When My Heart Is Overwhelmed...

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Psalm 61

When My Heart Is Overwhelmed I Will Cry to You

Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. From the end of the Earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 61:1-2

Psalm 61 is believed to have been composed after David ascended to the throne, possibly during the time of Absalom's rebellion, when he fled Jerusalem.

David's cry—his 'loud wailing'—rises to heaven as he pleads with the Lord to respond to his lament.

At a time when his soul is overwhelmed and his heart grows faint, David longs for the Lord's strength and protection. But he needs God to uplift him—and to lead him to that sanctuary of comfort and safety.

You Are My Shelter

For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy. Psalm 61:3

David feels he is at the end of the Earth—both literally and figuratively—possibly far from Jerusalem, the dwelling place of God, and in a state of deep sorrow and despair.

Yet even in his distress, David turns toward God—his refuge and strong tower.

Drawing strength from past experience, David expresses unwavering confidence in God. He is unchanging and worthy of trust. David desires more than protection; he longs to dwell in close fellowship—in the very presence of God, forever.

Sweet is beyond expression to remember the lovingkindness of the Lord in our former days, for He is unchangeable, and therefore will continue to guard us from all evil. - C. H. Spurgeon

David's burdened heart laments, but when he looks up to God, his cry turns into words of confidence. His prayers and promises have always been heard, and so he trusts that both his present circumstances and his future—his life and reign—are in God's hands. God's faithfulness will sustain him.

You Are Close to the Brokenhearted

I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Psalm 61:4b

Many of life's trials can overwhelm our hearts - loneliness, illness, lack, loss, disappointment, or betrayal. Grief, despair, and hopelessness can settle in—and the Rock of safety may feel distant, high, and out of reach.

Fear arises when we imagine everything depends on us. - Elisabeth Elliot

Yet in the midst of desperation, David looks back on God's faithfulness and trusts in His character. David's spirit is revived and strengthened. His wailing turns to praise, and his commitment to the Lord is renewed.

When my heart is overwhelmed: - when the huge waves of trouble wash over me, and I am completely submerged, not only as to my head, but also my heart. It is hard to pray when the very heart is drowning, yet we plead best at such times. Tribulation brings us to God and brings God to us. Faith's greatest triumphs are achieved in her heaviest trials. It is all over with me, affliction is all over me; it encompasses me as a cloud, it swallows me up like a sea, it shuts me in with thick darkness, yet God is near, near enough to hear my voice, and I will call him. - C. H. Spurgeon

An Ever-Present Help in Trouble

Is your heart faint and overwhelmed by life's trials and afflictions?

Do you long for a place of comfort and safety, yet it feels so high and out of reach?

You can be sheltered by God, who is unchangeable - the same yesterday, today, and forever.

An ever-present help in trouble.

A fortress.

A stronghold.

A Saviour.

God can lead you to the Rock that is higher than you.

For all who believe, God dwells not only with us, but within us. The dwelling place of God is now with His people and forever will be ( Ephesians 2:22, Revelation 21:3-4).

There is a place of refuge, of strength and safety in Jesus—the Rock that is higher than us (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

When our hearts are overwhelmed, Jesus comforts us.

When we reach the end of our strength, He carries us.

In the midst of danger, He delivers us.

And at the end of our lives, He saves us.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength is gone, ere the day is half through, when we have reached the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving has only begun. His grace has no limits, His love has no measure, His power has no boundary known unto man, For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again. - He Giveth More Grace

Yours Is the Victory

I will sing praise to Your name forever. Psalm 61:8a

This was not the last of David's songs.

When the Lord delivered him from all his enemies, David composed another song—a song of victory and praise (2 Samuel 22).

For the Lord was, is, and will forever be faithful.

He is a stronghold.

A refuge.

A rock for all who fear Him.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my Saviour. - 2 Samuel 22:1-3a