Psalm 61 - Assurance of God's Protection

 

Psalm 61 A Psalm of David

Commentaries by Dennis Edwards

Psalm 61-2 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.

David often felt overwhelmed in the days that Saul sought for his life. He learned to trust God from his youth, the God that had delivered him from the mouth of the bear and from the mouth of the lion. That same God had made him triumph over Goliath, the giant of the Philistinians. David, as we do at times, felt overwhelmed by the fears caused by the precarious situation he was in.

We experience the same fears in our daily lives. We are bombarded by the world news informing us of all the catastrophes and wars globally. We look at the world around us and fear for the future. In the Gospel of Luke, we read that Jesus told his disciples, that in the last days, “Men’s hearts (would be) failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming upon the earth: for the powers of the heaven shall be shaken,” Luke 21:26.

When we feel overwhelmed by the events we see in the world around us, when fear overtakes us, when our souls faint within us, like Jonah in the belly of the whale, we need to remember the Lord, and cry out to the God that is higher than we are, the Rock of our salvation.

Jesus is that Rock, the sure cornerstone, the strong tower to which the righteous run into and are safe. The stone which the builders have forsaken has become the head of the corner. He is the Rock that is higher than each of us. In the Psalms we see the Lord is referred to as: “my rock and my fortress,” “my rock and my salvation,” “my God the rock of my salvation,” “God my Rock,” “O Lord my Rock,” “Blessed be my Rock,” “the rock of my refuge.”

In 2 Samuel 22:2-7, David prayed the following song: “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in Him will I trust: He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; You save me from violence. I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so, shall I be saved from my enemies. When the waves of death compassed me, (like Jonah), the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; the sorrows of hell compassed me about, the snares of death prevented me; in my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God and He did hear my voice out of His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears.”

Further on David sings, “For who is God, save the Lord? And who is a rock, save our God? God is my strength and power: and he makes my way perfect. … The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation. … He is the tower of salvation,” 2 Samuel 32,33,47,48,51a.

Psalm 61:3 For You have been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

When we feel overwhelmed, we can run to the strong tower through calling out to the Lord in desperate prayer. He is the shelter from the storm.

Psalm 61:4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.

Like a hen covers her baby chicks from the storm with her wings, let us trust in the Lord’s wings to cover us. “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His winds shall you trust,” Psalm 91:4a.

Psalm 61:5 For thou, O God, have heard my vows: thou have given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.

When we cry, the Lord hears, and will respond in some way or another. Our prayers are not in vain. The heritage that God has promised us is that, “no weapon that is formed against us shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against us in judgment we shall condemn,” Isaiah 54:17a. “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist,” Luke 21:15.

Psalm 61:6-7 Thou wilt prolong the king's life: and his years as many generations. He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.

Is David speaking about himself? Or is he sensing the eternal life offered by the Redeemer? In Psalm 16:10 David wrote, “For You will not leave my soul in hell, neither will You suffer your Holy One to see corruption.” In the Proverbs 16:6, we read, “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged, and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.” Apostle John tells us that “the law was given by Moses, but grace (or mercy) and truth came by Jesus Christ,” John 1:17. Jesus is God’s mercy and truth which will preserve all that come unto God by Him.

Psalm 61:8 So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.

It’s the joy of the Lord that gives us strength. It is through praise and thanksgiving that we enter into that strength, that we may be able to fulfil our commitments to God and our fellow man. Just keep praising the Lord no matter what happens.