Higher, Ever Higher

“Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. 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.” (Ps 61:1-2 AV)

 

The definition of ‘overwhelmed’ is a good one.  It means to be covered with a shroud; to clothe in darkness so as to languish.  What a great description of being overwhelmed.  We are overburdened to the point we have no hope.  Our circumstances begin to dictate our environment and outlook.  When we are covered in a dark shroud, no outlook will make things any better.  David seeks something higher than himself.  That is to what my attention is drawn.  Metaphorically, this rock could be several things.  The word means a place of refuge.  Some believe it to be God Himself.  Others still, a place of different circumstances that gives the writer hope, despite what overwhelmed him.  Either way, the request is easy to understand.  Yet, there is a nugget here.

First, let us note that David wants a rock higher than himself.  This would suggest David considered himself a rock of sorts.  He considers himself as part, if not all, of the answer to his overwhelming circumstances.  He thinks this even though he knows he isn’t.  This is why he is overwhelmed.  David has put all the pressure on himself to deal with the circumstances of life.  This is why he is overwhelmed.  He cannot.  They are too much.  In asking for a rock that is higher than him, he has struck on the issue at hand.  The circumstances are overwhelming because he is the answer to them.  If God is in control, there are no circumstances too overwhelming.  In the request we see David come to the end of his own strength and begin to depend on God.

Some commentators make the connection of a valley as opposed to a cliff or rocky refuge.  They make the comparison to a commander of an army stuck in a valley covered by the weather.  He is stuck there, open to an enemy’s attack with little or no recourse.  The rock that is higher is a battlement above the fray.  It is a place of refuge where the commander and his forces can retreat to that the threat may exist on its own.  The valley is still there.  The circumstances haven’t changed.  Rather, the commander chooses to live above his circumstances.  He chooses to dwell in the safety of God’s presence and allow Him to deal with the circumstances.  He does not want to be victim to something that is all controlling and has become the very definition of his existence.

David is not running from his problems.  He is not abdicating his responsibilities.  David is seeking a different reference point by which he can clearly see the problem and allow God to supply the answer.  He is choosing to rise above it and allow God to be his strength.  David is leaving his own self-dependence down in the valley and seeks God to lead him to a place where he has left it with God and is sitting on victory’s ground.  David does not want his circumstances to control him.  We want the LORD to control the circumstances.  David’s request here is a good one.  One that we must seek when life becomes too much.  These things might not change.  They certainly will not on their own.  It is that place of refuge God provides that makes life easier to take.  It is His presence and the comfort we receive in knowing there is nothing too hard of God that keeps us going.  It is that Rock that is higher than us that spurs us on to fight the fight; to walk the walk; to take flight like the eagles; to finish our course.