David was feeling alone and alienated. He felt as though God was far away. And so, as we come to Psalm 61, we can ask ourselves, well, what do we do when God seems far away?
It never seems to fail. Just when we think life is perfect and we've got everything under control, boom, it can all come crashing down. Of course, as believers, we know we can cry out to the Lord for his help. But what if he doesn't seem to be listening? Hello and welcome again to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm Bill Wright, and today Don brings us part one of a special message called When God Seems Far Away. He'll show us that the only path out of a disastrous situation is to stop trusting in our own strength and submit our lives to the care and concern and proven character of our loving Heavenly Father, even when we can't see him moving on our behalf. Don, it can be unsettling for us to realize our own weakness and desperation in those situations. So I guess the only thing that could make things worse is to feel like God, for some inexplicable reason, has gone silent.
What do you have to say about that? Well, Bill, whenever this topic comes up, my mind always goes to the experience of the Apostle Paul. He knew about unanswered prayer. He knew about suffering without relief. And in 2 Corinthians Chapter 12, he talks about a thorn in the flesh that he had, and he said that he prayed three times for the Lord to remove it, and God didn't answer.
He didn't respond in that way. Instead, God revealed something different to him. He said that, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. And sometimes, my friend, God leaves us in our weaknesses so that we would learn better to depend upon his grace, find its sufficiency, and live in the power of the Spirit rather than in the power of our own flesh. And so the thing that we need to remember, the presence of grace in your life is not measured by how you feel about your circumstances, but rather the presence of grace is measured in the person of Christ and what God has said in his holy Word. That's why we're turning to Psalm 61 today to study these things on the Truth Pulpit.
Thanks, Don. And Fred, let's join our teacher now as he delivers today's lesson on the Truth Pulpit. We love the Psalms in part because they give voice to our distress in times of weakness. Many of the Psalms do that, and Psalm 61 is certainly in that same genre.
Let's read it together, or I'll read it as you listen along might be a better and more accurate way to say it. Psalm 61, the inscription reads, For the choir director on a stringed instrument, a psalm of David, perhaps a psalm to be sung as opposed to simply read in its original day. In verse 1, Hear my cry, O God, give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been a refuge to me, a tower of strength against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever. Let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings.
Selah. For you have heard my vows, O God. You have given me the inheritance of those who fear your name. You will prolong the king's life. His years will be as many generations. He will abide before God forever.
Appoint loving kindness and truth that they may preserve him. So I will sing praise to your name forever, that I may pay my vows day by day. Well, here in Psalm 61, David finds hope in God and in his enduring promises. And there is no historical setting that is given for this Psalm.
Many commentators believe that perhaps David wrote it when he was fleeing from his son Absalom during that time of distress in his life. Whatever the setting is, the key for understanding this Psalm is that David was feeling alone and alienated. He felt as though God was far away. And so as we come to Psalm 61, we can ask ourselves, well, what do we do when God seems far away? There are times like that in the lives of believers. It's not a universal experience, but certainly those who have been dislocated by job transfers or new situations in education or death of a loved one, things like that, leave you without your comfortable sense of support. The things that are familiar that have always informed and given you a sense of direction as you followed God.
Well, what about when those times are taken away, when those things are no longer present? David was in that situation as he wrote Psalm 61, and we're going to see how he responded to it together. We'll start out with his call for help.
Point number one, if you're taking notes, David's call for help. And he opens with a call to God to answer his prayers. Look at verse one with me. He says, hear my cry, O God, and then as though it were an echo, give heed to my prayer. And so he calls on God at the opening of the Psalm to say, God, hear me. I need your attention.
I need you to listen to what I have to say here. And as you go on in the Psalm, you find that he's seeking divine protection in a time of weakness. Look at verse two. He says, from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. And there in verse two, you get a sense of what the condition of his heart is and maybe a sense also of what his circumstances were. Somehow, either literally or simply metaphorically, maybe a combination of both, David was, it seems as though he was separated from Jerusalem and separated from the established place of worship. And so he's perhaps in a foreign land leading a military battle or something like that. It's as though he was far away from that which he loved and treasured the most. I'm calling to you from the ends of the earth, he says.
And he says that my heart is faint. And so David is weary and he's at the point of despair as he opens this prayer. And you get a sense that he feels distant from God. And yet, even when God seems far away, David knew that he could call on him. And that's one of the sweetest things to take from this psalm right from the beginning, is that when you have that sense of distance, you're alone. Maybe you've been transferred, you're away from family, you're away from your church, you're away from your fellow believers, maybe you're a new believer and your family won't have you anymore. Well, what then? In a human, horizontal level, you're all alone. Well, how sweet is it to see David calling to God with a sense of confidence that God will hear his prayer in that time of distress.
And so he says there in verse 2, look at the end of it with me, he says, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. And here is one of the hardest things for us to kind of grasp and to embrace, I believe. We all love the sense of being self-sufficient. We like to be independent.
We like to have a sense that, you know, we kind of have things under control. But life isn't always like that, is it? And David was in a situation where the things that he wanted and the things that he needed were outside of his control. He wasn't able to make it happen on his own. And so he asks God, he says, lead me to the rock that is higher than I, the rock being a place of refuge, a place of safety.
Picture a cliff that is high above a valley where enemy forces are, and you're up on this cliff and you're protected by the physical distance and the place of safety is there. David says, I can't get there on my own. What I need, God, I am not able to provide on my own. And so with humility and with a sense of dependence, he comes to God and he says, God, take me and lead me to a rock that is higher than I am.
Where I need to go is too far away for me to reach. What would comfort my soul is beyond my circumstances to accomplish. And beloved, one of the keys to true spiritual growth, I believe, is coming to recognize what David is presupposing here, and that is that you cannot always control your circumstances.
You're not always in a position to be able to change that which would make things more comfortable for you. You cannot be the instrument of your own deliverance. You cannot be the source of your own safety.
You're too weak, you're too vulnerable, you're too impotent to do that. And beloved, let's just kind of step back here for a moment and stop for a moment and realize that isn't it true that when you truly came to Christ, weren't all of those principles in play at the moment of your conversion? Isn't conversion simply a statement? God, I realize that I am in a place of danger and alienation from you. I am under judgment.
I am a guilty sinner before a holy God. And isn't the principle that is at work in conversion, isn't it a statement, God, you must deliver me because I cannot deliver myself? God, I need you to show mercy to me that I cannot earn with the works of my own hands. This principle of helplessness and dependence is woven into the very beginning of the Christian life. It's at the heart of conversion that God, I have to come to you as a beggar. I come to you as a sinner separated from you and unable to save myself. No one is a Christian who doesn't know something about appealing to God in that desperate humility and dependence that he would have mercy on you because you know that you can't do anything to save yourself. Well, what you see in Psalm 61 is just a carryover that the things that animate that initial moment of conversion is the same thing that animates us later in spiritual life when we find ourselves weak and separated and isolated. And you come back, it brings you back to, not to be saved again, but it brings you back to that, that stark position of dependence that says, God, I need your help and I am relying on you because I cannot do anything with the power of my own hands.
You need help that is beyond yourself. You need God to lead you. And those who would advance in spiritual life, those who would grow in their sanctification are those who will embrace that principle in humility rather than resist it in pride. Say, I don't want to confess my weakness. Well, then, you know, don't be surprised if God doesn't humble you further until you do. The point is for us to recognize our dependence on God and to live in a trusting sense of committal to him and, yes, it humbles you, but it promotes your spiritual growth. What you find in Psalm 61 is David, as we will see, is David growing ever closer in increasing degrees of intimacy as he appeals to God. Well, beloved, in a sense, you kind of have to make a choice about what you want and what you'll embrace in life. And when the humble circumstances come and you're not the tower of strength that you once thought you were or that others thought you were and you're humbled and you're reduced, then embrace that and enter into the spirit of Psalm 61 because that is what will promote your spiritual growth. No one grows spiritually who has a sense of self-sufficiency that is animating their life.
And so we have to put that pride aside. Well, as you continue in this Psalm, ultimately what you're going to see is that what David ultimately has in mind for what his rock is, it's God himself. God himself is the rock that he wants him to lead David to. He's saying, God, lead me to yourself, as we'll see in verses 3 and 4, as David appeals and states the basis for why he is praying and his expectation for God's answer.
Look at verses 3 and 4 with me. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, 4, and he goes on and he explains the basis of his prayer here in verses 3 and 4. He says, for you have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy.
Let me dwell in your tent forever. Let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Several different things that are going on in these two verses that are all very sweet and very enriching for our spiritual lives, for our hearts to feed on. First of all, David is saying, as he says, God, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. As he states that as his prayer, here I am, faint, distant, you seem so far away.
God, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. And then he says, 4, and he goes and he unfolds the basis of his prayer. Well, first of all, he says, God, you've been like this to me in the past. You've been a refuge to me in the past. And therefore, based on the reality that you have already dealt with me in this manner in the past, I have a confident expectation as I pray that you will do that again in the future. God, I'm just asking you to do what you've already done for me in the past.
I'm not asking for anything new. Of course you will answer this prayer. Of course I prevail upon you to do that which you've already shown yourself willing to do. Well, that's wonderful, isn't it? Doesn't that strengthen your sense of approaching God in prayer? Can't you step back in your own spiritual life and realize there have been times where God has strengthened you and helped you when there was no way that you could help yourself?
Isn't that true? Isn't that true when you've had loved ones on the brink of death and said, God, help my loved one? And God answered, and now you find yourself in a position of blessing once again.
Isn't that a sweet place to be? Well, as you grow and multiply those experiences over the course of your life, they become the grounds upon which you say, God, help me again. Do what you did in the past. Do it for me again. And there's that growing sense of intimacy and trust that comes that starts to break the isolation when God seems far away.
And you say, no, I remember. I've been in this position before, and God helped me then. He'll help me again. David is reasoning with God in that sense. And he uses four metaphors in these two verses.
And these are very interesting to look at and to watch. Look at these four metaphors, these word pictures of what he is asking for from God. He says in verse 3, you've been a refuge for me. In the second half of verse 3, a tower of strength, a refuge, a tower. Verse 4, he says, let me dwell in your tent forever. At the end of verse 4, let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Look at these metaphors, because they're really key to the core of the psalm here.
Refuge, tower of strength, a tent, and wings. And what each of these pictures is doing is they are showing confidence in his God. They are picturing the way he is viewing the protective hand of God on his life. They're pictures to explain a greater principle, an invisible principle, of what he wants God to be like to him.
And watch this. With each of these metaphors, they become increasingly personal along the way. This is one of the highlights of Psalm 61, at least in my judgment. These metaphors are increasingly personal. Think about it, refuge being like a high rock, a high rugged rock, where you're safe from the enemy, but you're still kind of out and exposed.
But at least you're safe. You go on to the next metaphor, the tower of strength. That was the place of protection in a fortress on the city wall. And so you're within the walls, you're within the protection of the city now, closer than you were on the refuge, on the high rock, closer and more intimate with perhaps the people of God there.
But it goes more. From there he goes to the tent, perhaps even referring to the very tabernacle in the wilderness, where the presence of God was made known before the temple was built. And so from the rock to the fortress, to the tent, and then to the most intimate place at all, look at the end of verse four here. He says, let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings, picturing the protective presence that young birds take under their caring mother, where they are close and where the mother is safe. And there is that warmth and intimacy right under the wings of mother herself. Well, David is saying, God, where I ultimately want to be, I want to be in that place of close, intimate fellowship with you, where there is nothing between you and me, where there is no separation, where, as it were, I am right on your chest. Even as the disciple John leaned his head onto the chest of Jesus at the Last Supper, that close intimacy. So from a high rock to a city tower, to a tent of dwelling, to the most intimate place, David is saying, God, what I want you to do, I want you to lead me right next to yourself. You seem far away right now. God, I want you to step by step by step bring me into that place of intimacy that we once enjoyed in the past.
And he says, that's what I'm after here. It's not so much, not so much protection from the enemy that is visible here in Psalm 61, but it's that earnest desire for the intimate fellowship with his God. And so, beloved, let's step back and just be a little bit personal here. Does God seem far away to you? Did you come in estranged with a sense of so many problems that are just weighing down upon me, so many different things that I'm thinking about, and God seems like he's a million miles away? Well, how sweet to see in Scripture itself a God-inspired word through the pen of David telling you this is the way back to intimacy. And rather than trying to fix all of your problems that are weighing down on your mind, set those aside and just say, God, I can't fix this.
I am not able to solve the problems that I face, and here I am in my weakness. I pray that you would take me and that you would lead me right into the center core of fellowship with you. And to realize that in Psalm 61 you see the evidence that God delights to answer that prayer. And so, beloved, in those times, stir yourself up to faith. Don't collapse in your weakness, don't melt under the weight or under the heat of the... you would kind of collapse under the weight of something, you would melt under the heat of your trials. Trying to keep my own metaphor straight here. Don't just melt there, stir yourself up and say, God, lead me, help me.
I trust in you, I need you to lead me ever closer to you because I don't want to stay in this place where you seem so far away. He ends this first section of four verses with the word selah, a word that's designed to have a stop and pause and meditate on it. To recognize that this is what God is like, that God receives prayers of tender, bruised hearts and responds to them with positive, loving, gracious answers. That's who God is.
And we're supposed to stop and reflect on that. That God is not a God who chastises us for the sense of distance. He's not a God who repudiates the prayers because we are weak. It is precisely on the basis of our weakness that he receives us. It is precisely when the patient says, I am sick, that the doctor comes to heal.
Jesus said, those that are well don't need a physician. Come not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. This is the whole principle on which God receives us. He told Paul, he said, my strength is perfected in your weakness. And Paul said, then I'm content to be weak. If only the power of God would be perfected in me and my weakness.
And so it turns all of our normal human thinking on its head that when we are weak, then we are strong. And it's when we are weak that we call out to God in a way that he is pleased to answer. That's an encouragement for us to come to him, an encouragement to trust him. Now, as you move on into the second half of the Psalm, you find a call of confidence.
A call of confidence now. Having prayed this way, saying God lead me to the rock that is higher than I, lead me all of the way into progressive steps of close intimacy with you. Now what you find in the second half of this Psalm is David's confidence that God will indeed honor his prayer and his commitment. Look at verse 5. He says, for, because, God, I'm confident that you will let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings because you have heard my vows, O God, and you have given me the inheritance of those who fear your name. And what you find here is that David's confidence was rooted in God's promises.
God had made a covenant with David back in 2 Samuel chapter 7 to give David life and to give David an enduring kingdom, a dynasty that would flow through his descendants and that there would be men to sit on his throne. Amen. And may we be like King David who placed his trust in God rather than in himself. Well, friend, if you'd like to hear this message again or you'd like to share it with a friend or loved one, just go to thetruthpulpit.com. Also, feel free to post these teachings to your favorite social media page so that more people can hear about the good news of God's grace. Again, that's thetruthpulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright. Thanks for listening. And we'll see you next time on The Truth Pulpit, teaching God's people God's Word.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-06-26 07:08:51 / 2023-06-26 07:18:24 / 10