Psalm 61
David wrote so many beautiful Psalms, songs, and poems to the Lord and many of them were prophetic. He was a prophet. (Acts 2:29-31). David is a “type of Christ” that is, he was a prophetic symbol, a foreshadowing of Christ. He was not Christ. He was not a Christ or God. Much of what he did prefigured Jesus, His ministry, and His life. So it is natural that so much of his writing would be messianic prophecy. That is what I read in this Psalm titled, Lead Me to the Rock. Verses 1-3 read,
“Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
2 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,
3 for you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.”
The Lord saves us when we cry out to Him. He waits for us to recognize our need of Him. And when we call on Him, He meets that need. Joel 2:30-32 speaking of The Day of the Lord puts it like this,
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.”
Does that mean we only have to cry out and that’s it we’re saved? No. it means we cry out because we recognize our need and we believe Jesus is the Christ, God our Savior sent by God to deliver us. We believe He is who He says He is and that He died and rose from the dead for us. In Romans 10:9-13 Paul writes it this way,
“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Believer, when we pray God hears us. (1 John 5:13-15). He is our Rock. He is higher than we are. We can’t depend on ourselves for security or refuge. We can’t save ourselves. Only Jesus can save us from the enemy. Only He is qualified to be our Savior. Acts 4:12-13 says,
“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
David was a great king. He had all the money any man could ever want. He had power ad authority given to him by God. He had amazing talents and wonderful gifts. He was a man after God’s own heart. (1 Samuel 13:14). But He still needed the Lord to save Him. His faith in God, his dependence on God, and his friendship with God aligned his heart with God’s will. He cried out to God for salvation and God saved him. God gave David eternal life. Verses 4-5 read,
“Let me dwell in your tent forever!
Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah
5 For you, O God, have heard my vows;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.”
David longed to be in the tent of the tabernacle worshipping God. David loved to worship the Lord. That is evident in his life and in his Psalms. The tent was the Tabernacle, God’s holy and anointed place, where His presence dwelled in the Old Covenant. But in the new covenant God’s doesn’t indwell a tent or a building, He indwells His children. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says,
“Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
We take refuge in Him, He shelters us with His wings. The Ark of the Covenant was in the Tabernacle. The Ark though made by men by order of God was the physical representation of The Lord, God. On the lid or mercy seat were two cherubim whose wings were stretched out toward one another. (Exodus 25:10-22). It is under those wings, the wings of the mercy of God that David took his refuge. Hebrews 9:1-10 describes the Ark and its purpose. Today, no one knows where the Ark of the Covenant is. We do not need that holy relic because we have Jesus, God With Us. He is our mercy seat in the New Covenant. There is a reason no one knows where the Ark is. I believe that God either destroyed it or took it up to Heaven because Jesus is our mercy seat now. Hebrews 9:11-14 reads,
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
God gave us a heritage, an inheritance in Jesus. When we are saved, God adopts us as His children and makes us heirs with Jesus. (Ephesians 1:3-14). He gives us a legacy. As we glorify Christ, the world comes to know Him through us, and people who receive the gift of eternal life because of our lives, testimony and witness are our legacy. We didn’t save them, but we were part of God’s great work to bring them to Himself. His name lasts forever. Jesus is eternally our King. Our lives are eternally His. Verses 6-8 read,
“Prolong the life of the king;
may his years endure to all generations!
7 May he be enthroned forever before God;
appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!
8 So will I ever sing praises to your name,
as I perform my vows day after day.”
It is because of the lessons we learned from Moses’ life David’s life, and all the other great men and women of faith that we believe today. It is because of the person who shared the gospel with us, the person who lived a life of worship, and the person who disciples us that we believe. It is because The Father called us, Jesus died and lived for us, and The Spirit opened our eyes that we believe.
Jesus’ name and glory lasts forever. He gave us eternal life as well as holy and royal heirs with Him. Jesus sits on the throne of God forever as our Sovereign Holy King. Guess what! We get to sit there with Him! His kingship is shared with us. Revelation 3:20-22 says,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
Don’t stop praising God. Don’t only praise Him in private but in public for everyone to see His awesome power, love and salvation. You Believer, are the holy temple of the Lord. You are standing on the Rock of Jesus. You are heirs with Him. You are royalty. Jesus is the Rock. He is God With Us. He is the eternal King of kings. He is I Am.
David wrote so many beautiful Psalms, songs, and poems to the Lord and many of them were prophetic. He was a prophet. (Acts 2:29-31). David is a “type of Christ” that is, he was a prophetic symbol, a foreshadowing of Christ. He was not Christ. He was not a Christ or God. Much of what he did prefigured Jesus, His ministry, and His life. So it is natural that so much of his writing would be messianic prophecy. That is what I read in this Psalm titled, Lead Me to the Rock. Verses 1-3 read,
“Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
2 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,
3 for you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.”
The Lord saves us when we cry out to Him. He waits for us to recognize our need of Him. And when we call on Him, He meets that need. Joel 2:30-32 speaking of The Day of the Lord puts it like this,
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.”
Does that mean we only have to cry out and that’s it we’re saved? No. it means we cry out because we recognize our need and we believe Jesus is the Christ, God our Savior sent by God to deliver us. We believe He is who He says He is and that He died and rose from the dead for us. In Romans 10:9-13 Paul writes it this way,
“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Believer, when we pray God hears us. (1 John 5:13-15). He is our Rock. He is higher than we are. We can’t depend on ourselves for security or refuge. We can’t save ourselves. Only Jesus can save us from the enemy. Only He is qualified to be our Savior. Acts 4:12-13 says,
“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
David was a great king. He had all the money any man could ever want. He had power ad authority given to him by God. He had amazing talents and wonderful gifts. He was a man after God’s own heart. (1 Samuel 13:14). But He still needed the Lord to save Him. His faith in God, his dependence on God, and his friendship with God aligned his heart with God’s will. He cried out to God for salvation and God saved him. God gave David eternal life. Verses 4-5 read,
“Let me dwell in your tent forever!
Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah
5 For you, O God, have heard my vows;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.”
David longed to be in the tent of the tabernacle worshipping God. David loved to worship the Lord. That is evident in his life and in his Psalms. The tent was the Tabernacle, God’s holy and anointed place, where His presence dwelled in the Old Covenant. But in the new covenant God’s doesn’t indwell a tent or a building, He indwells His children. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says,
“Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
We take refuge in Him, He shelters us with His wings. The Ark of the Covenant was in the Tabernacle. The Ark though made by men by order of God was the physical representation of The Lord, God. On the lid or mercy seat were two cherubim whose wings were stretched out toward one another. (Exodus 25:10-22). It is under those wings, the wings of the mercy of God that David took his refuge. Hebrews 9:1-10 describes the Ark and its purpose. Today, no one knows where the Ark of the Covenant is. We do not need that holy relic because we have Jesus, God With Us. He is our mercy seat in the New Covenant. There is a reason no one knows where the Ark is. I believe that God either destroyed it or took it up to Heaven because Jesus is our mercy seat now. Hebrews 9:11-14 reads,
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
God gave us a heritage, an inheritance in Jesus. When we are saved, God adopts us as His children and makes us heirs with Jesus. (Ephesians 1:3-14). He gives us a legacy. As we glorify Christ, the world comes to know Him through us, and people who receive the gift of eternal life because of our lives, testimony and witness are our legacy. We didn’t save them, but we were part of God’s great work to bring them to Himself. His name lasts forever. Jesus is eternally our King. Our lives are eternally His. Verses 6-8 read,
“Prolong the life of the king;
may his years endure to all generations!
7 May he be enthroned forever before God;
appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!
8 So will I ever sing praises to your name,
as I perform my vows day after day.”
It is because of the lessons we learned from Moses’ life David’s life, and all the other great men and women of faith that we believe today. It is because of the person who shared the gospel with us, the person who lived a life of worship, and the person who disciples us that we believe. It is because The Father called us, Jesus died and lived for us, and The Spirit opened our eyes that we believe.
Jesus’ name and glory lasts forever. He gave us eternal life as well as holy and royal heirs with Him. Jesus sits on the throne of God forever as our Sovereign Holy King. Guess what! We get to sit there with Him! His kingship is shared with us. Revelation 3:20-22 says,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
Don’t stop praising God. Don’t only praise Him in private but in public for everyone to see His awesome power, love and salvation. You Believer, are the holy temple of the Lord. You are standing on the Rock of Jesus. You are heirs with Him. You are royalty. Jesus is the Rock. He is God With Us. He is the eternal King of kings. He is I Am.
RSS Feed
