WHEN MY HEART IS OVERWHELMED!

WHEN MY HEART IS OVERWHELMED!

Ps 61:1-4

61 Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.

2 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.

3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.

          From the end of the earth! David was describing the outland of the soul. He was displaced from hearth and home. The place of worship had been left behind as he was driven away in captivity. Perhaps you have felt like you were at the end of the earth; cast away upon the island of broken hopes and harsh realities. Does God even know where you are?

          Yet from here I will cry unto thee! The history of the Jew shows him to be much more pious and devoted to God while in captivity than in his own homeland. Ease and affluence deaden the soul’s sensitivity to God. Our eyes can’t see His works and our ears can’t hear His voice. How did I come to this place and how do I get back home?

          My heart is overwhelmed! The Hebrew word is ataph which is a primitive word meaning “to shroud; to clothe in darkness.” Most of us have experienced being occasionally blanketed by gloom. As the Lilliputians tied Gulliver to the ground, our troubles have immobilized us. It is strange how the small troubles of life, when organized into a troupe, can overwhelm us so.

          Lead me to the rock! David described his need for a rock that he could not personally climb. He needed God to lift him up and place him high upon a firm place of safety. With these words David demonstrates the futility of works and the need for grace. The Rock, of course, is the Lord!

          I will trust in the covert of thy wings! We are a strange people. When in captivity we long for the tabernacle of God. We promise that if we could ever return we would never again leave. We feel vulnerable and wish to hide under God’s wings.

Dear Lord, I feel there may be many who are overwhelmed by a large number of small problems. Any one of those problems might well be managed but when considered all together they are too much. We need a Rock that is higher than we can climb. Pick us up, Lord. Deliver us to that place of firmness and safety. AMEN