Let us turn once again to God's
Word and the opening words of that portion of scripture that
we read in Psalm 61. Psalm 61 and verses 1 and 2. Hear my cry, O God, attend, answer
my prayer. 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. Many things have been said with
regards, of course, to this book, the book of Psalms. Much of the
book is clearly prophetic, it's messianic, it speaks of the Lord
Jesus Christ and as we said before, It is quite remarkable because
the veil is drawn aside and we are granted some sight of the
soul of the Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks in a prophetic voice
of those sins that transpired in his innermost being as he
came to make the great sacrifice for sins. We only have to think
of such a psalm as the 22nd psalm. What a remarkable description
is that of those inward agonies of soul that Christ endured when
he made the one sacrifice for sins forever. But as the Psalms
speak to us of Christ and speak of Christ's experiences, So it
has also been observed that in this book we also have a manual
of the Christians' experience. These men, David, Esau, Haman,
so many others, they were writing out of the fullness of their
own soul's experience, writing out of the way in which God was
pleased to deal with them. And so many of the psalms, of
course, are a response to God's dealings. And so we find time
and again that the psalmist addresses himself immediately to God. The psalms are really prayers,
prayers to God. And is not that the case with
regards to what we have here in the text. David cries out
in prayer, Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. 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. Well, as we come to consider
the text, I want us to deal with it in terms of three headings,
three headings regarding the prayer of David. First of all
the cause of his prayer, and then secondly the object, the
matter particularly that he looks to, and then finally the cry
that we have in his prayer. First of all then we turn to
what it was that moved him, what it was that caused him to pray
in such a fashion. He says here in the second verse,
from the end of the earth will I cry unto the earth. From the end of the earth, what
were David's circumstances? How was it that he felt himself
to be at the ends of the earth? When we examine the psalm, we
deduce that this psalm seems to have been written at the time
of the rebellion of his favourite son Absalom. David then, it seemed,
was about to completely lose the kingdom and he would also
lose his own life. And yet, What does he say here? At the end of the psalm in verse
6, they will prolong the king's life and his years as many generations. He shall abide before God forever.
Oh, preserve mercy and truth which may preserve him. Even when David was in great
despair, when David was overwhelmed at the time of that rebellion
by his son fleeing from Jerusalem. Remember how we're told something
of the detail of the history of that period in the second
book of Samuel. We see there in chapter 15 how
David begins to depart from Jerusalem in fear of his life. It would
be foolish not to run away at that time. even though it was
his own son that had risen up against him. And so we are told
how he arises there in 2 Samuel 15 verse 14, David said unto
all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, let
us flee, for we shall not escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart,
lest he overtake us suddenly and be evil upon us and smite
the city with the edge of the sword. Here is David departing
from his own capital city and as he begins to go so we see
him lamenting. Verse 30 David went up by the
ascent of Mount Olives and wept as he went up and had his head
covered and he went barefoot and all the people that was with
him covered every man his head and they went up weeping as they
went up. Here is David departing, going
as it were, he knows not where, going even to the ends of the
earth. And so he proceeds, he crosses
over the river Jordan we see later in the account there in
the second book of Samuel in the seventeenth chapter. Verse
22, then David arose and all the people that were with him
and they passed over Jordan. By the morning light there lacks
not one of them that was not gone over Jordan. He is going,
it would seem, away from the land of promise. He is going
even to the ends of the earth. It wasn't just Absalom, his own
beloved son. But others, of course, were involved
in the conspiracy. David's great friend and counsellor
Ahithophel was in that conspiracy. David speaks in another psalm
about how they would go to the house of God in company together. He was a bosom friend to David,
was Ahithophel, and yet even he had turned and fallen in with
Absalom's rebellion. And even as David goes there,
he's shimmy-eyed. of the family of King Saul cursing
David as he goes. This then, I say, would appear
to be something of the situation, the circumstances that David
found himself in at that particular time. From the end of the earth,
he says, will I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed. All David was overwhelmed in
his soul at this time, as he departs from his own city, Jerusalem. Now, that expression, the end
of the earth, we also have it, of course, in Isaiah, a familiar
text in Isaiah chapter 45. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. That is the exhortation that
we find there then in the prophecy of Isaiah. Those who are at the
end of the earth are bidden to turn to God. Now can we not understand
those words figuratively and spiritually? Of course there
is a literal meaning to what is being said there by the prophet
Isaiah. the ends of the earth clearly
have reference to the Gentiles and God's gracious purpose yet
to save sinners of the Gentiles. Previously in that chapter Isaiah
45 verse 14 we read these words, I said the Lord the labor of
Egypt and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabians men of stature
shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine, and they
shall come after thee. In chains they shall come over,
and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication
unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee, and there is none
else, there is no God. These nations, the Egyptians,
the Ethiopians, the Sabians, and the references to them coming
over to Israel, coming over to the only living and the only
true God. Going later in the book of Isaiah
we have that words of promise that is given to his people,
it is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise
up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel,
I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest
be my salvation unto the end of the earth." That great promise
then that he's given concerning Christ, concerning his gospel
going out. Again in verse 22, Behold I will
lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the
people. And they shall bring thy sons
in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing
fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers. They shall bow
down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up
the dust of thy feet. And they shall know that I am
the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me."
The great promise of the Gospel dispensation then is that God's
grace is not any more confined simply to the nation of the Jews,
but there is to be the calling of the Gentiles. And that invitation
then in verse 22 of Isaiah 45, look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God's and there is none
else. That is the literal setting,
the literal meaning of the expression ends of the earth. But surely
as here in Psalm 61 so also there in Isaiah 45 we can understand
the expression in a figurative sense, in a spiritual sense. Is there not an application that
we can see belongs to God's people individually in the day of grace? We know why these things were
written. Whatever things were written,
Paul says, were written for our learning. That we through patience
and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Here is David
not simply in a situation in which he is having to flee from
Jerusalem and depart out of the land of promise and go as he
were to what would seem like the ends of the earth in order
to escape from the treachery of his own son and his own cancer. But David surely would feel these
things also in his soul. Was not David overwhelmed by
a sense of what he was, as a sinner. He says, when my heart is overwhelmed,
what is it that overwhelms the heart of the spiritual man? Is it not that sense of what
he is before God, these many findings, these shortcomings?
How repeatedly he falls short of God's glory, how he constantly
transgresses, that Lord of God that he professes to love and
to delight in. We know that David was very much
aware of his sinnership. He cries out in Psalm 14, innumerable
evils, he says, compass me about. This is what he felt. He was
surrounded by evil on every hand. How these things had taken hold
of him. innumerable evils have compassed
me about, my iniquities have taken hold upon them, so that
I am not able to look up, they are more than the hairs of my
head, therefore my heart faileth not." This was David, you see. David at the ends of the earth.
My iniquities have gone over my head, he says elsewhere, as
a heavy burden. They are too heavy for me. Oh, these things prevailed against
him. So it was that he had to cry
out to God. He knew what the root of his
problem was. It was that that was in his fallen nature. It was the condition in which
he was born when he came into this fallen world. Behold, I
was shapen in iniquity, he cries. in sin did my mother conceive
me. And what was true with regards
to David being overwhelmed by the sense of his sinnership is
true time and again, is it not, in the experiences of those that
we read of here in the Book of Scripture. Paul felt it. Paul
felt it. Though Paul was clearly a spiritual
man, Only the spiritual man would feel these things. He cries out,
I know that in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good
thing. All wretched man that I am, says
Paul, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Here is the cause of a man crying
out, and seeking the faith of God, uttering his prayers to
God, there is a reason. He looks to himself and he sees
nothing but sin in his heart, and there is no hope anywhere
in himself. These, I say, are the words of
spiritual men. Paul, you see, could say, I delight
in the Lord of God after the inward man. And yet, at the same
time, as he utters that word, he goes on to say, I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. He's
a spiritual man. There's nothing in himself, nothing
of himself. He has to call upon God. He is
the apostle, of course, who tells us quite plainly what we are
by nature, in our carnal minds, in our fleshly minds, in our
natural mind. That mind is enmity against God,
it is not subject to the law of God, he says, neither indeed
can be. David then here is the man who
is overwhelmed. My heart, he says, is overwhelmed. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto them. But not only overwhelmed because
he has that real sense of what he is as a sinner, At times David
is overwhelmed by the darkness, the darkness that on occasions
he feels in his own soul. Those who have enjoyed anything
of God's presence will lament much when they feel that God
has departed from them. And we have to recognise, do
we not, that the life of the child of God is a life of changes. The psalmist in Psalm 55 says
of the ungodly man, because they have no changes, therefore they
fear not God. But now the believer is one who
finds that his life is made up of strange changes. And it's when he's enjoyed something
of that felt presence of God and then it's as if the Lord
has departed from him for a season. Having known the light, how then
the darkness is so keenly felt. Now, this isn't just the experience
of David, of course, we've already made reference to Paul. But think
of the experience of Job. What does Job say? as he reviews
his own life in the midst of all those strange trials and
troubles that had come upon him. In chapter 29, he says,
All that I were as in months past, as in the days when God
preserved me, when his candle shined upon my head, when by
his light I walked through darkness, as I was in the days of my youth
when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle." Now why does
he utter such words as these? Because he's looking back and
he's remembering times of great favour and great blessing from
God, but those times are gone. He was overwhelmed then, by that
sense of darkness, because God had departed from him. And we see it, I say, so many
times. This book, this book of Psalms,
is a manual of Christian experience. Look at what the Psalmist says. In Psalm 78, this is Asa. He
cries out, is his mercy clean gone forever? Doth his promise
fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his
tender mercies? These are the questions he's
asking. He's overwhelmed. Isaiah chapter 50, those last
words where we see the child of light walking in darkness.
Here is that one who is the heir of heaven. Who is among you that
feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that
walketh in darkness, that hath no light? Let him trust in the
name of the Lord and stay himself upon his God. It says he profiteth
the mouthpiece of God. Even in the midst of all that
darkness, overwhelmed with it, he is to stay upon his God. And
this is what David is doing. when he cries out in his prayer,
when he beseeches God to attend onto his prayer, from the end
of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed. Here is David, he's staining
himself upon his God, when he feels that God has left him,
God has departed from him. Again, we have those words Three
times in Psalms 42 and 43, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God. Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise Him who is the house of my countenance and my God. There was a cause then, there
was a reason behind the prayer that David is making here at
the beginning of the psalm. Yes, he was in the most difficult
of circumstances. His own son, his beloved son,
in many ways his favourite son, Absalom, had turned against him,
stolen the heart of the people. And his great friend Ahithophel
had fallen in with the conspiracy. And David is fleeing, not knowing
where he will finish up. This is the circumstance in the
literal sense. And yet there's some spiritual
significance also. It's what David feels in his
soul. He has a sense of his own sins. How he had sinned against
God. How he had grieved God. And how
he was overwhelmed now by that felt darkness as God had departed
from him. But look in the second place
at the object. The object of the prayer. What
is it that David desires from God? He says, lead me to the
rock that is higher than I. The rock. This is a prayer, you see, in
which he expresses his desire for the manifestation of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We know that Christ is that rock. In 1 Corinthians 10, where Paul
speaks of the experiences of the children of Israel in the
wilderness, and that rock, remember, as of which flowed the living
waters. Well, Paul tells us what the
rock was. That rock which followed them
was Christ, he says. He says it's a spiritual rock,
that spiritual rock. That spiritual rock that followed
them. and that rock was Christ. And so here in the psalm do we
not see the same with regards to David. Look at the next psalm,
psalm 62. In verse 2 he says, He only is
my rock and my salvation. He is my defence. I shall not
be greatly moved. And then he repeats himself at
verse 6 then. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defence. I shall not
be moved. In God is my salvation and my
glory. The rock of my strength and my
refuge is in God. This is the one that David desires
to know that God would lead him to this rock and establish him
upon this rock. And he says concerning this rock,
it is higher than I, higher than David. This is none other than
him who is David's son, yes, but he is David's greater son,
the one whom David refers to as his Lord. the Lord Jesus Christ
in the Gospel speaks to the Jews and the Jewish leaders and exposes
the folly of their teachings and their opposition to him. See how he speaks of David's
understanding of the Christ at the end of Matthew 22. We're
told, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked
them, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of
David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call
him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my
right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David
then call him Lord, how is he his son? No man was able to answer
him a word, neither does any man from that day forth ask him
any more questions. He silenced them, did the Lord
Jesus Christ. He exposed their false views. They didn't understand the Scriptures.
Or David understood. He called him Lord. He is David's
greatest son. He is higher than David. And this is the one that David
desires to be led through. Lead me to the rock, he says,
that is higher than I. He has a greater authority than
ever David has. And David was a great king in
Israel. And David's son Solomon, of course,
extended the boundaries of the kingdom Ah, but this is the greater
son of David. And we're reminded, are we not,
when we read of him being higher, we're reminded that Christ is
in that place of power and that place of authority. The blessed
and only potenter, says Paul, the King of kings and Lord of
lords. This is the one. that David desires
to know, the one that he has set his affections upon, the
one that he is seeking after. Lead me to the rock, he says.
Oh, that rock is the Lord Jesus Christ. He hath on his vesture
and on his thigh a name written which is King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. He is the one who has all authority,
all power is given unto me, he says, in heaven and in earth. Go and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end
of the world. Or this is the one who has authority
in this day in which we are living. Do we recognise that? Amidst
all the confusion that we are constantly bombarded with in
this wicked world, all the political machinations of man, all the
false religions would seek to do against the Lord Jesus Christ,
yet Christ himself is that one who is sovereign. God has put all things under
his feet, we are told, and given him to be the head over all things,
to his body the church, which is the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. He is that one who is higher,
higher than all things, and one who is truly the only, blessed,
potent the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He has power
then. And not only does he have power,
but he has wisdom. He has wisdom. Think of him who
is the type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of Solomon. And
how Solomon is renowned for his wisdom. Of course, under the
inspiration of the Holy Ghost, he is the one who is the writer of the wisdom liturgies
that we have here in the Old Testament. The book of Proverbs,
the book of Ecclesiastes. These were written by Solomon,
who was given that wisdom. We have it recorded, do we not,
there in the first book of Kings, in chapter 3, how he made that
wise choice. He desired that God above all
things would grant to him wisdom and so he became renowned. He was renowned as a wise man
was King Solomon. In chapter 10 of that first book
of Kings, we see something of his reputation as the wisest
of men. Verse 23, So King Solomon exceeded
all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. And all the earth sought to Solomon
to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. And he
could talk. Or that we would be those who
would seek unto one who is greater than Solomon, even the Lord Jesus
Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
says the Apostle. In the midst of all the trials
and troubles, all the difficulties that come into our lives, isn't
this the one that we should seek answer, that we might have wisdom? If any man lack wisdom, he is
to ask of God, to give it to all men liberally, and abrade
us not, says James. But it's to ask in faith. How
we need this wisdom, this heavenly wisdom that is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That wisdom from above, James
says, which is first pure and then peaceable and gentle and
easy to be entreated and full of mercy and good fruits and
without partiality and without hypocrisy. This is the Lord Jesus
Christ who of God is made unto us wisdom. He not only has authority,
but he is the wise one. And he is the one that we must
look to and wait upon if we would know how to conduct ourselves.
When we find ourselves in circumstances similar to David's, the end of
the earth, overwhelmed, not knowing what to do, where to turn. And
yet, if you're like me, oh, we're so foolish, are we not? The last
one we resort to in those circumstances so often is the Lord. We look
to others. We seek the advice of others. That's not necessarily
a bad thing. We know the wise man tells us
in the multitude of counsellors there is safety. But we're to
look to him who is the wise counsellor first and foremost, sure. When
we're in situations that we cannot understand, and our hearts are
so overwhelmed, we need to look to Christ as that blessed object.
He has authority. He has power. He is able, you
see, to do all things. Nothing is impossible with Him.
He is able to save us from the uttermost, is He not? And He
is so wise. But then also, are we not reminded
here that there is safety? There is safety in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at how David continues in
verse 3. Thou hast been a shelter for
me, and a strong tower from the enemy. Oh, lead me to that rock,
he says. Here is that place of shelter.
Here is that place where the enemy is unable to touch me. Again, it's not just here, is
it? It's in other of the Psalms. Look at what he says in Psalm
71. In verse 3, Be thou my strong
habitation, whereunto I may continually resolve. Thou hast given command
of the saviour, for thou art my rock and my fortress. Here is that great place then. where the believer is not only
saved but he is saved and no harm is able to come to him remember
how Moses knew that blessed spot Moses knew what it was to be
hidden in that cleft of the rock that's where God was pleased
to put him there in In the book of Exodus, at the end of the 33rd chapter,
the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and they shall
stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass, while my glory
passeth by, that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock, and will
cover them with my hand while I pass by. David was obviously
aware of these things. David was familiar with the Lord
of Moses. He had at least that part of
the Old Testament Scriptures. And is he not in a sense pleading
this word? God said to Moses, Behold there
is a place by mine and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And this is the rock you see.
Lead me to the rock, he says, that is higher than I, or safe
to the rock that is higher than I, my soul in its conflicts and
sorrows would fly, says the Lord Him. How good it is to have this
blessed object in view, in whatever be our circumstances, when we
feel we are far off the ends of the earth, so very far from
God, overwhelmed in our hearts, and yet to be looking to the
rock. And then this morning, in the
last place, the cry that we find in the prayer of David. See what David is acknowledging
here? He is not able of himself to be set upon the rock. Can't
put himself there. And he acknowledges that. He
wants God to do it. Lead me, he says. lead me to
the rock that is higher than I. It is a truth, is it not, that
we cannot of ourselves and in our own strength even come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. No man can come to me, says Christ,
except the Father which hath sent me draw him. Now we have
to learn that. Thank God I can at least look
back to that inexperienced, wanting to come, unable to come, wanting
to believe, unable to believe, or could I not believe? Then
all would easily I would, but can that Lord relieve my help?
Must come from thee, says good John Newton. Only God can set
us upon that rock, only God can give us that faith that is truly
saving. And so, not surprisingly, we
see David in all of these Psalms, that we read these three Psalms,
he is constantly calling upon God, crying to God. Look at the
opening words of each of the Psalms. Psalm 61, he says, Hear
my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. Psalm 62, he says, Truly
my soul waited upon God, from Him cometh my salvation. In Psalm 63, O God, Thou art
my God, early will I seek Thee, my soul thirsteth for Thee, my
flesh longeth for Thee, in a dry and thirsty lungs where no water
is. How earnest David is, you see,
in all his seekings after God. Oh, what a weighting this is
that we read of in Psalm 62. It's that waiting that expresses
itself in such a lively fashion. There's that exercise of hope
and prayer continually in him. It's not passive waiting. We're
not to think that's what the word waiting suggests at all. Just being inactive and saying,
oh well it's all of God. That's faithfulism. though we're
to be earnest in our crying and our calling upon His Name, we're
to be so diligent, you see, in the seeking of His face. Again,
there in Psalm 62, in verse 5, it says, My soul wait thou only
upon God, for my expectation is from Him. The guy that goes right there,
he says, pour out your heart before him. That's how we wait. Oh, there's such a diligence,
there's such a blessed activity, there's such holy exercise in
the depth of the soul as we wait upon him, that he would come
and appear for us. Why does he bring us into these
circumstances? Why does he give us such a sight
of ourselves and our sins as to overwhelm us? Why does he
sometimes hide his face, as it were? We feel ourselves so far
from him. It is to move us to come and
to seek him again and again and again. Isn't this what the life
of faith is about? It's not just believing at the
beginning of our Christian experience and then life is so easy and
so straightforward. No, there are many chances. We
find ourselves going in and out, and in all the various trials
and circumstances of life, what do we find? We find pasture. We discover something more of
the Word of God, something more of the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ. More than that we might be those
who would learn of the Son, Even in the words of our text this
morning, hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. From the
end of the earth will I cry unto the Lord. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. The Lord bless His Word. We sing as our concluding hymn
this morning, hymn number 926 of the Tunis Ashfield 285. When overwhelmed with doubts
and fear, great God, who thou my spirit cheer, let not my eyes
with tears be fed, but to the rock of ages let. Hymn number
926.