II. CONTEMPLATE THE PERIOD WHEN THIS URGENT REQUEST IS MADE, AND WHEN THIS EARNEST SUPPLICATION IS POURED FORTH; namely, when the heart is overwhelmed, when the spirit is sorrowful, and when the soul is bowed down; when deep calleth unto deep, and when the waves and billows roll over the sinking and sorrowing soul. It would be easy to explain why the heart of the sincere Christian is often overwhelmed. Not only has he his troubles and trials in common with the rest of the world, but he has those which are peculiar to him as a member of the household of faith — as a traveller who is journeying to a foreign country — peculiar to him as a citizen of that city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God — peculiar to him as a soldier who is marching through an enemy's country to take possession of the promised land.

III. THE GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL ENCOURAGEMENT EVERY TRIED, TEMPTED AND TREMBLING SINNER HAS TO REPAIR TO THIS ROCK OF DEFENCE. For every believer freely acknowledges, and from his inmost spirit feels, that he is a weak, defenceless creature, unable to contend in his own strength against the powers of sin and death leagued against him; he finds that he has not only to wrestle against "flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places"; consequently he had need to take upon him the whole armour of God — he had need to fly for refuge to a stronger arm than his own for protection.

(N. Meeres, B. D.)

I. A FAITH THAT IS BEYOND THE RANGE OF EARTHLY KNOWLEDGE. Daniel Webster said he would not believe in a religion whose doctrines he could comprehend.

II. A POWER TO HELP US THAT IS BEYOND OUR OWN POWER, in order to conquer ourselves.

(Homiletic Monthly.)

(W. Birch.)

1. From a sense of the Divine claims we owe obedience (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37).

2. From the pressure of heavy trials (Psalm 55:12-14).

3. From the keenness of temptation to which the very best of men are subject. Moses, David, Daniel, Job, and even our Lord Himself, were all tempted.

4. From the anticipations of future evils.

II. WHITHER THE PSALMIST DESIRES TO BE LED — "To the Rock that is higher than I." "The rock" gives the idea —

1. Of strength (Psalm 62:2, 6, 8).

2. Durability: "I am the Lord, I change not." "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday," etc.

III. THE GROUNDS OF THE PSALMIST'S PLEA — "from the ends of the earth."

1. This prayer is prompted by a consciousness of need.

2. It is addressed to the true source of ability.

3. It is encouraged by past experience (Psalm 61:3).

(G. Stockdale.)

1. The state wherein the psalmist was — "the end of the earth," in loneliness and distant from the house of God. And his heart was overwhelmed, and he fainted under his distress.

2. The course he takes in this state. He cried unto the Lord. His faith made him do so, for faith makes the heart sensible of affliction, and complain of it unto God, and earnestly endeavour to come near to God. What it craves is, that God would lead him to the rock, that is, that God would give him access unto Himself by Christ, in whom God is our rock and refuge.

I. NOTE SOME INSTANCES OF THIS CRY OF FAITH (Jonah 2:2, 3). David in many instances.

II. THE GROUNDS OF IT.

1. Faith does this, because it is able to distinguish between the covenant itself, which is firm, stable, invariable; and the administration of the covenant, which is various and changeable; I mean the outward administration of it. And this God teaches us (Psalm 89:30-34).

2. Faith will naturally thus act, as it is the principle of the new nature in us that came from God, and will tend unto Him, whatever difficulties lie in the way.

III. WHAT IT IS, THAT IN SUCH AN OVERWHELMING CONDITION AS I HAVE DESCRIBED, FAITH REGARDS IN GOD, to give it a support and relief, that it be not utterly overwhelmed.

1. The first thing faith considers in such a condition is the nature of God Himself, and His excellencies. There are three or four circumstances that may befall us in our distress, that faith itself can get no relief against them, but from the essential properties of the nature of God.

2. Believers may be brought into distress in all places of the world: in a lion's den with Daniel; in a dungeon with Jeremiah; they may be banished to the ends of the earth, as John to Patmos; or they may be driven into the wilderness, as the woman by the fury of the dragon, Now, what can give relief against this circumstance of distress which may befall the people of God? (Jeremiah 23:28).

3. God is ever the same.

4. There is relief to be found in God, and only in Himself, in the loss of all, when nothing remains. This was Habakkuk's comfort if all should fail him; yet, saith he, "I will rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of my salvation."

5. The last circumstance of distress is death, with the way and manner whereby it may approach us: and how soon this will be we know not. The soul's relief lies in God's immutability, that we shall find Him the same to us in death as He was in life, and much more.

( J. Owen, D. D.)

(T. G. Selby.)

(G. F. Cushman, D. D.)

1. Man is an emotional being; so delicate and subtle is the organization of the human heart, that a single sound will influence it. So highly wrought that it may be operated upon by the most refined instrument which creature skill ever constructed. So tenderly susceptible, that a word is often times enough to lift it into ecstasy, or depress it to despair — so sensitive, that the glance of an eye can fill it with joy, or transfix it with grief.

2. We may understand, therefore, how it is, that in some circumstances, under strong influences — a sudden influx of joy, or prosperity, or under a storm and inundation of woes — the heart becomes overwhelmed. The Christian is not exempt from the troubles and trials of life; and, in addition to them, how frequently is he overwhelmed with a sense of his own unworthiness — his imperfections; the smallness of his faith — and the coldness of his love. How often does he make the language of the psalmist his own, and say unto God, "When my heart is overwhelmed within me, lead me," etc.

II. THE IMPORT OF THE PRAYER. Here is the expression of conscious weakness, "Lead me." He feels the need of assisting grace, and Divine support — and with the self-diffidence and conscious weakness of a little child, he tries to grasp his Father's hand — "Lead me." "Higher than I." This implies confidence — faith in God — in the sufficiency of Christ. He acknowledges in Christ some one to look up to, superior to any human source; here is humility,

(J. D. Carey.)

1. This man's conception of Deity has two sides to it — a physical and supernatural. He conceives God in the form of a natural and poetical image; sees Him as a Rock. To others God might be Father, lover, friend, but to him He was the rock, that against which birds and armies and tempests dash themselves to pieces, but also that on which flowers bud out of the winds, and birds build their nests, and men hide from the march of tempests. But it is possible that in this other phrase "higher than I" — we have another conception of the Divine. Change "higher than I" into "too high for me," and you have the conception which held his mind. Too high! i.e. on a higher level, of another order, of a greatness I can never attain, nor match, nor rival! Too high, i.e. God is everything man is not. Man, frail, tainted, limited, weak, foolish. God, enduring, holy, omnipotent, unchangeable, all-wise. Too high! i.e. beyond human apprehension I "Too high for me," makes Him the unknowable, the unsearchable splendour, homed in unapproachable light, and worshipped from afar.

2. This discovery and conception of the Divine is not without its effect on the man. First it creates a thirst, a desire in the man. The vision breaks up his self-content, and fills him with a heavenward longing. "O Rock, Thou the timeless, the restful, the immutable, let me hide myself in Thee." Man is but the lichen that would root itself on the unshaken and unshakable. The other effect is of a different character. It is said that the revelation of God is the revelation of a man's self. When Job saw God, he cried, "I abhor myself." When Isaiah beheld Him, he exclaimed, "I am a man of unclean lips." Everywhere else man is the all — the king — only in the temple is he the little helpless child with no language but a cry. Man can see the good, dream it, idealize it; he can long for the good, love it, worship it, but it is his disappointment and his hell that he knows it is not in him to be it, to win it, nor possess it.

3. With this point the experience seems to terminate. When man reaches the point of inability, he reaches the end. There is nothing more for him to do than to sit down, fold his hands and wait for the inevitable. If he cannot, he cannot, and he can only acquiesce in his helplessness. But such a termination is impossible. The point where man breaks down is the point where the Divine enters and begins its miracles. The revelation is meant to set the human in action, to lift him to something higher. Instead, therefore, of the conception ending with inability, it ends with a sobbing prayer. It is an appeal for means — "Cut steps in the cliff that I may climb it, let down the rope and draw me up." It is an appeal for help — "I stagger with fatigue and weakness, put an arm round me and help me up the stone-strewn steeps." It is a cry for guidance — "Take my hand and guide me, and put my foot on the first stair of the stairway that leads to Thee." It is a cry for light — "I am confused with fear and doubt, give me light that I may see the way that leads to Thee." It is a cry for shelter — "Suns smite me, and sanddrifts sweep over me, and the whole landscape reels and swims; lift me into the shadow of Thy wings." It is a cry for salvation — "I cling to Thee, but the storm beats and the waves drag and my hold is slipping, put out Thy hand and draw me from the hungry waters." It is the prayer of the helpless, the appeal of the human to the Divine — man in his weakness casting himself on the benevolence and omnipotence of Deity, man in his despair abandoning himself to God. Lead me, let me reach Thee, dwell with Thee, and be one with Thee for ever.

(C. E. Stone.)

1. God's people are sometimes brought into such a condition that they are far away from friends. Perhaps you know what it is to have a trouble which you are compelled to bear yourself, which you could not describe even to those in your own house, though your friends would have been ready to help you if they had known; yet it was such that, with all their readiness, they would not have had ability to assist you in it, the biggest words could not have told it, and the bitterest tears could not have spelled it out. You were far away from friends in reality, though they were all round you. Now, this is what David meant by "the end of the earth," — far away from friends, — yet even then, when friend and helper and lover failed, did he cry unto his God.

2. Again, he meant, by "the end of the earth," far away from human help. There are times when we are sighing after spiritual mercies, when we are groaning under the withdrawal of God's countenance, when our sins are hunting us like packs of wolves, when afflictions are rolling over us like huge billows — when faith is little, and fear is great, when hope is dim, and doubt becomes terrible and dark — then we are far away from human help; but, blessed be God, even then we may cry unto Him.

3. By "the end of the earth," I think, too, David means at a distance from the means of grace. Sometimes, by sickness, either personal or the sickness of our relatives, we are detained from the house of God; at other times, in journeying by land or upon the sea, we are unable to be in God's sanctuary, and to use the means of grace.

II. THERE ARE TIMES WHEN EVEN A BELIEVER CANNOT GET TO CHRIST AS HE DESIRES. Sometimes God, in His sovereignty, is pleased to show a man his sin, and not to show him his Saviour, for a season; he strips the sinner, perhaps he leaves him to shiver in the cold before he clothes him, just to let him know what a boon that robe of Christ's righteousness is. He sometimes gives repentance and faith at the same time, just as the thunder sometimes follows the lightning at once; at other times, He gives repentance, and then He makes us tarry for many a day before He gives us full assurance of our interest in Christ; but they are sure to follow one another, sooner or later. "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Oh, help me to believe! Lord, enable me to see the need of Thy Son, give me the power to look unto Him who was pierced, and, as Thou hast given me eyes to weep, so give me eyes to look on Him, and grace to rejoice in Him as mine."

III. We are now coming to that part of the text which most of all delights my soul, the thought of JESUS CHRIST, WHO IS THE ROCK THAT IS HIGHER THAN WE ARE. Here is a man who is a great sinner. "Ah!" he says, "I am indeed a great sinner; my iniquities reach so high that they have ascended above the very stars; they have gone before me to the judgment-seat of God, and they are clamouring for my destruction." Well, sinner, come thou here, and measure this Rock. Thou art very high, it is true; but this Rock is higher than thou art. Here comes another forward; he is not a man full of doubts and fears, but he is a man of hopeful spirit. "Oh!" says he, "I have many sins, but I hope that the Lord Jesus Christ will take them all away. I have many wants, but I hope that He will supply them. I shall have many temptations, but I hope that He will ward them off. I shall have many difficulties, but I hope He will carry me through them." Ah I man, I like to see thee have a good long measuring-rod, when it is made of hope. Hope is a tall companion; he wades right through the sea, and is not drowned; you cannot kill him, do what you may. Hope is one of the last blessings God gives us, and one that abides last with us. If a man is foodless, and without covering, still he hopes to see better days by and by. Now, sinner, thy hopes, I would have thee to see, are very tall, and very high; but remember, this Rock is higher than any of thy hopes. "Well," cries another, "from what I have heard, and what I have read in God's Word, I am expecting very great things of Christ when I shall see Him as He is. Oh, sir, if He be better than the communion of His saints can make Him, if He be sweeter than all His most eloquent preachers can speak of Him, if He be so delightful that those who know Him best cannot tell His beauties, what a precious — what a glorious — what an inconceivable Christ He must be!" Ah, I am glad thou art measuring Christ by thine expectation I But let me tell thee, high as thy expectations are, He is higher than thou art. Expect what thou mayest; but when thou seest Him, thou wilt say with the Queen of Sheba, "The half was not told me." Now, as some of you will be exercised with troubles, remember that the Rock is higher than you are; and when your troubles reach you, if you are not high enough to escape them, climb up to the Rock Christ, for there is no trouble that can reach you when you get there.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

1. By distressing temptations.

2. By providential visitations.

3. By inward fears and depressions.

II. THE ASYLUM REFERRED TO. "The rock higher than I."

III. THE PRAYER PRESENTED. "Lead me to the rock," etc.

1. Conscious insufficiency.

2. Confidence in Christ's all-sufficiency.

3. Earnest desire to feel our connection with Christ.

(J. Burns, D. D.)

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

(W. Gurnall.)

     1240   God, the Rock

Psalm 61:1-2

     8128   guidance, receiving

Psalm 61:1-3

     4354   rock

A Living, Loving, Lasting Word,
"I will trust in the covert of Thy wings." -- Psalm 61:4. L. M. Under Thy wings, my God, I rest Under Thy shadow safely lie; By Thy own strength in peace possessed, While dreaded evils pass me by. With strong desire I here can stay To see Thy love its work complete; Here I can wait a long delay, Reposing at my Savior's feet. My place of lowly service, too, Beneath Thy sheltering wings I see; For all the work I have to do Is done through strengthening rest in Thee. I would not rise this rest above; …
Miss A. L. Waring—Hymns and Meditations

The Far and Near
Gerhard Ter Steegen Ps. lxi. 4 In Him we live, in Him we move; seek not thy God afar; He is not prisoned in a height above sun, moon, and star. But thou through strange dark lands hast strayed, and wandered far from Him; And therfore He, O Soul, to thee, is distant and is dim. Lord, I was in the far-off land, I loved from Thee to stray, And when unto myself I came, a swine-herd far away, One moment--then the welcome sweet, the kiss, the Father's Home; Far distant was the distance; to Thy bosom I …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Thy Neck is Like the Tower of David, Builded with Bulwarks; a Thousand Shields Hang Upon It, all the Armor of Mighty Men.
The neck is the strength of the soul; it is well likened to the tower of David, because all the strength of the soul is in God, who is the house of Jesus Christ and of David. For this great King insists in many places in the Psalms, that God alone is his support, his refuge, his defence, and, above all, his strong tower (Psalm 61), The bulwarks that surround it are the total abandonment the soul has made of itself to God. Trust, faith and hope have fortified it in its abandonment; the weaker it is …
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

Introduction. Chapter i. --The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers.
St. Hilary of Poitiers is one of the greatest, yet least studied, of the Fathers of the Western Church. He has suffered thus, partly from a certain obscurity in his style of writing, partly from the difficulty of the thoughts which he attempted to convey. But there are other reasons for the comparative neglect into which he has fallen. He learnt his theology, as we shall see, from Eastern authorities, and was not content to carry on and develop the traditional teaching of the West; and the disciple …
St. Hilary of Poitiers—The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers

The Horns of the Altar
WE MUST tell you the story. Solomon was to be the king after David, but his elder brother, Adonijah, was preferred by Joab, the captain of the host, and by Abiathar, the priest; and, therefore, they got together, and tried to steal a march upon dying David, and set up Adonijah. They utterly failed in this; and when Solomn came to the throne Adonijah was afraid for his life, and fled to the horns of the altar at the tabernacle for shelter. Solomn permitted him to find sanctuary there, and forgave …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 31: 1885

Sermon on the Mount Continued Its Woes in Strict Agreement with the Creator's Disposition. Many Quotations Out of the Old Testament in Proof of This.
"In the like manner," says He, [3982] "did their fathers unto the prophets." What a turncoat [3983] is Marcion's Christ! Now the destroyer, now the advocate of the prophets! He destroyed them as their rival, by converting their disciples; he took up their cause as their friend, by stigmatizing [3984] their persecutors. But, [3985] in as far as the defence of the prophets could not be consistent in the Christ of Marcion, who came to destroy them; in so far is it becoming to the Creator's Christ that …
Tertullian—The Five Books Against Marcion

Letter vi (Circa A. D. 1127) to the Same
To the Same He protests against the reputation for holiness which is attributed to him, and promises to communicate the treatises which he has written. I. Even if I should give myself to you entirely that would be too little a thing still in my eyes, to have recompensed towards you even the half of the kindly feeling which you express towards my humility. I congratulate myself, indeed, on the honour which you have done me; but my joy, I confess, is tempered by the thought that it is not anything …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Nature of Covenanting.
A covenant is a mutual voluntary compact between two parties on given terms or conditions. It may be made between superiors and inferiors, or between equals. The sentiment that a covenant can be made only between parties respectively independent of one another is inconsistent with the testimony of Scripture. Parties to covenants in a great variety of relative circumstances, are there introduced. There, covenant relations among men are represented as obtaining not merely between nation and nation, …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament