst, a desire in the man. The vision breaks up his self-content, and fills him with a heavenward longing. "O Rock, Thou the timeless, the restful, the immutable, let me hide myself in Thee." Man is but the lichen that would root itself on the unshaken and unshakable. The other effect is of a different character. It is said that the revelation of God is the revelation of a man's self. When Job saw God, he cried, "I abhor myself." When Isaiah beheld Him, he exclaimed, "I am a man of unclean lips." Everywhere else man is the all — the king — only in the temple is he the little helpless child with no language but a cry. Man can see the good, dream it, idealize it; he can long for the good, love it, worship it, but it is his disappointment and his hell that he knows it is not in him to be it, to win it, nor possess it. 3. With this point the experience seems to terminate. When man reaches the point of inability, he reaches the end. There is nothing more for him to do than to sit down, fold his hands and wait for the inevitable. If he cannot, he cannot, and he can only acquiesce in his helplessness. But such a termination is impossible. The point where man breaks down is the point where the Divine enters and begins its miracles. The revelation is meant to set the human in action, to lift him to something higher. Instead, therefore, of the conception ending with inabil

Benson Commentary Psalm 61:1 To the chief Musician upon Neginah, A Psalm of David. Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. Psalm 61:2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 61:2-3 . From the end of the earth — Or rather, of the land, to which, it seems, David had been driven by the violence of his enemies; will I cry unto thee — And not to other gods, but to thee only. It is our happiness that, wherever we are, we may have liberty of access to God, and may find a way open to a throne of grace. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I — Convey to a place of safety, where mine enemies cannot approach to hurt me: take me under thy peculiar care and protection. He alludes to their custom of securing themselves in rocks. God’s power and promise are a rock that is higher than we. In these we must take refuge, and in these must we abide. Christ is the rock of our salvation, and they, and only they, are safe that are in him. But we cannot get upon this rock unless God lead us by his power. I will put thee in the cleft of the rock — We should therefore, by faith and prayer, put ourselves under the divine conduct, that we may be taken under the divine protection. For thou hast been a shelter to me — I have found in thee a rock higher than I, therefore I trust thou wilt still lead me to that rock. Our past experience of the benefit of trusting in God, as it should engage us still to keep close to him, so it should encourage us to hope that it will not be in vain. Thou hast been my strong tower from the enemy, and thou art as strong as ever, and thy name as much a refuge for the righteous as ever it was, Proverbs 18:10 . Psalm 61:3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. Psalm 61:4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. Psalm 61:4 . I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever — I shall, I doubt not, be restored to thy tabernacle, from which I am now banished, and, according to the desire of my heart, worship and enjoy thee there all my days. Thus he determines that the service of God shall be his constant business; and all those must make it so who expect to find God their shelter and strong tower. None but his servants have the benefit of his protection. David speaks of abiding in God’s tabernacle for ever, because it was a type and figure of heaven, Hebrews 9:8 ; Hebrews 9:24 . And those that dwell in his tabernacle, as it is a house of duty, during the short time of their abode on earth, shall dwell in that tabernacle which is a house of glory during an endless eternity. I will trust in the covert of thy wings — In the mean time, while I am in danger and trouble, I will cast myself upon thy protection with full confidence. This advantage they have that abide in God’s tabernacle; that in the time of trouble he shall there hide them. And those that have found God a shelter to them, ought still to have recourse to him in all their straits. Psalm 61:5 For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. Psalm 61:5 . For thou, O God, hast heard my vows — My fervent prayers, attended with vows and promises, as was usual, especially in cases of great danger or difficulty. Thou hast taken notice of them; thou hast accepted them, because they were made in sincerity, and hast been well pleased with them. We ought always to remember that God is a witness to all our vows, all our good purposes, and solemn promises of new obedience. He keeps an account of them, which should be a sufficient reason with us (as it was with David here) why we should perform our vows. For he that hears the vows we make, will cause us to hear from him if they be not made good. Thou hast given me the heritage, &c. — Thou hast allotted me my portion with and among them that fear and worship thee, who are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight, and upon that account I must acknowledge it to thy praise, that I have a goodly heritage. Thou hast granted me this singular mercy, to live in thy land, to enjoy thy presence, and to worship in thy tabernacle; which is the heritage which all, that fear thee, prize and desire above all things. Psalm 61:6 Thou wilt prolong the king's life: and his years as many generations. Psalm 61:6-8 . Thou wilt prolong the king’s life — My life. He calls himself king, either, 1st, Because, if this Psalm was composed before Saul’s death, yet even then he knew he was designed and appointed to be king; or, rather, 2d, Because it was not composed till Saul was dead, and he was actually crowned king, at least of Judah. And his years — The years of my life and reign; as many generations — As long as if I had a lease of it for many ages. Thus he speaks, because his kingdom was not like Saul’s, but established to him and his heirs; and because Christ, his Son and Heir, should actually, and in his own person, possess the kingdom for ever. We may observe further here, that the Chaldee Paraphrase adds the word Christ; thus, Thou shalt give unto Christ the King days upon days. His years shall be as the generations of this world, and the generations of the world to come. And so Theodoret observes, that the former part of the verse may very well agree with the psalmist, but that the latter part of it is by no means applicable to him, but only to Christ; who was, according to the flesh, to descend from him, and of whom the psalmist was an eminent type. He shall abide — Hebrew, ???? , jesheeb, he shall sit; namely, on the throne; before God for ever — Living and ruling as in God’s presence, serving him with his royal power, and worshipping him in his tabernacle. O prepare mercy and truth — Or, order, or appoint, as the word ?? , man, here signifies, intending, either, 1st, The graces of mercy, or compassion and truth, or faithfulness, which are the great supporters of thrones; or rather, the effects of God’s mercy and truth. Thy truth, in giving me those mercies which thou hast promised to me; and thy mercy, in giving me such further blessings as I need, and thou seest fit to give me. So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever — I will never cease praising thee while I live, and after I die, I shall praise thee in eternity. Let us remember, we must make praising God the work of our time in this world; even to the last, as long as our lives are prolonged, we must continue praising him; and then it will be made the work of our eternity in the world to come, and we shall be praising him for ever. That 1 may daily perform my vows — That I may pay unto thee those services and oblations which I vowed to thee, when I was in trouble. David’s praising God was itself the performance of his vows, and it disposed his heart to the performance of them in other instances. Praising God, and paying our vows to him, must be our constant daily work; every day we must be doing something toward it; because it is all but little in comparison with what is due; because we daily receive fresh mercies, and because, if we think much to do it daily we cannot expect to be doing it eternally. Psalm 61:7 He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him. Psalm 61:8 So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 61:1 To the chief Musician upon Neginah, A Psalm of David. Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. Psalm 61:1-8 THE situation of the singer in this psalm is the same as in Psalm 63:1-11 . In both he is an exile longing for the sanctuary, and in both "the king" is referred to in a way which leaves his identity with the psalmist questionable. There are also similarities in situation, sentiment, and expression with Psalm 42:1-11 ; Psalm 43:1-5 - e.g., the singer’s exile, his yearning to appear in the sanctuary, the command given by God to His Lovingkindness { Psalm 42:8 and Psalm 61:8 } the personification of Light and Troth as his guides, { Psalm 43:3 } compared with the similar representation here of Lovingkindness and Troth as guards set by God over the psalmist. The traditional attribution of the psalm to David has at least the merit of providing an appropriate setting for its longings and hopes, in his flight from Absalom. No one of the other dates proposed by various critics seems to satisfy anybody but its proposer. Hupfeld calls Hitzig’s suggestion " wunderbar zu lesen. " Graetz inclines to the reign of Hezekiah, and thinks that "the connection gains" if the prayer for the preservation of the king’s life refers to that monarch’s sickness. The Babylonish captivity, with Zedekiah for "the king," is preferred by others. Still later dates are in favour now. Cheyne lays it down that "pre-Jeremian such highly spiritual hymns ( i.e. , Psalm 61:1-8 ; Psalm 63:1-11 ) obviously cannot be," and thinks that "it would not be unplausible to make them contemporanaeous with Psalm 42:1-11 , the king being Antiochus the Great," but prefers to assign them to the Maccabean period, and to take "Jonathan, or (better) Simon" as the king. Are "highly spiritual hymns" probable products of that time? If the Selah is accepted as marking the end of the first part of the psalm, its structure is symmetrical, so far as it is then divided into two parts of four verses each; but that division cuts off the prayer in Psalm 61:4 from its ground in Psalm 61:5 . Selah frequently occurs in the middle of a period, and is used to mark emphasis, but not necessarily division. It is therefore better to keep Psalm 61:4 and Psalm 61:5 together, thus preserving their analogy with Psalm 61:2 and Psalm 61:3 . The scheme of this little psalm will then be an introductory verse, followed by two parallel pairs of verses, each consisting of petition and its grounding in past mercies ( Psalm 61:2 , Psalm 61:3 , and Psalm 61:4-5 ), and these again succeeded by another pair containing petitions for "the king," while a final single verse, corresponding to the introductory one, joyfully foresees life-long praise evoked by the certain answers to the singer’s prayer. The fervour of the psalmist’s supplication is strikingly expressed by his use in the first clause, of the word which is ordinarily employed for the shrill notes of rejoicing. It describes the quality of the sound as penetrating and emotional, not the nature of the emotion expressed by it. Joy is usually louder tongued than sorrow; but this suppliant’s need has risen so high that his cry is resonant. To himself he seems to be at "the end of the earth"; for he measures distance not as a map maker, but as a worshipper. Love and longing are potent magnifiers of space. His heart "faints," or is "overwhelmed." The word means literally "covered," and perhaps the metaphor may be preserved by some such phrase as wrapped in gloom. He is, then, an exile and therefore sunk in sadness. But while he had external separation from the sanctuary chiefly in view, his cry wakes an echo in all devout hearts. They who know most about the inner life of communion with God best know how long and dreary the smallest separation between Him and them seems, and how thick is the covering spread over the heart thereby. The one desire of such a suppliant is for restoration of interrupted access to God. The psalmist embodies that yearning in its more outward form, but not without penetrating to the inner reality in both the parallel petitions which follow. In the first of these, ( Psalm 61:2 b) the thought is fuller than the condensed expression of it. "Lead me on" or in, says he, meaning, Lead me to and set me on. His imagination sees towering above him a great cliff, on which, if he could be planted, he might defy pursuit or assault. But he is distant from it, and the inaccessibility which, were he in its clefts, would be his safety, is now his despair. Therefore he turns to God and asks Him to bear him up in His hands, that he may set his foot on that rock. The figure has been, strangely enough, interpreted to mean a rock of difficulty, but against the usage in the Psalter. But we do not reach the whole significance of the figure if we give it the mere general meaning of a place of safety. While it would be too much to say that "rock" is here an epithet of God (the absence of the definite article and other considerations are against that), it may be affirmed that the psalmist, like all devout men, knew that his only place of safety was in God. "A rock" will not afford adequate shelter; our perils and storms need "the Rock." And, therefore, this singer bases his prayer on his past experience of the safe hiding that he had found in God. "Place of refuge" and "strong tower" are distinctly parallel with "rock." The whole, then, is like the prayer in Psalm 31:2-3 : "Be Thou to me a strong rock. For Thou art my rock." The second pair of verses, containing petition and its ground in past experience ( Psalm 61:4-5 ), brings out still more clearly the psalmist’s longing for the sanctuary. The futures in Psalm 61:4 may be taken either as simple expressions of certainty, or, more probably, as precative, as is suggested by the parallelism with the preceding pair. The "tent" of God is the sanctuary, possibly so called because at the date of the psalm "the ark of God dwelt in curtains." The "hiding place of Thy wings" may then be an allusion to the Shechinah and outspread pinions of the Cherubim. But the inner reality is more to the psalmist than the external symbols, however his faith was trained to connect the two more indissolubly than is legitimate for us. His longing was no superstitious wish to be near that sanctuary, as if external presence brought blessing, but a reasonable longing, grounded on the fact for his stage of revelation, that such presence was the condition of fullest realisation of spiritual communion, and of the safety and blessedness thence received. His prayer is the deepest desire of every soul that has rightly apprehended the facts of life, its own needs and the riches of God. The guests in God’s dwelling have guest rights of provision and protection. Beneath His wings are safety, warmth, and conscious nearness to His heart. The suppliant may feel far off, at the end of the world: but one strong desire has power to traverse all the distance in a moment. "Where the treasure is, there will the heart be also"; and where the heart is, there the man is. The ground of this second petition is laid in God’s past listening to vows, and His having given the psalmist "the heritage of those that fear Thy name." That is most naturally explained as meaning primarily the land of Israel, and as including therein all other blessings needful for life there. While it is capable of being otherwise understood, it is singularly appropriate to the person of David during the period of Absalom’s rebellion, when victory was beginning to declare itself for the king. If we suppose that he had already won a battle, { 2 Samuel 18:6 } we can understand how he takes that success as an omen and urges it as a plea. The pair of verses will then be one instance of the familiar argument which trustful hearts instinctively use, when they present past and incomplete mercies as reasons for continued gifts, and for the addition of all which is needed to "perfect that which concerneth" them. It rests on the confidence that God is not one who "begins and is not able to finish." Very naturally, then, follows the closing prayer in Psalm 61:6-7 . The purely individual character of the rest of the psalm, which is resumed in the last verse, where the singer speaking in the first person, represents his continual praise as the result of the answer to his petitions for the king, makes these petitions hopelessly irrelevant, unless the psalmist is the king and these prayers are for himself. The transition to the third person does not necessarily negative this interpretation, which seems to be required by the context. The prayer sounds hyperbolical, but has a parallel in Psalm 21:4 , and need not be vindicated by taking the dynasty rather than the individual to be meant, or by diverting it to a Messianic reference. It is a prayer for length of days, in order that the deliverance already begun may be perfected, and that the psalmist may dwell in the house of the Lord forever {cf. Psalm 23:6 ; Psalm 27:4 } He asks that he may sit enthroned before God forever-that is, that his dominion may by God’s favour be established and his throne upheld in peace. The psalm is in so far Messianic that the everlasting kingdom of the Christ alone fulfils its prayer. The final petition has, as has been noticed above, parallels in Psalm 42:1-11 and Psalm 43:1-5 , to which may be added the personifications of Goodness and Lovingkindness in Psalm 23:6 . These bright harnessed angels stand sentries over the devout suppliant, set on their guard by the great Commander; and no harm can come to him over whom God’s Lovingkindness and Faithfulness keep daily and nightly watch; Thus guarded, the psalmist’s prolonged life will be one long anthem of praise, and the days added to his days will be occupied with the fulfilment of his vows made in trouble and redeemed in his prosperity. What congruity is there between this closing verse which is knit closely to the preceding by that "So," and the previous pair of verses, unless the king is himself the petitioner? "Let him sit before God forever"-how comes that to lead up to "So will I harp to Thy name forever"? Surely the natural answer is, Because "he" and "I" are the same person. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.