Psalm 61:2 From the end of the earth will I cry to you, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. There are two things here — 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.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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