Week number one of our series, we looked at the importance of spiritual disciplines. They're building blocks in your life. When a storm comes into your life, if you want to remain stable, you have to have built yourself up in the faith through spiritual disciplines like prayer and scripture reading and fasting and things like that. Last week, we looked at resting in God's peace. And that's a better life for you to live than worry, living with worry and anxiety.
And today we are going to look at this idea. It is the idea of living Anchored. in something and in someone greater than living. Over Overwhelmed, overwhelmed. And so let's look at Psalm 61 here today.
Psalm 61 talks about an overwhelmed Heart. And so verse number one says this. David is writing, King David, and he says, Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto you. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For you have been a shelter for me and a strong tower for my enemy. I will abide in your tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of your wings. Selah. The word Selah is just an opportunity for you to think about what you just read and to meditate upon it.
Verse 5. It says, For you, O God, have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage of those that fear your name. Thou wilt prolong the king's life. And his years as many generations, he shall abide before God forever.
O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.
So will I sing praise unto thy name forever, that I may daily perform my vows. Can we pray together and then we'll dive into the outline here today? Father, Well Lord, we love you. And God, I feel like through the first couple of services, you've just been working in our hearts here today. And God, I feel like there's so many people that are walking into church each and every week that are in storms, that are in valleys, that are experiencing pain and experience troubles.
And maybe if they were to stand up and describe their life here today, they would feel kind of like what David felt here in Psalm 61. They're overwhelmed. And God, we believe that you have a better way for us to live. And it is all dependent upon where our life is anchored in. And God, today, as we look to your word, we're asking that you would speak to us.
We're asking that the word would do what the word, what only the word can do, is penetrate deeply to our hearts. And God, that the Spirit would just meet with us in a powerful way, and that we would have the courage to respond to however the Spirit leads us and however the Spirit speaks to us. God, we love you this morning, for it's in your name we pray. And all God's people said. Amen and amen.
Here in Psalm 61, David is writing, King David, and he's writing about. Being overwhelmed. He says it right here in verse number two: when my heart is overwhelmed. Whelmed. I wonder how many of you feel that way today.
Where your life, your heart is overwhelmed. I want to explain some of what was troubling David and what was overwhelming David here in Psalm 61 first. And if you are overwhelmed, the word overwhelmed here in the Hebrew in which this was written, it literally means this: to be feeble. To be weak. Or to be faint.
In fact, what is interesting, if you do a word study on the word overwhelmed here in verse number two, you will find that in your Old Testament it's also translated as the word hideth. Specifically speaking in Job chapter 23, if you remember the story of Job, Job lost everything. You know, Job was an upright man. He was doing everything kind of by the book. He was living for the Lord.
He loved the Lord. He was doing everything what most would say was the right way. And the devil knocked on his door, and the Lord allowed the devil to take so much from him, and he was tested. He lost his family, lost his career, lost his stuff, lost everything. And Job in chapter 23, verse number 9, he felt this same feeling that David felt.
In fact, he used the Hebrew word that is used here for the word overwhelmed. He used the same word when he wrote this in Job 23, verse 9. He was crying out to God, and he says, On the left hand. Where he doeth work, I cannot behold him, he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him. The word hideth in Job twenty-three, when he talks about God hiding himself because he felt abandoned.
As he cried out to God, that's the same word that David used as the word overwhelmed. It was this deep emotion of feeling maybe even abandoned from God. You say, Pastor, I don't feel that way. I feel like I'm walking with the Lord, but have you ever been to a place where it's like you're praying to God, and maybe the way you're praying or what you're praying for is not happening? And maybe you thought this thought: hey, is God really listening to me?
And is He hearing me? And what good is this doing? And maybe you feel something like this. You see, the feeling of emotion that David was riding with was if God was hiding and he could not find him, and he's walking, or he's riding from a place. of weakness.
That's the devastation and agony that David is experiencing. Specifically, you say what is troubling David in in Psalm 61?
Well, if you follow David's story, and we're not going to go too deep into this, but David's story was a pretty messed-up story, right? Like, if you ever want to feel good about your relationship with the Lord, go to David's story a few times and you'll find that God uses some very dysfunctional people. Right. Here's what I'll tell you. Most believe that Psalm 61 that we just read.
was written when David was fleeing From his son Absalom. You say, why was he fleeing from his son Absalom?
Well, without going into a lot of detail, because it's pretty a messed up story. It's one of the... Worst stories in all of scripture, if I can refer to it that way, is what happened was David's other son, Amnon. Actually, had an attraction to David's daughter, Amnon's sister, and he raped her. And his other brother Absalom came in, killed Amnon.
And so David has a son who raped his own sister, and now he has another son who killed his other son, who did such a terrible act. And now, because of all of this, Absalom wants the throne of David, so he begins to overtake his father for his throne. And David, in that fear, flees, and that's what he wrote. Anybody feeling better about themselves after all of that? That's a pretty messed up story.
That's like the worst episode of the soap opera you could ever find. And it comes from David. And the point that I want to bring is this: that is the posture of his heart. He's fleeing because of all this grotesque, wicked stuff that has happened in his household. And now he's fleeing, and he's crying out to God from a posture of feeling overwhelmed because of all this.
Listen, we might not have a situation similar to David, but here's what I'll tell you. Many of you walked in here today and you feel some of this. Maybe it's a spiritual exhaustion that you're feeling where you're crying out to God and you feel like he's not responding or he's not listening or he's not hearing you or he's not fixing your problem or he's not answering your prayer the way that you want and whatever. And you feel very similar from a spiritual perspective. Or many of you physically have just walked in here today and you say, Pastor, I'm overwhelmed.
Maybe it's overwork. You're exhausted. You're weak. You've overexerted yourself. You've bit off more than you can chew.
And you've taken so much into your life, whether it be your career, your relationships. Maybe you're overwhelmed with grief. Maybe you're overwhelmed with depression and anxiety and worry. Maybe you're overwhelmed because of your busyness. Whatever it is that might be overwhelming you or troubling you here today, Psalm 61 is written directly for you and I.
And here's what's interesting about the story. It's David With everything that's going on in his life, all the terrible things that his kids had done and engaged in. David never prayed in this prayer. God, make me stronger. He never prayed, God, make me better.
No, he prayed, God, lead me. to someone stronger. In the midst of his overwhelmed state, in the midst of his posture of his heart, he never prayed, God, make me stronger. He prayed, God, lead me to someone stronger. You see, David understood this, and I want you to understand this as well today.
If you have an overwhelmed heart, you do not overcome an overwhelmed heart. by becoming stronger. You overcome an overwhelmed heart by becoming anchored to someone stronger than you. Let me say that again. You don't overcome an overwhelmed heart by becoming stronger.
You overcome an overwhelmed heart. By becoming anchored to someone that is stronger than you. And that's what you're going to find when David cries out to the Lord. That's what he finds here. And so here he gives us a perfect outline of what to do when you're overwhelmed.
So, if you've come in here today and you're overwhelmed, this is a perfect sermon for you. And it's a great outline that David himself gives us. Number one, when you're overwhelmed, you must cry out. Everybody say the phrase, cry out with me, cry out. You must cry out, Hear David.
He prays to God. Verse 1 and 2, he says this, hear my cry, O God. Attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry. Unto the.
When he says, Hear my cry, O God, I want you to know that David did not pray a polished prayer. You ever feel like your prayers to God have to be so perfect and polished? You feel that when you go to God and you pray to Him, it's got to be one of those fancy prayers. The prayers that you know everybody at church would be really impressed by. And so you go to God and you think about, I mean, how can I polish my prayer?
How can I sound, you know, like David and different other people in Scripture? Here's what I'll tell you. David here, he didn't have a polished prayer for the Lord on this day. He's overwhelmed in the posture of his heart. He cried out to God.
This was not a polished prayer, this was a desperate prayer. It wasn't a polished prayer. It was a prayer of desperation here. The word cry that is mentioned in verse 1 and 2. It carries on the idea of a loud, piercing Scream.
In fact, this same Hebrew word, if you were to do a word study on the word cry in your Old Testament, It's used in Proverbs, same Hebrew word, and it's translated shouting.
So, what you have here is David, when he says, Hear my cry, he's literally shouting at God. That's desperation. And I don't know if that's where you're at today, but perhaps that's probably where some of you are in a room this size and in our first service. You're here today, and you feel like I just want to get in God's presence and shout to Him, cry out to Him. That's the prayer of desperation that David's praying.
He's crying out in agony. And by the way, it's a good reminder that God hears you when you feel distant from Him. Isn't that true? He specifically mentions here: God, as I'm crying, as I'm shouting out to you, from the end of the earth will I cry unto you. From the end of the earth, I'm going to cry out to you.
When I feel a million miles away, God, that's when I know you still hear me. He hears you when you're overwhelmed. He hears you when your heart is fainting. He hears you when you feel exhausted. He hears you when you feel without hope.
He hears you when you feel that there's no strength in your body. He hears you when you feel you have no courage. He hears you.
So what David is saying is this, when you're overwhelmed. If that's the posture of your heart here today. It starts with crying out to God. It starts with bringing your problems into his presence, with bringing what is troubling you into his presence. And crying out to him, but number two.
Not only do when we're overwhelmed, do we need to cry out? But number two. When you're overwhelmed, you need to climb. Higher. You need to climb higher.
Look at what he says in verse 2. After he's cried out to the Lord, when his heart is overwhelmed, he says, Lead me to the rock. That is higher than I. Everybody say the word higher with me. Higher.
That is higher than I. You know what's interesting about David's verbiage here in Psalm 61? is when you're overwhelmed by something. It usually takes you down. Doesn't it?
When you're overwhelmed and something's troubling you, it doesn't take you higher, it usually takes you down. When you're overwhelmed, circumstances become your perspective. When you're overwhelmed, all you seem to can see are the circumstances that are troubling you. All you can see is the problem. All you can see is the pressure you're under.
All you can see when you're overwhelmed is the shortcoming. All you can see is the thing that makes you afraid. All you can see is the decision that you have to make that is weighing down on you. All you can see is the diagnosis. All you can see is the pain.
All you can see is the unknown. And what happens is, is when we're overwhelmed and we live in a state of just being overwhelmed and trying to handle that on our own, what it does is it lowers our perspective on things. You see, David, he he didn't. He didn't pray here, change my circumstances. He prayed, change my position.
Right? He says, God, lead me to somewhere higher. When you go to the highest point, you can see better, right? How many of you have ever been to Grandfather Mountain before?
Okay.
So, my family, my extended family, we went up to Grandfather Mountain several years ago. It's when my kids were younger. I don't know how old they were, but when we went to Grandfather Mountain, there's a peak that you can go out to that, like, you know, if you're really. Like safe, you kind of stay away from, but when other people kind of go to the very edge, you kind of feel like. You know, that's a good place to be, and you can see better.
You know what I'm talking about? And I don't know how it is if you're married in here with you and your spouse, but we have one who likes to live as far away from the edge. As they can, and we have one that likes to live on the edge, and I like to live on the edge, my wife doesn't. And so, when we went up to Grandfather Mountain, my young kids were with me, and all of their cousins were there and stuff. And me and my brother-in-laws had the idea to get as close to the edge as we possibly could to look and to get the best view of the mountains that we could.
And our wives were insisting on no, don't do this, or whatever. And we just are like, we are the leaders of our households, right?
Okay, we didn't say that. But We ended up doing it anyway. We talked him into it. And you'll see a picture here on the screen of my son, Cameron. I think we got a picture up here.
So here we are. We're on the edge, as close as we can get. You know, we had to take turns because there were other families and stuff. And I decided, I was like, hey, Cameron, let's go as close to the edge of the mountain as we could because we know this is the highest peak. This is the best view.
And when you're at the highest point, you can see the best. Right? You have the best perspective. The higher you go, the better perspective that you have. And so we go there seriously as we're taking this picture.
I can hear my wife way back now just screaming, you know, like, come back, you're too far. That's far enough. I mean, there's all these people getting as close as we were. I was like, who is that lady screaming? Is that yours?
Like, whatever. And, And so we're there and we're looking. And I just kept saying, Cameron, don't go any further. Like, this is far as we're going, don't look back, that kind of thing, because we were right on the edge or whatever. But here's what I'll tell you: my kids can tell you that that was the best view that they had.
Why? 'Cause they're at the highest peak. They're the highest point. Here's what David said. When he says this, he's crying out.
He's overwhelmed. His heart is faint. And he cries out and says, God, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. What he's saying is, God, I want to be so close to you that I see everything around me differently. I don't need to pray that you change my circumstances.
I need to pray that you change my perspective on everything. God, you need to take me higher and you need to help me climb higher into your presence because here's what we learn: when we get with God and we're with Him. The rock, what we find is that he's greater than any circumstance around you.
So, what you find is when you get to a place where you are high with God. What you're going to find is that he's greater than whatever it is that's troubling you. If it's something at work, God's greater than that. If it's something at your school, God's greater than that. God's bigger than that.
And what we find is that we don't need to be praying. And if you're like me, when you're going through a storm or you're going through something that's troubling you and something that's overwhelming you, here's what we oftentimes do: we pray for a smaller storm. Don't worry. We pray, hey God, this is a little bit much. Hey God, have you noticed what I'm going through?
This a little bit. Hey, the waves of this storm a little higher than I expected. God, you're putting on more than I can handle. This is too much. And what we do a lot of times in our prayer time when we come to God, we pray for a smaller storm.
But what we learn here is that David prayed for a bigger view of his God. And when you have that view of who God is, the rock. You realize he is above whatever it is that is overwhelming you. See, David didn't change his Circumstances. He wasn't praying for that.
He was saying, God, change my position. He needed the rock. because he was weak. No. Notice David didn't pray to the, or he didn't pray to the, or to a rock, he prayed to the rock.
God is referenced as the rock 22 times in the Psalms. Twenty two times God is referred to him as the rock. A rock It means stability. It portrays firmness and security. It is higher than you.
And it can provide what you can't. In fact, Jesus in Matthew 7, if you remember in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about our lives and how our lives are. or like a house that is built, right? And that's some of the things that we're talking about is the building blocks of your life. And he says that when storms come.
You know, you're either, if you built your house on sand, you're going to fall apart and you're going to crumble at the storms. But if you're built on the rock You can remain stable when storms come, right? Think of it like this, a tree. You know, a tree. When it's planted.
Uh it's not really tested on a sunny day, is it? It's tested on a stormy day. Right. And you don't find out how deep those roots of the tree really are until the storms of life start showing up. Are you with me?
And so, what we learn here is this, is that if you're overwhelmed here today, your prayer doesn't need to be, God, change all my circumstances, God, fix my problems, God, make me stronger. No, your prayer should be, God, I want you to lead me to where you are because when I'm with you, I recognize you're bigger than any problem that I could ever experience. That's what we learn.
So when you're overwhelmed, cry out. Number two, when you're overwhelmed, climb higher. Number three, when you're overwhelmed, remember. Everybody say the word remember with me. Remember.
Look at what he says in verse 3. For you have been a shelter for me, talking to the Lord, and a strong tower from the enemy. David makes this interesting transition from verse two to verse three. Where he he stops talking about his troubles. And he starts.
He starts talking about Uh God's past faithfulness. I think that that's important because here's what I'll tell you. He comes to God with an overwhelmed heart, he cries out. Then he says, Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. When he gets alone with the rock, here's what he starts noticing.
When you see God's perspective, you start seeing, man, God's been faithful every time before. Why am I doubting him now? And if you're going through something that's troubling you, isn't that a good reminder? Because David's remembering here, he calls him a shelter, he calls him a strong tower. He realizes that.
Wow, why am I stressed out now? Why am I overwhelmed now? God was with me in the past. Right? God was my strength then.
He was my tower then. He was my stronghold then. He was my courage then. He was my guide then. He's going to be all of those things for me today and tomorrow.
And for some of you, that's what you need. Listen, don't let what is overwhelming you today. Make you forget yesterday's provision. We have a tendency to do that as Christians, don't we? We have a tendency to let whatever it is that we're facing today, whatever decision you have to make, Whatever it is that's troubling you.
You tend to look at that, and it becomes, you begin to see your life through those circumstances, through whatever is bad around you at the time. And here's what David learned as he got with the rock and he asked God to lead me to the rock that is higher than him. He realized that. That yesterday's provision is going to be tomorrow's provision as well. That everything that God had done for him in the past, he's still going to do for him in the future.
And that's what we have to learn. Listen, your circumstances have changed, maybe. But God has never changed. If you believe that, can you say amen this morning? And then lastly, so he says, Hey, if you're overwhelmed, cry out.
If you're overwhelmed, climb higher. If you're overwhelmed, remember God's past faithfulness. And then, number four, When you're overwhelmed, abide. Abide. Look at what he says in verse 4.
I will abide in your tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of Your wings. David here goes from crying to climbing To abiding. Listen, if you're like me, I've been around church my entire life. And it's all that I know, really.
And What I've seen in church a lot from a lot of church people is this: that when trouble comes and you have nowhere else to go. We run to God a lot of times. And that that's good. You should. I mean, that's exactly what he's saying.
But what happens is, is when you give it over to God, you have this moment with the Lord. Where you hand it over, you surrender everything. And then what happens is you leave. And then a few weeks later, you're kind of back into the same state you were in. You ever made a decision at maybe a a revival?
Or you made a decision perhaps last weekend at the men's conference. And you made a decision at a camp. Or coll whatever. And some service, maybe a camp meeting, if that's your church background, all right? When I was growing up, we had camp meetings.
We called things rallies, right? You know what you were serious if you're calling it a rally. And so we had all these things, and we would make decisions. And what happened? You have this moment with the Lord, you turn something over to him, you surrender whatever it is that is troubling you, you surrender it over to him, and then it's like you go back and.
And a month later, it's like, man, I'm back to where I was. That's why churches have to have revival services a lot. We need pick-me-ups, right? That's why we encourage you to go to camp and go to these things because we need pick-me-ups. But here's what I will tell you: is this: when I was studying this, he's praying, God, I want to abide.
That's not just a one-time fix. Abiding is not just, hey, I went to a youth conference and I made a decision and now I'm good and I can live. No, no, no. He's saying, God, I want to live there. I want to dwell there.
The tabernacle here, the tabernacle in the Old Testament, it was God's dwelling place. The Israelites, as they traveled around in the wilderness, they would pitch a tent where God would dwell, and that would be the opportunity that they could meet with God, that they could hear with God, that the priest would go in and make atonement for their sins and things like that. It was where God dwelt.
So, what he's saying is this: I'm overwhelmed. I'm crying out to you. And when I get you, that high place where I am with God. I want to live there. Here's what that means.
And this is so important because if you've been around church, you knew exactly what I was talking about a second ago. Many of you have made decisions that were years ago, and you've kind of gone back, and now you're just in the same state as you were before you made that decision. The goal, don't miss this, the goal is not to visit God's presence only when you're overwhelmed. It's to abide there. It's to stay there.
It's to live there. And I don't know about you. That's what I want. I don't want my relationship with my Savior to only be one of those things that when life falls apart. Then I'm going to you.
But then, when everything's put back together, then I can coast or whatever. No, I don't want my relationship with God to only be something where I need Him when life is not going my way. I want to stay there. I want to abide there. I want to dwell there.
I want to live. There. That's what what he's praying here.
So he goes from crying, he goes to climbing. And then he goes to remembering. And now he wants to abide. He wants to live there. And notice the imagery kind of changes here.
He's called the rock in verse 2, which speaks of strength. And now in verse 4, he's saying, I want to abide in your tabernacle because when I abide with you, you cover me with wings.
So we got the rock in verse 2.
Now we got wings. Rock is: hey, you're my strength, you're my help. Wings are like security for me. And you see David just crying out, and then in verses five through eight of our text. In Psalm 61.
Okay.
David's circumstances never change, but David changed. You can tell he changed where his life was anchored in. He moves from feeling overwhelmed in the last few verses. To his heart Now singing praises to God. Look at verse 8.
He says, So I will sing. Praise Unto your name forever. Like In eight verses. We got him crying out. Literally, the word is shouting at God.
With his problem. With being overwhelmed, I am shouting at the Lord. I feel abandoned by God. And I'm shouting at him, God, lead me to the rock. Don't change my circumstances.
God, just take me high to the place that you want me to go so that I can see things through your lens. And when you get there, you start remembering, man, he's been faithful with me. Why am I doubting his faithfulness now? And now I want to abide there. And now he's singing praises to his Lord.
Listen, his source of strength changed, his source of provision changed, his source of comfort. Changed. You see, he changed where he was anchored in. Listen, I I can't promise you that your circumstances are going to change. That diagnosis from the doctor might still be there.
That situation at your school? It might it might still be there. That problem with your child. Or in your marriage? He might still be there.
I can't change that. But here's what I can tell you: is that we serve a God who wants us to cry out to him. We serve a God that is bigger and greater than any problem that we ever face in life. And we serve a God that wants a relationship with us, and we need to abide. Bear.
Let me illustrate it to you this way. Um You know, with our phones, how many of you have ever been Out and about. And maybe you're going to be gone away from the house for several hours. And when you get out and about, you realize that your phone is on like one, two, or three percent. You ever been there?
Okay.
And a few things will stress you out than having to be gone for several hours without a cell phone, right?
Now, if you're older in here, you're like, we lived half my life that way, you know? And I get it. I get it. But I want you to know, although your generation, if you're like my parents, they can leave home all the time without their cell phone. They hardly notice it.
And when your kids are trying to get in touch with you, it's not helpful at all, by the way. And, um, But I get it. Different generation. My generation, and anybody after me, this was a big part of our life. We can't live several hours without these things, okay?
It's just reality. But you've all been there when you're out and about, and you're like, my phone's about to die, and I'm not going to be home for a while, and that kind of thing. What am I going to do? How are we going to live without this? Right.
And when you see it. It would be kind of silly if you and whoever you're with just started looking at your phone and say, Try harder. Right. Do better. Good luck.
Like, I'm really, man, you got this. You can do it, you know? That'd be crazy. Like, why would we ever why would we ever do that? Like, and and so we would never think that no, we would say No, what this needs is you gotta get connected to the power source.
In order for you to have the power that you need. Here's why that is important for you. Is because many of you You walked into this place today? And here's what I'll tell you. Your life?
Feels like you're at 1%. For some of you, we had several people who admitted it this morning in our service that they felt like, man, our life is at 1%. I feel like I could die. I feel overwhelmed. I feel maybe that I've been abandoned.
I feel like I don't even know if God's listening to me. I don't know what's wrong. Maybe it's just something at work or something in your family, and you literally have something that is so deeply troubling you that you can relate to David here as he's crying out to God with that type of heart posture. And you feel like your phone's at 1%. You feel like your life's at 1%.
And here's what I'm going to tell you. I'd be an awful pastor. If I said, here's what I want you to do, if that's how you feel today, I want you to leave here and I want you to do better. I want you to try harder. I want you to, you know, make better decisions.
I want you, whatever. No. No, here's what I want to challenge you to do. I want to challenge you, if that's where your heart is and you feel like your life is at 1%, I want to challenge you to do what David did. David said, You know what?
My life, my son's out to get me. My son is going to try to kill me and overtake the throne that God blessed me with. I'm fleeing for my life. I'm a fugitive in my own country. That's how he felt.
And here's what I want you to know. He didn't say, man, God made me stronger. God made me better. God made me smarter. No, you know what he said?
God Lead me. Yeah.
