Psalm 61
The superscription of Psalm 61 reads, "For the music director; on a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David." Music is a gift from God. The Psalter is prayer set to music, prayer set to song. It is a book of prophecy, of Spirit-inspired truth speaking and foretelling. David declared "The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me, And His word was on my tongue" (2 Samuel 23:2 NASB). The apostle Peter said that David was a prophet who when singing about the events of his own life was unknowingly looking ahead to the life of Christ (Acts 2:30; 1 Pet 1:11). The writers of the New Testament quote the Psalms more than anything else. We remember what we sing, and so did they. God made us this way.
Psalm 61 is meant to be sung with an accompanying stringed instrument. Music is a gift from God. It is a Psalm of David. The phrase "of David" means it was written by, for, or about David. It pertains to David. As we read it, we should think of the life of David. David is in the background and the Messiah, the son of David, is in the foreground. The psalm also pertains to our own lives. We all face things similar to what David faced before us and Messiah faced for us.
We are not told what events in the life of David are in the background of the Psalm. We can apply the words of the psalm to our own situations and circumstances. In my Psalm notebook, which I use for devotion, I write what amounts to my own superscriptions. It might be a date scribbled in or a little sentence about when God ministered to me through a psalm.
For David, this may have been one of the times he was running. He spent much of his life running and hiding when he wasn't fighting, worshipping, or resting. Life is complicated. It always has been. It was complicated for David. It was complicated for our Lord. We should seek for it to be as simple as it can be, but there are some things we don't get to choose.
Psalm 61:1-2 (NASB)
Hear my cry, God; Give Your attention to my prayer. 2 From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Psalm 61 begins with an individual lament. There is no formal beginning to the prayer with fluffy words and platitudes. It simply begins with the singer crying out to God to hear his "cry." When we read a petition in Scripture for God to "hear" it is a plea for Him to answer favorably with a "Yes!"
The word for "cry" is a loud shout, a very excited plea for God's help. Prayer doesn't always look pretty. Sometimes it's desperate. And that's okay. The parallel phrase "Give Your attention to my prayer" tells us that David's "cry" is real prayer!
Abbot John Chapman, when laypeople, monks, nuns, and priests wrote to him seeking guidance in a life of prayer replied, "Pray as you can, and do not try to pray as you can’t."
David cries out from "the end of the earth." This is hyperbole.
It could be the far reaches of the land of Israel. David wants to be in the center where he worships God regularly, the place where the Tabernacle and Ark are. David spent time in caves, wilderness, and enemy territory when running and hiding from Saul as a young man and Absolom as an old man.
It could mean the edge of the netherworld, close to death, and the place of monsters and giants. It is far from where David wants to be, and it is from here that he cries out. Not only can you pray anyway, you can also pray anywhere. Jonah prayed from the depths, Daniel prayed from the lion's den, our Lord prayed from the cross, and Paul and Silas prayed in jail. Wherever you are today, you can cry out to Him! Whatever blank you have to fill in in the superscription of this Psalm will work. In the year of my health crisis, in the season of struggle at that transition of life, in the time when my finances were a mess, when I was looking for direction... You can pray anywhere!
David says his heart was faint, "In the fainting of my heart." He is on the edge of despair. He has done what he could. He is on the border of giving up about to step over and throw his hands up in defeat. Now he adds being overwhelmed to his alienation. He has come to the end of himself, but he prays.
I like what James writes of the prophet Elijah, "he was a man subject to like passions as we are, but he prayed..." When we come to the end of ourselves we are in a good place. It is often only when we hit rock bottom that we look up.
David looks up! His prayer from the place he feels so far from God and of utter despair is a prayer that God would lead him. It is a prayer first for direction. He is calling out to the One he talks about in Psalm 23 Who leads him beside the still waters and restores his soul. God is so willing to lead us and guide us.
His prayer is that God will lead him to a place higher than he can reach. In this, he acknowledges both his own frailty and the transcendence of God. "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I"...
The first step in AA is “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.” The second step is, "We came to be aware that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” We cannot do it on our own! This prayer for direction is also a prayer for enablement. Without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:55), but with Him "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" (Philippians 4:13).
Psalm 61:3-4
3 For You have been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the enemy. 4 Let me [a]dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah
First, he says God has been a "refuge" and a "tower of strength." Expanding on the previous thought of a rock higher than himself David is telling us that, "The LORD God is inaccessibly high or exalted over the affairs of humans, and so his protection is out of reach of the enemies" (Allen P. Ross). These words mean a high place, a fortress, but ancient translators (LXX) inserted the word "hope" here as in interpretation. They made it real to themselves, like writing in the margins of your Bible, making their own superscriptions. Our true refuge is our hope in God Himself. Hope helps us through all the pressure and stress of life and our Hope is in Him.
The New Testament refers to Jesus as the Rock (Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:6; cf. Isaiah 28:16). He is the Chief Cornerstone. A life built on Him and His Words can endure every storm. He is the Rock higher than we are and the One on Whom we build (Hebrews 12:22-24; Ephesians 3:14-19).
David wasn't always running and fighting, there came a place where he was building. Our entire life should not be an emergency and the next verses reveal a growing intimacy between David and God.
Next, notice that the imagery changes. It grows increasingly more intimate. David continues praying. He asks, "Let me dwell in Your tent forever..." This is a petition to "sojourn" with God in His dwelling place. David had pitched a tent in Jerusalem for the Ark of the Covenant that symbolized God's dwelling place and His covenant relationship with ancient Israel. Although David pitched the tent, he recognized that he was God's guest not vice versa. A tent is not a fortress. It seems less safe. But, it is God's tent. It is in His Presence that true safety is. It sounds like Psalm 23.
Psalm 23:5-6 (KJV)
"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."
Finally, David asks, "Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah." From rocky fortress to a tent to the wings of a bird sheltering its young. Growing intimacy. There may be the idea of the wings of the cherubim that overshadowed the Ark of the Covenant that was in the tent in Jerusalem. Under whose wings thou art come to trust.
How often would I have gathered you?
The safest place is in His Presence, with Him brooding over you!
