Psalms 61:2

Notice, first, the sense of distance that pressed on him. "From the end of the earth," he cried. He could not be further away. A feeling of estrangement and loneliness filled his soul. He had no temple to retire to; no fellow worshippers; no human support; no song of conscious victory to sing. He was desolate — but from there he cried to God! It was a cry, only a cry, but the history of such cries is intensely interesting. Israel "cried" when they were under the power of Pharaoh. They could only cry, but they were heard.

The psalmist cries to God from the end of the earth (or "land"). So the enemy is in possession of the sanctuary, while the godly man is driven out.

This is not an appeal of the godly man against enemies. It is the sinking of his heart as one cast out. But at the end of the earth, with his spirit overwhelmed, he cries to God. He looks for a rock higher than himself, out of this flood. So his confidence was restored. He trusted a God he already knew, whatever his sorrows at that moment… Being driven out is the occasion, and he feels it. Yet the psalm is not about wickedness. It is about nature — the human heart overwhelmed.

A silenced heart is exactly what God wants, and it secures rest and peace for us. Such a heart can only cry. It has stopped rebelling. It has yielded. It has given up its own will and tastes and passions to the supremacy of the good will of God.

The other word is tsur, a rock, usually sharp and steep, "a place of shelter and security": "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (Ps. 61:2).

To the rock that is higher than the flood, or the storm, or the trouble, or the perplexity, or all that overwhelms — lead, oh, "lead me to the rock that is higher than I"! Wonderful Rock! The "Rock of ages" was once split open to give shelter to the sin-burdened soul. Now that same Rock of ages is risen from the dead and seated at God's right hand. He is the unfailing refuge of every sorrow-tossed heart that only seeks to be led "to" Him. If "I" am small and weak and needy, that Rock is great and strong and secure and everlasting — the "Rock that is higher than I!"

God's purpose, in dealing with those who are not illegitimate children but sons (Heb. 12:8), is to acquaint them more fully with His own way — to make them more wisely familiar with Him as a Saviour God. A hidden root of pride, or a living growth of self-righteousness, may remain unjudged in the soul. While it does, God cannot fully show Himself in Christ. The heart, when truly brought to a sense of its own helplessness, stops depending on itself. The mist that surrounded it then lifts, and the glory of Christ as the Rock of its salvation becomes clearly seen.

In these verses the King speaks as representing the people, who cry out to the Lord in the middle of overwhelming circumstances. Israel has been scattered to "the end of the earth." This blessed Intercessor takes His place with the godly who are scattered. He pleads on their behalf, "Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I" (v. 2). Of course, He speaks as the truly dependent Man, not as He does in His prayer of John 17, where He speaks as the Son of the Father, and so fully equal with the Father.

Here it is the soul more than the people and their enemies. And though the heart is overwhelmed, the cry is to God. Being at the end of the earth is strange and sad for a Jew, but it makes no difference to God, whose chastening is accepted, and His leading to a Rock higher than himself is counted on. God cannot fail, though His people do.