May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn
to the book of Psalms and Psalm 61 and we'll read verse two. Psalm 61 and reading verse two. 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. It is a wonderful blessing for the
Church of God that the Lord has ordained that there should be
a record, a clear record, a definitive record of the heart's exercises
in many ways. And the Psalms bring before us
the testimony and the experience of the Psalmist. And we see,
we're thankful, we see the honesty, as it were, that is written,
the truth, precisely how David and Asaph felt, really, when
they were penning these psalms. We know they were moved by the
Holy Spirit, but it was not just a pretty picture they were painting. It was, in fact, the actual testimony,
the actual experience, the actual concern, the actual life that
they were involved in at the time. And that's quite clear
because this psalm is headed the chief psalm musician upon
Neginah, and one of the further psalms also refers to him when
he was in the cave of Dunham. So we know they were physical
experiences which the psalmist was called upon to pass through. And it was really a continual
life of conflict. You only have to read David's
life And we know that there were so many conflicts in his life. He didn't have long periods of
peace, really. There were many conflicts. And we understand the words of
the poet who said, a Christian man is seldom long at ease. As soon as one troubles o'er,
another doth him seize. And I'm sure the Church of God
understands the truth of those words. And of course it confirms
the words of the Lord Jesus himself when he tells us, it is through
much tribulation that we shall inherit the kingdom, but be of
good cheer, because I have overcome the world. And so we can recognise
that we have a very clear picture of the path that we can expect
to walk upon this earth. And I suppose, human nature being
what it is, we always think, well, come tomorrow things will
be easier. And, well, it won't be so difficult. Well, we're very foolish, really,
in that consideration. Because the Word of God doesn't
encourage us to think that such a path will be with us. We should think, in actual fact,
the contrary. But the great blessing is, that
in the pathway that the Lord has ordained for us, to realise
the Lord is with us. And so we can say, if God be
for us, who can be against us? And I'm sure the truth is that
God is with his people. There is no doubt about that.
And we can understand the words, he led them forth by the right
way, that they might go to a city of habitation. And one thing
I'm convinced of is this, the Church of God, the true Church
of God, will not complain about the journey of life. When they
come down to the end of their life, They will recognise the
goodness of the Lord, the mercy of the Lord, the direction of
the Lord. The Lord has been with them,
and he has brought them through many trials, and they've been
brought safely through. The Lord has strengthened them. Indeed, as we've read together,
the Lord is that refuge. Well, the Lord is a refuge for
his people. What a wonderful thing it is.
for you and me tonight to have a God that we can go to in every
time of trial. Now, David tells us here, he
explains it in this way. He starts off and he says, hear
my cry, O God. And as I've mentioned many times,
of course, a cry is not something which is silent, and it's not
a whisper, it's a cry, which comes from the heart. We're moved
by it, to cry to God. And here his great concern was,
hear my cry and attend unto my prayer. He didn't want to just
formulate a few sentences or perhaps a long statement, but
he wanted it to be a prayer. And he wanted God to hear it
and he wanted God to attend to it. He didn't want God to just
hear his prayer and then not attend to it. And that's an important
consideration for us. We do want God to hear our prayers,
but if we are really praying in accordance with the Word of
God, we will need God to attend to those prayers. We won't want
them just to think, well, I've asked for a nice subject there,
and I've asked for this and asked for that, and then forget about
it. We want God to attend to those
prayers and to Be mindful of us and to send us answers. Now,
answers will be in God's time and God's way, in accordance
with His timetable and not ours. But nonetheless, it is an important
consideration that if we pray, and I hope we do pray, and I
hope we pray rightly, I'm sure there are many, many wrong prayers. I'm sure there are many prayers
which are not prayers. They're just words. In actual
fact, we're just really speaking to the air. It's very solemn,
isn't it, when you think that we come before God, whether in
public, here, or whether at home, or wherever it might be, when
we pray to God, to pray from our heart, to pray really concerned
that God will hear our cry and to attend unto our prayers. And I'm sure if we perhaps are
more aware of such a statement, we might be more, I'm saying
this carefully, more careful how we pray. Because it's easy
to fall into a phraseology in our prayers and to go through
just a form of prayer. Now, of course, we need the same
things very often, day by day, and it's not wrong to pray for
those things. But there is a danger of praying
to ourselves, as it were, and not really committing our way
unto the Lord. Now, if the Spirit of God produces
a real need in our hearts, we will come in a way that David
did, like this, when he said, hear my cry. He wanted God to
really hear his cry. It wasn't a situation of just
developing a few words and doing a duty and getting on to the
next thing. It was a real concern that God
would hear his cry and that the Lord would attend unto it. Well,
it's a good exercise for us to consider our prayer life in the
light of such a statement as that, to see whether when we
pray, that's how we pray. We cry to God that he will hear
us and that he will attend unto our prayer. Now, then David comes
and he just describes his position. He tells us, from the end of
the earth would I cry unto thee. From the end of the earth. Well,
perhaps we could put it in a different expression. It's really his wit's
end. Almost ready to give up. Almost
despairing. And yet, he couldn't give up. And the Lord would not allow
him to despair. So he did pray. And he did cry. And his concern was that although
he was in this condition at the end of the earth, far off as
it were, yet, he says, yet even in that place, ready to give
up as it were, he will cry unto God. Now that is really a good
evidence of the life of God in our souls. When things as it
were get worse, They don't get better, they get worse. It makes
us cry more fervently. It makes us pray with a greater
urgency that the Lord will indeed hear and attend unto our cry. In such a situation, you see,
it will not be a formality. It will be a reality because
of the pressure that is upon our spirits and moved by the
Spirit of God to come unto Him even when we're at the end of
the earth, and cry unto thee." You see, left to people's selves,
you know. That's why people commit suicide,
because they have nowhere to go. They have no God to go to. They have no God to pour out
their heart to, to come and to see that God will hear their
cry. They've only got themselves. And they realize that's no help
at all. And neither is it. We are not
able. We should not look to ourselves.
No, we should not be able to help ourselves. We should lack
wisdom ourselves. We can be encouraged by the Word
of God which tells us in James, if any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraid
if not, the Lord doesn't make any charge. The Lord brings us
into that position so that we can come and often surely we
do come just like that. We're thankful again that the
Apostle was able to write like that. So yes, simple words but
we do sometimes lack wisdom. We don't know how to act, how
to respond. Cast thy burden upon the Lord.
Cry unto him, the end of the earth, will I cry unto thee. And again, it's so good, isn't
it, to read the positive words in God's word. Here was David
in a time of need, and he didn't say, well, I'll think about praying. He said, no, I will. The end
of the earth, will I cry unto thee. He had to come. He had
to cry to his God. That was the only way. Now then,
bless God when he brings us into these times of, as it were, a
desolation, great need, and we know our God. Now I believe in
coming to the Lord in this way, in pouring out our heart, as
it were, to our God. Indeed, as we read in that 62nd
Psalm, those beautiful words, trust in him at all times, all
times, Ye people, pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge
for us. We are encouraged to come to
our God. We don't have to get into a right
frame. We don't have to produce wonderful
language, beautiful phrases, good words. We can come, you
see, just as we are. And what a wonderful relief it
is when The Spirit of God enables us to come, and as the Psalmist
David says here, to pour out our heart to our God. Pour out your heart before Him. And again, I believe the same
expression as we have here, the Psalmist referring to his heart. It wasn't just the things in
his mind, it was the deep things which God had put in his heart,
which were really a burden to him. He really needed the Lord
to come and to appear for him and to deliver him. His confidence was in his God. Although he was at the end of
the earth, what do we read? He said, he only is my rock. He only is my rock. He didn't
look around. He didn't say, who can I go to?
Who can I ask? Who can see me? He went to the
Lord God. And the great thing is this.
God understands us better than anyone else. And God knows what
the right answer is. You and I don't. God knows. Because
God knows the end from the beginning. He knows everything. And so to
be able to come to him like this as our rock, yes, he only is
my rock and my salvation, he is my defense. I shall not be
moved, yes, to think that we have such a God. So when we're
at the end of the earth, David says, yes, although I'm there,
yet would I cry unto thee, cry unto thee, prayer. He prayed,
didn't he? It wasn't just words for David,
was it? It was a real prayer. And he was in a desperate state.
Not only was it the end of the earth, but he also tells us,
when my heart is overwhelmed, overwhelmed. Yes, he got so many
things that were crowding in, which just overwhelmed him. The
picture is, he didn't really know what to do, how to direct
himself. But he did know, because he committed
his way unto the Lord. And he knew his God would know
the way. He knew his God would have the solution. And therefore,
he was able to come in this way and to pray like this, hear my
cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. Yes, my heart is overwhelmed
on the end of the earth, but I come to my God and I cry to
him that he will indeed be gracious to me and hear my cry and bless
me." Now, you see, David knew that he needed patience and he
needed to wait upon the Lord. And we'll need patience and we'll
need to wait upon the Lord. We may not get answers directly
that we think we should. We may not get direction immediately
as we think we should. We need to wait on the Lord when
we're in a condition like this, when we're overwhelmed, when
we're at the end of the earth, when we're overwhelmed. And you
see, there's so many encouraging words in the Word of God. And
we read those Psalms, which were very appropriate, really. There's
many more Psalms, of course, which we could have read. But
they seem to just fit in to this picture which David has here.
And he tells us, beginning of Psalm 62, truly my soul waiteth
upon God. Waiteth upon God, from him cometh
my salvation. It was the only hope he had.
But he was to wait upon the Lord. And he tells us, my soul waiteth
upon God. And so when we're here, when
we pray to our God, when we committed our way unto the Lord, crying
unto him that he will hear and attend to our cry, then we are
to wait upon the Lord. We are to wait upon the Lord
because, as he said, from him cometh my salvation, from him
cometh my deliverance, from him cometh the blessing. It's only
from the Lord God and it's a great favour therefore if tonight we
come And we look to the Lord and we cry unto him in our time
of need and the Lord sometimes brings us right down into a low
place to produce in our hearts the real need to cry unto God. The real need, it's not just
a formal thing, no, it's the real cry of God from our heart
to our God that he would indeed look upon us and have mercy upon
us. I'm sure Jonah is a familiar
character to us. And Jonah, as we know, was disobedient
to the Lord. And the Lord dealt with Jonah
in a very wonderful and a very gracious way. And he was indeed
thrown overboard, as we're familiar with, And he was, we're told,
he was in the belly of hell, or the belly of the fish, for
those three days and three nights. And that would have been a very
desperate situation. No doubt he felt to be overwhelmed. No doubt he felt to be at the
ends of the earth. But what do we read? Then Jonah
prayed. Then Jonah prayed. Now there's
the evidence of the work of God. Yes, he prayed. You might think,
well, he didn't have anything else to do. There was no other
option. There wasn't. But, it took three
days for Jonah to pray. You'd think he would have prayed
immediately, wouldn't you? There he was, cast out in the
sea. The great whale swallowed him. You'd think the first thing
he would have done was to pray. Well, by nature, our hearts can
be very hard. And although perhaps we might
know the reason, yet you see it's not so easy to pray. Real prayer is not something
that you and I can just pick up as it were. No, prayer, pervading
prayer, is the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, the gift
of God. And it's a wonderful blessing
to be granted true prayer, because if you and I are granted true
prayer, We can be confident that that prayer will be answered
because that prayer was indicted by Almighty God. It wasn't something
of our own providing, it was that which God produced within
us. It was the breath of our soul to God. It was a cry from
our heart and therefore the Lord will hear and it may take time
to bring us down to a condition like that. And so it was with
Jonah. Three days, three nights and
then Jonah prayed unto the Lord, his God, out of the fish's belly. And what did he say? He cried
by reason of his affliction unto the Lord. And he heard me out
of the belly of hell, cried I, for thou heardest my voice. God is in every place. God was
with Jonah in that fish's belly. Amazing, wasn't it? And Jonah
had that confidence that it was so. He had the experience it
was so. God drew near to him. Isn't that
wonderful to think? In a condition like that, there
was Jonah, disobedient, run away from his God, and yet the Lord
was gracious. The Lord was merciful. The Lord
came to him and caused him to pray, caused him to cry. And
he tells us, for thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst
of the seas, And the floods compassed me about, all thy billows and
thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of
thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.' There
was his hope, to look again to the Lord himself, to seek him
in prayer. He just describes The experience,
he tells us, the waters compassed me about even to the soul. The
depths closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about
my head. I went down to the bottoms of
the mountains. The earth with her bars was about
me forever. Yet has thou brought up my soul
from corruption, O Lord my God. What a testimony, wasn't it?
From this man Jonah. What a mercy of God to this man
Jonah. He didn't deserve it at all,
did he? Deserved to drown and to go to hell. But no, God had
a purpose of love toward him, a purpose of eternal love. And
so he tells us, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered
the Lord. And my prayer came in unto thee,
into thy holy temple. the work of God, the blessing
of God. The Lord therefore produces those
situations in our lives to bring us into, as it were, fellowship
and union with the Lord himself, so that prayer is not just a
formality. Prayer is something very urgent
and it's that which we must do. We must pray. Wherever we are,
whatever our situation, we must pray. As we need to breathe naturally,
so we need to pray spiritually. And so Jonah came and said, salvation
is of the Lord, yes. He knew then what he must do.
The word of the Lord came in a second time. Jonah went then
and did the Lord's will, did the Lord's bidding. From the
end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed."
Well, we're not told here precisely why David's heart was overwhelmed,
but there were many things in David's life to overwhelm him,
and there may be many things in your life and my life to overwhelm
us. So it is as though we're on a
boisterous sea with many waves, and we're struggling to not succumb
to the power of those elements. We're afraid sometimes we may
succumb to the pressure of the many trials and tribulations
which come upon us. We may fear, we may fail, we
may founder, we may make shipwreck of our faith. Well, here was David. He told us what his situation
was. But what was his prayer? Was he relying on his own self?
Was he relying on his own condition? Was he confident with himself?
No, he wasn't. He asked the Lord a very blessed
and a very important question. It's this, lead, lead me, lead
me, take me by the hand, lead me to the rock that is higher
than I. So many times in the word of
God, that Lord Jesus Christ is described as a rock, the rock. And it's a very glorious thought,
isn't it, to know that we have a God who does not move, a God
who does not change, a God who is the same yesterday and today
and forever, a God who looks upon us, he watches over us,
he sees all our down sittings, he sees our uprisings, he understands
us all together, and yet he's the same. What a blessing it
is to have a God who is like that. And so David then can say
confidently, yes, oh Lord, hear my cry, lead me to the rock that
is higher than I. He wanted to be led. Do you and
I want to be led to the Saviour himself? Is it our cry to be
led to him? The great blessing here in David's
life was that the experiences that he was brought into directed
him to the rock. They brought him to cry to the
Lord. They produced that desire that
he would be led to the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in
our lives, it would be a blessing if the Lord brings things into
our lives that produces that condition, so that we do come
and we do plead and we do want to be led to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you see, we will say,
it is good that I have been afflicted. It may not be in a physical way,
but whatever that condition is, to say, yes, it's good that I've
been afflicted. The Lord brought me down, but
the Lord raised me up. And the truth is, in that condition,
it brings honour and glory to God. Because there we were, as
it were, helpless and almost hopeless and overwhelmed with
this and that and the other. Not able, as it were, to look
up. We couldn't seem to hardly move.
And yet, here we have this encouraging word of David when he says, lead
me to the rock that is higher than I. I can think of that beautiful
introduction, that 40th Psalm, where again David speaks to us
and he tells us, I waited patiently for the Lord. We're impatient, aren't we, very
often? We want God to act now. We want things to happen now.
Your time is always. My time is not yet. God has a
perfect time. You and I have an imperfect time. David tells us here, I waited
patiently for the Lord. No idea how long it was, have
we? Might have been a day, might have been a year, might have
been years. I waited patiently for the Lord. Did he wait in
vain? He was waiting for the Lord.
He was waiting for the Lord. Yes, you see, it wasn't just
musing away his time, he was waiting for the Lord. And my friends, if you and I are
waiting for the Lord, it's a good place to be in. We may not get
the answers or directions that we want immediately, but my friends,
if you and I are waiting patiently for the Lord, it's the right
way, isn't it? David was here. And did he wait
in vain? No, he didn't. And he inclined
unto me. and heard my cry. He'd been praying. Oh yes, he'd been praying. He'd
been crying. He wanted the Lord to appear. He wanted the Lord
to direct him. Here he was in a pretty bad state, he tells
us. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit. Yeah, we don't
know what the pit was, do we? Might have been a pit of unbelief.
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit and out of the
M�ori clay. He wasn't making much progress.
You know, a clay pit, a wet clay pit is the most difficult thing
to get out of. And so here was David in this
condition, he couldn't get himself out. And he said, he brought
me up, you see. He was put in this place that
he couldn't get himself out of. And therefore he had to wait
patiently for God to come. He brought me up also, out of
a horrible pit, out of the mire clay, and he set my feet upon
a rock. He set his feet upon the Lord
Jesus Christ, my friends. What a good place that was to
be brought out of, wasn't it? He wasn't just brought out so
that he'd struggle on. No, David, he was brought out
and put upon a rock and established my goings. Oh yes. You think,
well, did David want some establishment? Well, he tells us he did. And
he was established by the Lord. He was established in his goings. And he hath put a new song in
my mouth, even praise unto our God. He was a changed man. So
you and I, my friends, when the Lord comes and delivers us, brings
us up, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. David is led
to that rock, wasn't he? We waited patiently. And he tells
us this. He hath put a new song in my
mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear and
shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man that maketh
the Lord his trust. You see, if we're trusting in
the Lord, if we're really trusting in the Lord, my friends, we can
believe the Lord will come, the Lord will deliver us, The Lord
will appear for us, but it means that we have to wait patiently
for him. And respect is not the proud, nor such as turn assigned
to lies. And so here we have this expression,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Now, we can just imagine
a scene, can we not? A scene in the sea, perhaps,
of the boisterous waves, and perhaps being shipwrecked, and
not able to get to the shore. And yet, if there was a rock,
you see, a rock which is standing up above the waves, wouldn't
that give us some encouragement? You think, well, if I can get
to that rock, then I shall be safe." It doesn't matter about
all the turmoil, all the waves around us. If we're on that rock,
you see the rock is so solid and the waves may beat upon it
but they won't destroy it. And so the expression is, lead
me to the rock that is higher than I. Again it's a blessed
experience if when we're in that time of need we cry to God that
he will lead us to the Lord Jesus Christ. For that rock, the rock,
Christ Jesus, yes, and that rock is higher than us, isn't it?
We're so small, that rock is so great, it's so solid, it's
so firm. It's a firm, so firm a foundation. Ye saints of the Lord, is it
not? Yes, and the Lord will never forsake us, will he? Oh, it's
good to have that, a foundation like that to rest upon. Now,
we bless God that we have these Psalms to read and just to refer
to that 142nd Psalm, which again is very descriptive. And he cries
unto the Lord, again, have the expression, he pours out his
complaint, before him, I showed before him my trouble. We can
explain everything to God, you see other people don't understand.
They've got their own ideas. They've got their own view. That's
how it's going to work out. No, we commit our way unto the
Lord. We trust in him and we pour out our complaint. You know,
when something's poured out, it just flows, doesn't it? It
flows out. It's good when our prayers flow
out to God. flow out, as it were. What does
it mean? It means this. There's freedom
in prayer. Our prayers flow out to God.
I poured out my complaint before Him, I showed before Him my trouble,
when my spirit was overwhelmed within me. Yes, overwhelmed within
me. Here we are, exactly the same
situation. He repeats it. He was overwhelmed, no doubt,
on many occasions. It wasn't a one-off experience
in Davy's life and it won't be a one-off experience in your
life and my life, my friends. If you and I are true Christians,
we can believe that the old devil will harass us all the way, all
the journey. In one way or another, he will
harass us. He'll bring one thing and another
thing in order, if he can, to overwhelm us. so that we sink,
so that we perish. But we have the encouragement
of David in his life. Yes, although he was overwhelmed,
he didn't perish. And he tells us, when my soul
was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the
way when I walked have they prevalently laid a snare for me. Yes, and
there may be people who lay snares for us, and they look for our
falling, and look for us to stumble, Yes, but you see, if our confidence
is in our God, David said, I looked on my right hand, there was no
man that would know me, refuge failed me, no man cared for my
soul. It's a lonely path, isn't it? It's a lonely path, because it's
only you and God that knows where you are. He only knows if you're
overwhelmed. People don't know what is the
experience in our heart. They can very quickly misjudge. We can very easily misjudge people.
The Lord doesn't look at the outward appearance. You and I
tend to look at the outward appearance. God looks at the heart. And God
knows the situation. What a blessing that is for us,
isn't it? To know that God looks at our heart and God knows. And
so as David looked in his right hand, behold there was no man
that would know me. Refuge failed me, yes. No confidence
in man. Now failure. No man cared for
my soul. I cried unto thee, O Lord. I
said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the
living. Attend unto my cry, for I am
brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors,
for Thou art stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison,
that I may praise Thy name. And it is important to realize
that so many occasions we see the psalmist, he starts in a
low place and he ends in a high place. Praise the Lord. Whenever
deliverance comes, he praises his God. And so you and I, my
friends, should remember that. We should be concerned to truly
acknowledge the Lord's deliverance, acknowledge the Lord's blessing,
and especially if it comes like this, and that the righteous
shall encompass me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with
me, and the Lord, my friends, will deal bountifully with us
if we are led to this rock. The cry was, Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I." My friends, if the Lord leads us to Himself,
leads us to the Lord Jesus Christ, to behold Him, what do we see
there? We see the suffering Saviour.
The Lord may have burdened us with this and that. Think of
what Christ suffered. Think what He endured. Think
of His burden. Think how He was overwhelmed. What a favour, isn't it, to think
that we are privileged to walk in union with the Lamb, from
condemnation free. This is the path of the child
of God, because it brings them into union with Christ. My friends,
if you and I weren't blessed with a path like this, we would
never really appreciate the Saviour. The Lord deals with us in love
to our soul, so that we understand in measure what the Word of God
describes to us. And to bless God if he's brought
us to that position where we are able to say, yes, he has
graciously and gloriously led me to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I've seen there what the
Lord suffered for me and what he's done on my behalf. And I'm thankful for it. And
therefore the Lord has brought me this way to experience something,
and what is it? Fellowship with his sufferings. Fellowship with his sufferings.
You ponder that, you think of that, you think of the Lord Jesus
Christ, what he endured in his life, what sufferings he had
to endure. Yes, he didn't deserve them,
did he? But he suffered them on our behalf. And my friend,
sometimes you and I are led into that path to have union with
Christ. And there is no greater blessing
and no greater favour than to be blessed with that union, because
that union is that which begins on this earth and will be an
eternal union. Bless God for that. 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. Amen.