Psalm 61 Listen to my cry, O God: hear my prayer!
David prays here that God would listen to him and hear his cry and prayer. It’s kind of an interesting prayer in itself. We could be flapping our lips all day long in prayer to God but it would all be in vain if we didn’t believe God would hear and listen to our requests. We have this promise from Jesus in Matt. 6:3, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” We have this other promise from Jesus in Matt. 7, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8Anyone who asks receives; anyone who searches finds; and anyone who knocks, the door will be opened for him…11Now if you, as wicked as you are, know how to give your children good gifts, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?” So do not be timid in asking God to listen and hear your prayers. We have His promise He will do so.
2From a distant spot on earth I’m calling You, because I feel faint. Lead me to a rock that towers above me. 3Yes, be my Shelter, a strong tower to protect me against the enemy.
David may have been on a campaign far from the tabernacle. He may have felt at the time that since he was far from that spot he was distant from God. We also sometimes get the thinking that being in a Church building we are closer to God. It’s true, we have a special presence of God with us when we gather in Jesus’ name to worship and also when we partake of Jesus’ body and blood. Let us not forget though we individually are temples of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus and the Father also dwell in our hearts. So we are never far from God nor God ever far from us.
David is praying this though because he feels faint. We can also think here of Jesus praying in the Garden, the many times He went off by Himself to pray, having ministered to people all day, and when He was suffering on the cross. Feeling weak should not be an excuse to not pray but rather a reason to pray. Jesus is our Rock that towers above us. He is our Shelter, our Strong Tower that protects us against the enemy. We have these images of places of refuse and safety because that is what God is for us in a greater sense than any of these words can convey. They help us understand what God is for us in times of trouble.
4I want to live in Your tabernacle forever and take refuge under the Shelter of Your wings.
In the tabernacle where the ark of the covenant was, there the mercy seat of the Almighty was. The winds of the LORD are a shelter to us. David uses this mother bird imagery often. Perhaps David sees what John sees in Revelation 21, “22But I didn’t see any temple in it, because the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple. 23And the city doesn’t need any sun or moon to give it light, because God’s glory is its light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” This indeed is the tabernacle we desire to live in forever.
Merciful God and Father, keep the promises of You Son Jesus Christ to listen and hear our prayers. Be for us a Refuge and Strong Tower in times of trouble. Shelter us under Your protective wings from all things harmful to us and let us dwell with You, Christ and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.