Let us modify an old saying. We often hear it said, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” Yes, but is it not also true that “Anything worth saying is worth saying well.”
One of the things we gain from regular feeding on scripture, and especially the Psalms, is a richer vocabulary for expressing our thoughts about God and our prayers to God. This psalm is particularly well stocked with metaphors for spiritual truth. This psalm is certainly an example of something well said.
Distance
It is a cry from a distance.
“Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; 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” (1-2).
The distance may be literal. If we live far from the meeting place for worship, that often has a profound effect on our spiritual life. But the expression “from the end of the earth” may be figurative for a spiritual state of mind.
There are two things we need to learn about that feeling of spiritual distance from God.
First, it is not unusual for a true child of God to sometimes feel far from him. We see this often in the scriptures and even in the psalms.
Second, there can be a huge difference between a feeling and the reality. Sometimes we are drawing closer when we feel distant. Often, we are in great danger when we imagine that we have arrived. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov 16:18). Sometimes we may feel alone but the Lord is right there with us (Acts 23:11).
Refuge
It is a cry for security, nearness, and refuge.
“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. 4 Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings!” (2-4)
The cry is a dependent one. It is not a claim “I’ll fly away” as if we could do so on our own, but a petition that the Lord would lift us to a place of security beyond our reach (2). “Rock of Ages” expresses this dependency beautifully.
“Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law’s demands;
could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone.”
The need for security and refuge is so great that it is repeated in various figurative expressions – rock, tower, tent, wings (2-4).
There is a progression in each of these: ‘Rock’ expresses the security well, but perhaps not the intentionality. ‘Tower’ expresses the security and intentionality but is emotionally cold. ‘Tent,’ for people at that time, expressed the emotionally warm security of a home. “Under the shelter of your wings” is as much of a contrast to the distance expressed in verse 1 as can be imagined.
Satisfied
This is a cry that has been satisfied. “For you, O God, have heard my vows; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name” (5).
It has been satisfied for this person to an extent, but for us to a much greater extent. They saw him through a veil (2 Cor 4:1-5), but we should see more clearly.
“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).
It is a cry satisfied to an extent, but also a cry that looks forward to a fuller satisfaction.
“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!” (6-7)
Clearly a messianic hope is involved here. No one really expected any of their kings to live forever. By the time of the compiling of the Psalms they did not even have a king. But they looked forward to a reign of steadfast love and faithfulness (7). We enjoy that reign to an extent that they did not, yet we still look forward to its fuller manifestation (see Rev 21: 3-4).
Although the Lord may sometimes seem far away, “God is not far from any of us” (Acts 17:27). He is near, desiring to set us on a rock that is higher than we can reach, to shelter us in a strong tower, to take us into his tent forever, and to grant us refuge very near him – under his wings.
And yet, “Under his wings,” is a phrase used by Jesus in a sad way. He longed to draw the people of Jerusalem under his wings, but they refused (Mt 23:37).
Let us not refuse his offer. Let us instead continually praise his name and honour him as we have promised (8).