God is our Refuge: updated 11-3-08

Could we look together, please, in Psalm 61. Psalm 61. Now, this is a Psalm of David, starting at verse 1. 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. For Thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Thy tabernacle forever.

I will trust in the covert of Thy wings, Selah. For Thou, O God, hast heard my vows. Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear Thy 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. Now, let's read also in Psalm 62. Truly, my soul waiteth upon God.

From Him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense.

I shall not be greatly moved. How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? Ye shall be slain, all of you, as a bowing wall shall ye be and as a tottering fence. They only consult to cast him down from His excellency.

They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly, Selah. My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him.

He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved.

In God is my salvation and my glory, the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times. Ye people, pour out your heart before Him.

God is a refuge for us, Selah. Surely, men of low degree are vanity. Men of high degree are a lie.

To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. Trust not in oppression. Become not vain in robbery.

If riches increase, set not your heart upon them. God hath spoken once. Twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God.

Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy, for thou renderest to every man according to his work. Now, a couple of years ago, when I was going through one of my low spells in life, these two psalms became very precious to me. And really I was looking at Psalm 62 first and appreciating the assurance and promise that is found in Psalm 62, and then I happened to look back in Psalm 61 and I realized that really Psalm 61 is really the steps leading to Psalm 62.

It's really the foundation for it. So I want to look with you first of all in Psalm 61, particularly at verse 2. The psalm begins with an appeal to God to be heard, for a prayer to be listened to. And then he says, 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. Now, I remember for years when I would think of this expression, and I'm sure you've heard it spoken on and read it yourself many times. I've always read it in this sense. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. And that's perfectly good.

That's perfectly good sense. That's fine to think of it just in that way. But you'll notice the way the structure of the sentence is.

It's actually saying, From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed. So he is expressing a deep confidence in God that even when I feel the farthest away, I'm going to still cry to You. I'm not sure where you would place yourself today in your own spiritual life, whether you would say that you feel close to the Lord, you are feeling happy in the Lord, secure, strong in the Lord.

I hope you are. But many of us find our experience fluctuating and sometimes drastically. And here is David as he cries out to God.

He acknowledges God in this way. I want to think with you about the idea of an overwhelmed heart. Now we have heard things this morning that could be completely overwhelming for those who have been affected by these sudden, significant, overwhelming things happening in their lives.

It can be something sudden that crashes into our life and overwhelms us. But I believe as well, it can be something that gradually progresses in our experience until finally we come to a breaking point. And I am thinking more particularly of that aspect of it this morning.

Because I have seen that even when there is an overwhelming tragedy or hardship that cuts across our life, we tend to rally initially. We tend to experience the sense of God comforting, strengthening, empowering us, carrying us through. It's almost like we are insulated from the complete shock of it.

But then gradually, as time progresses, it's the day by day wearing down. And we gradually come to the place where we discover we are no longer able to cope. This can happen even through our own responsibilities.

It can happen in our service for God. And I know that what we call burnout is something that afflicts all of the caring professions, whether it is doctors, nurses, counselors, preachers, teachers. I'm sure any of us who have been involved in that kind of responsibility of care for people, at some points in our life, we come to a condition where we really are not coping.

And we find ourselves becoming overwhelmed. And so the psalmist is recognizing this condition which has come upon him. And for myself, I know this has happened several times through my years of service in the Lord's work.

And so there is certainly some personal element of what I'm speaking about this morning. But I know that it relates to many of us, probably all of us, because there are concerns and cares in life which will wear us down. And eventually what we find happening is that we begin to lose our joy.

We begin to lose our sense of confidence and strength. And we find that everything becomes a stress. And that sense of pressure and stress becomes chronic.

But like accumulating debt, we can be used to it. We can become accustomed to that change and not really recognize its effect until we come to a breaking point. And we realize that we are not going to be able to carry on.

And so in this psalm, he is saying, when I am feeling farthest away, at a distance, it says, when my heart is overwhelmed. So how do we escape? Well, we have to get unstuck from the burden that we're carrying. And sometimes I know some people say, we'll go on a vacation.

Change the scenery. And yes, that does help temporarily. Just to be removed from the pressure and the stress.

It can give us that break that we may need. But I'm sure you have discovered as well that once the outer pressures of life have become part of our inner stress condition, we end up carrying it with us. And we need something more than just a temporary relief from it.

Now, one of the things that I find with myself is that when something is concerning me, I find it begins to play on my mind. I find my mind going back over it. And even at times when it is not something I am consciously thinking about through the day, when it comes time to go to sleep at night, then it filters back.

And I realize that it's always been there. It has not been released from my area of concern in my mind. And as soon as the other pressures of life are sort of relieved, then it comes again into the foreground.

Now, I would understand that there's a physical aspect to this, even in our minds and our brains. And I'm not sure how our memory bank works. But just as we learn with all the computer systems that are around today, I'm sure most of us who have a computer have discovered this, that it worked great for a while.

And then gradually it starts slowing down and slowing down and then sometimes malfunctioning and we don't know what's going on and why it's behaving. It's overloaded. It's getting overwhelmed.

And it's struggling and struggling and struggling to get doing the things that you're commanding it to do. And we within ourselves can become the same way. And we don't recognize that we have to be released from that particular pressure and stress.

And so there is a necessary purging of short-term memory for us to just physically carry on and function. But I think you would remember this and recognize this, that even a very transient thing like buying a house, looking for a car, looking for furniture, when you start shopping, your focus and attention becomes centered upon that concern. And even after you've completed the deal and you're settled in, you have what you wanted, you'll notice every for sale sign relating to that for the next weeks or months.

Why? Simply because you have trained your brain, even temporarily, to focus upon that. It has become a priority and it has to be let go. So what happens then when we have some kind of a burden, some kind of a care, some kind of a concern that doesn't evaporate and doesn't go? An ongoing family responsibility or a work issue and so on.

And that is when this can become an overwhelming burden. And so the principle that we have to recognize is this, whatever we yield our minds to repeatedly becomes a dominant priority in our concern. And so what does he say here? 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. What he has come to know and understand is this, when I am beyond my limits, there is someone who is great enough to handle my need, my concern. Now David, in his own experience, would have a significant appreciation for God as my rock. And that's why I read the verses in the next psalm because he is going over this and over this.

He only is my rock and my salvation. Now for some of us, depending on where we live, we may not even hardly relate to this concept. Where I have been living for most of the last 20 years, 25 years, in the Timmins area, is a rather flat and not particularly any striking landscape there.

But just this year we moved to Sudbury and anybody who's ever been around the Sudbury area will remember that at least apparently it was used for some of the TV programs for the moonscape. So it's very barren and it used to be far more barren. Blackened rock.

It's rock, rock, rock. Not particularly grand mountains but just a lot of big rock. Rock faces and so on.

Well in the wilderness where David spent those years in hiding, he found security in the strongholds where there were these rock areas. And someone who has had the privilege of visiting in some of those areas has said that they're just massive hideaways and like impregnable fortresses. And so this is his background for this concept of God.

But he is recognizing that far beyond, far beyond any physical rock that would be a place of security and protection from an enemy is the one who is not even physical. The invisible God who is the eternal and he is the ultimate rock of ages. And he has experienced this and discovered it.

And this is what we need to find in God. So I want to really think with you about three things about God that is given to us in this concept. And that is that He is the unshakable foundation.

And He speaks of this in Psalm 62. He is my rock and my salvation. He mentions He is the I shall not be greatly moved.

And then He says I shall not be moved or I shall not be shaken. So God as the eternal, He is the one who has established all things. He has brought everything into existence.

And everything derives its stability and its meaning from what God is. And so you cannot find anything more strong, more concrete, if we want to use that term, than the eternal, the unchanging one. So as He says here, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Someone who is beyond anything that I could ever be.

Someone that I can find myself secure upon. So He is the unshakable foundation. He is the unassailable fortress.

Whatever may be overwhelming you, whether it is opposition of others, enemies, as we learn from the next psalm, or whether it is circumstances of life, whether it is even struggle with your own flesh, whatever may overwhelm, God is that absolutely solid foundation and He is that absolutely unassailable fortress that you can throw yourself upon and cry out to. So as you notice what He says here in Psalm 62, verse 7, In God is my salvation and my glory, the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Now notice His counsel to us in verse 8. Trust in Him at all times.

Ye people, pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. And I hope you have experienced this significantly in your life as you have gone through times of stress, of challenge, that you have come back to Him and you have found in God that resource, that strength that will take you through and secure you.

He is the unshakable foundation, the unassailable fortress. But what I want to think with you now is, and this relates more to the kind of problem that I have been talking about. What happens when we become overwhelmed and so preoccupied with some issue, some problem? What has really happened? That thing or that person has actually taken the first place in your heart, in your mind.

And God has been displaced. And God must always be first our priority. And even problems, as legitimate as they may be, concerns of whatever kind they are, if they overwhelm our minds, they have displaced God.

And the important thing to remember is this. Whatever you focus on, eventually will control you. So we need Him not only to know that He is this rock of safety, of last resort, that He is this fortress, this protection for you from all danger and harm, but that He is also our unfailing focus.

Whatever else you allow to become your dominant focus in life, it will let you down. It will disillusion you. It will come to nothingness, disappointment.

But He is the unchanging, unfailing One. He is the One in whom our future is completely enmeshed. And so He says here, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. And this is what I have had to come to recognize, that as I have let other things become so dominant, so controlling, that they have overtaken me, I have let them take me from the closeness to God that I need.

Now you notice that verse 2 is really explained by verse 3 in Psalm 61. He says, verse 3, For thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy. So you see, it is the assurance that He has in God that gives to Him the faith to cry out to God even though He feels in Himself so far that He can't find His way back.

I would suggest that when He says, lead me to the rock that is higher than I, He is admitting in Himself that He doesn't even know how to get back to where He once was. So He's just simply appealing to God, lead me, draw me, carry me back to this place where I am secure, where I am stable, where I am protected in God. So you notice how He goes on then to say, Thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy.

And then verse 4 and verse 5 are linked together. He says, I will abide in Thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of Thy wings, Selah.

Again, verse 4 is explained by verse 5. For Thou, O God, hast heard my vows. Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear Thy name. Now when you look at verse 4, I will abide in Thy tabernacle forever.

I will trust in the covert of Thy wings. Is that assurance? Or is that a commitment? I will abide, I will remain, I will dwell in Thy tabernacle, Thy dwelling place. I think it's both.

It is both a confident assurance that God will preserve me and God will protect me. God will bring me near and keep me near. But I think it's also a commitment to God.

Could I ask you this morning, have you in your spiritual desires for the Lord, have you ever made vows before Him? Have you made promises to God that you are going to seek Him? That you are going to live for Him? That you are going to give Him your life and let Him use you however He wishes? He's worthy of that. He deserves that devotion. He deserves that attraction that would cause us to make vows just as we would in marriage.

How have you been keeping them? You know, what I appreciate over and over again about the Lord is that though my response to Him and my faithfulness to Him is so fluctuating, yet when I find myself in desperation and I come back to Him sometimes like a whipped dog and I wonder why He should ever, ever want to hear my voice again, yet He confirms His love. He strengthens. He consoles.

He encourages. He renews. He rekindles the desire.

And so this longing, I believe, is both a deep assurance in the unfailing love and faithfulness of God and the commitment that it causes from our hearts that I will remain with God, with His people. I will remain with the assembly. I will stay with God's work.

Thou hast heard my vows. Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear Thy name. What is that heritage? We learn it through the Scriptures.

There are many beautiful passages. And if you want an encouraging meditation, take the time to look up the passages that refer to those who fear the Lord and the Lord's compassion, the Lord's tender mercy, the Lord's sustaining grace to those who fear Him, to those who rest in Him and trust in Him and reverence Him. Let me just remind you of the book of Malachi.

Conditions similar to where we find ourselves today. A remnant within a decaying remnant of God's people. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.

And the Lord hearkened and He heard. And He said, I will make them My special treasure. So the Lord appreciates and the Lord gives the heritage.

What heritage? The heritage of His love, of His favor, of His protection, of His care. And that is something to be treasured. And then the psalm goes on to really, I would say it advances to New Testament promise.

David in many ways seems to stretch forth in his appreciation of God, in his understanding of the character of God, and he reaches in faith to God, to covenant relationship that could only be ours in New Covenant experience. Everlasting promises. Promises of eternal blessing.

And I would suggest to you that not only do we need to struggle, to battle our way through life, and make sure that we get our focus back upon God directly, personally as our priority of life, but we also need to wrestle to get to this renewed focus of our true future. Fifty years from now, where are you going to be? For a good number of us, we'll be in eternity. We will be in His presence.

And then it won't matter whether it's fifty years more, or five thousand years, or five million years, or how many more eons of time that we'll ever be able to be analyzed. We will be with Him. We will experience the glory that He has intended for us.

So let us recognize this. This life, as significant and important as it is, is temporary. And all that we can enjoy and have, naturally speaking, including our own life, our families, our relationships, our money, our possessions, all of it is transitory.

All of it is actually disposable and is not our eternal blessings. So they must not be our primary focus. And so I recognize that at times the Lord has to let me wander and become weary and come to the point where I sense myself overwhelmed so that I will turn again and say, even if I'm at the farthest point that I have ever been in my experience, I'm going to cry to You when my heart is overwhelmed.

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.