Psalm 61:2 From the end of the earth will I cry to you, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. I. THE STATE DESCRIBED. 1. Man is an emotional being; so delicate and subtle is the organization of the human heart, that a single sound will influence it. So highly wrought that it may be operated upon by the most refined instrument which creature skill ever constructed. So tenderly susceptible, that a word is often times enough to lift it into ecstasy, or depress it to despair — so sensitive, that the glance of an eye can fill it with joy, or transfix it with grief. 2. We may understand, therefore, how it is, that in some circumstances, under strong influences — a sudden influx of joy, or prosperity, or under a storm and inundation of woes — the heart becomes overwhelmed. The Christian is not exempt from the troubles and trials of life; and, in addition to them, how frequently is he overwhelmed with a sense of his own unworthiness — his imperfections; the smallness of his faith — and the coldness of his love. How often does he make the language of the psalmist his own, and say unto God, "When my heart is overwhelmed within me, lead me," etc. II. THE IMPORT OF THE PRAYER. Here is the expression of conscious weakness, "Lead me." He feels the need of assisting grace, and Divine support — and with the self-diffidence and conscious weakness of a little child, he tries to grasp his Father's hand — "Lead me." "Higher than I." This implies confidence — faith in God — in the sufficiency of Christ. He acknowledges in Christ some one to look up to, superior to any human source; here is humility, (J. D. Carey.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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