Psalm 61:1 For the director of music. With stringed instruments. Of David. Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.
2 From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.
4 I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.
It takes a lot of humility to come to the Lord in real prayer. I say “real prayer” because there are some who come in prayer out of tradition, or out of a “bahala na” attitude with God. There are even some who pray not because they truly trust in the Lord, but because they know they have the situation in their hands – they just need the Lord’s “help”. True prayer is one that shows total dependence in the Lord, that there is no one else, nothing else, that will bring the answer except God.
In David’s psalm 61 he gives us hints of how he was humbled, broken enough, to come to the Lord to seek Him.
Hear my cry, O God. David’s prayer was a cry. Whether this means a shout, or a weeping, he was in a position where he needed the Lord to hear, to listen to his prayer. When we pray our hearts silently cry out to him to help us. For some of us the “cry” is literal, as we pray privately. What is important is our hearts cry to the Lord.
Have you noticed that God brings us to circumstances that cause us to cry out to Him? This happens especially when our hearts get used to the quick, rushed and summarized prayers. But when we are in dire circumstances notice how we begin to really cry out to the Lord. That’s the prayer God seeks from us, good or bad circumstances.
From the ends of the earth I call to you. David felt as if he was in the farthest side of the earth, crying out to heaven. Of course scientifically there is no such gap that exists between the earth and heaven, for God is everywhere, beside us even when we pray. But this was how he felt.
There are times when the Lord has to let us feel this – that even if we are surrounded with all the technology, all the science and human wisdom…even if we are surrounded by friends, loved ones and people of influence – yet there will be times when even when we have all these we will still cry to the Lord, and it will seem as if we’re so far. Especially if we have been depending on these things or people for so long.
I call as my heart grows faint. The KJV version says “when my heart is overwhelmed”. That’s when we’re faint – when we are overwhelmed by all the circumstances that surround us. And yet, even with a faint heart, David garnered all his strength to call upon the Lord.
God, in His wisdom, knows what we need to be overwhelmed, when our hearts need to grow faint, before we truly call upon Him. He will always be there to answer. He just needs to humble us sometimes, make us realize that we cannot trust even in our own hearts.
There are many self-reliant people in the world. When their hearts grow faint they feel it is the end of the world. For the Lord it’s the beginning of true faith and trust in Him, for we realize that, though we grow faint and tired, our God is strong and does not slumber or sleep.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. The key word here is “higher”. It is when we finally believe that there is a rock that is higher than us that true prayer flows from our hearts. Many have called other people their “rock”, their strength, and humanly speaking they may have been…for a while. But for us to truly come to the Lord, trusting Him in prayer He must be the higher rock that we can cling on.
For You have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. When we finally admit that we are a people who run away, who hide, in a strong refuge and tower – and not in ourselves – that is when we are truly coming to God. It is His tent, His dwelling place, that gives us security, not ourselves.
What a beautiful place to be in – a place of total humility, trust and dependence upon God. May this always be the atmosphere that surrounds our prayer to the Lord.
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