Psalms 61:1-8
To the Chief Musician. On a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David.
1 Hear my cry, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For You have been a shelter for me,
A strong tower from the enemy.
4 I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;
I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.
Selah
5 For You, O God, have heard my vows;
You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name.
6 You will prolong the king's life,
His years as many generations.
7 He shall abide before God forever.
Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him!
8 So I will sing praise to Your name forever,
That I may daily perform my vows.
This prayer is pleading to be heard by God, to have His divine answer to an overwhelmed heart in life’s circumstances of trials and adversity. The cry is made from wherever the supplicant is on the earth, not limited to one place only, as if from the end of the earth as the psalmist saw here. In an extended sense, this means we who have been grafted into God’s people in Christ do not need to be in Jerusalem to lift up heavy hearts in prayer, even if we are halfway around the earth from there. We also ask to be led by our God to the Rock higher than we are as Psalm 18:2 describes that rock as a fortress and refuge in times of trouble. He certainly is our shelter in life’s rough weather and a tower of defense from our enemies in the fortress of His omnipotence. David spoke of living in the tabernacle where God met with His people and they could constantly worship there; we now are the tabernacles in whom He dwells, so God is constantly abiding in us and we can daily worship for wherever we are. These tabernacles from the feast (Leviticus 23:34, 42-43) in remembrance of being led by God to the promised inheritance are also as the tabernacles of our bodies in which we wander until we arrive at our eternal home to come (Hebrews 11:13-14), but the temple as tabernacle is the emphasis and pattern for our worship here. In Him we find protection and shelter. Dwell on these things. The psalmist then prays to justify himself by recounting the vows he promised and kept to demonstrate his obedience and faithfulness to the LORD (Job 22:27-28). Do we promise to follow Christ in certain matters and ensure that we follow through? If not, there is forgiveness and grace, but it is also a sobering reminder to not promise what we cannot deliver (Ecclesiastes 5:4-5). Our demonstration of faith and faithfulness is not only to believe, but also to follow through in walking out His word in our lives. We, like the psalmist, have been given an inheritance, a heritage to possess. It is eternal in the heavens. God gives life, whether years here or eternity to come; He may prolong it as the prayer asks here, or shorten it for His providential glory. We who are His, then and now, will remain forever before Him, so we join in asking for mercy and truth to rely on for our perseverance. This is quite the reason to praise His name, for who He is and all He does, from these tabernacles of grace that we may daily perform the acceptable sacrifices of our lives given to Him in Christ (Romans 12:1-2, Philippians 4:18, Mark 8:34-35).
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