Psalm 61:1-8

Running … Always Running

When I was a child and even when I was a teenager, I experienced a specific, recurring dream at nighttime. The details of the setting always changed, but the plotline was always the same. I was running, always running. Someone was chasing me, but I never knew who this person was or why he was after me.

The chase would go one for hours, or so it seemed in the dream, though it was probably more like a few seconds or minutes in real-time. The setting seemed like an obstacle course with lots of jumping and climbing, but always running with no particular destination or goal in mind. I only ran to keep from being caught by whoever was chasing me.

This dream always ended the same way. I would wake up sweating with a heart rate that was quicker than usual, but thankfully I had not been caught. I was safe. In bed. In my own home. That’s all that mattered.

Are You Being Pursued?

Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience in your own dreams? Or maybe you’ve even been pursued by someone in real life who intended to bring you harm. At least three other possibilities also exist:

1. Maybe you know what it’s like to be pursued by a past that haunts you? The memories of dangerous people you know and or bad things you’ve done still feel like their out there lurking in the shadows, threatening to steal your new life away.
2. Maybe you know what it’s like to be pursued by Satan or evil itself, hounding you, chasing you, and hunting you down, intending to lure you in so strongly that you can’t resist, causing you to fall into a sinful lifestyle with no escape.
3. Maybe you know what it’s like to be pursued by physical, emotional, financial, or other violent or circumstantial problems that loom over you as constant threats. Perhaps a contagious illness, chronic condition, financial downturn, job loss, or home break-in haunt the periphery of your thoughts, threatening to enter into your life unexpectedly, on a moment's notice, upending your entire future.

If any of this is true about you in one way or another, then Psalm 61 is the perfect psalm for you. It’s for followers of the one, true God who feels endangered with nowhere to turn, nowhere to hide, and no clear directions.

David Calls for Help (Psa 61:1-2)

If you’re a 911 operator, then the way that this psalm opens is familiar to you. If you’ve watched police shows, then maybe you’re also familiar with how this goes. Someone’s in danger, so they grab their phone, dial 911, then they plead for help in the most urgent way possible. Perhaps they need police to protect them from an intruder or an ambulance and EMT to stop their bleeding and prevent them from dying. Whatever the case, they make an urgent appeal, and that’s what David does here.

Three words describe the way that David made his urgent appeal. What stands out the most, perhaps, is that he “cried.” There’s a different word used for each instance of “cry,” but neither means that he was weeping or shedding tears. They both mean that he cried out with something like a loud cry, a shout, a scream, or a yell. So, it’s clear that he was urgent. This wasn’t a quiet, casual, laidback prayer. It was a loud and urgent one.

The psalm also says that he “prayed,” which means that he wasn’t just talking, but he was deliberately talking to God and no one else. He wasn’t broadcasting this prayer to anyone else. He was aiming it directly at God and he wanted nothing less than God’s fullest attention possible. That’s why he urged God to “hear” and “pay attention” to his prayer. If God were a human being (which he is not), then this request was as though David was asking God to focus on him with both of his eyes and both of his hears. He wanted God’s complete and undivided attention, just like when we call 911 today.

What was the problem that David faced? Though the psalm doesn’t give the clearest answer, it does offer clues. (The fact that it doesn’t give a specific answer is helpful because it makes it easier for us to apply to all sorts of difficult situations in our own lives today.) We can detect that David was somewhere far away, because he said, “From the end of the earth.” This doesn’t require him to be on the opposite side of the world from Israel. Instead, it indicates that he wasn’t at home in Zion or Jerusalem. He was probably on the run, as in either from King Saul before he became king or his rebellious son Absalom after he became king. Both of these men wanted to kill David, and both forced him to live like an outlaw in the wilderness. Whatever the case, he felt far away from safety and from wherever he wanted to be and wherever he rightfully belonged.

As a result of his predicament, his “heart” was “overwhelmed.” This means that he felt physically and emotionally exhausted, so much so that he may even have felt as though he was “losing consciousness, due to sickness, or excessive emotional stress.”[1] In fact, he was so overwhelmed that he felt as though he could not find his way. He felt stranded, lost, and exposed and was unable to find his way to a secure hiding place where he could rest, recover, and defend himself in safety.

That’s why he needed God to “lead” him, but why is this fascinating? It’s fascinating because this word would normally be used for a king leading a kingdom or a military officer leading an army into battle. Yet here is David, the quintessential king and military leader crying out for someone else to lead him, namely God. Where did he want to go? To a rock that was higher than the low point that he currently found himself in.

David Visualizes God (Psa 61:3-4)

What do I mean by David “visualizing” God? I mean that he envisions God in a conceptual way. Certain things come to mind that help him think about God, what God means to him at this moment, and how God has always been there for him in the past.

Here we see a “narrowing” effect, a series of four “locations” in David’s mind. With each location that David mentions, we see an increasing level of intimacy and safety.[2]

• First, he envisions an elevated, rugged, natural rock formation in the mountains where he can hide.
• Next, he envisions a purposely built, man-made tower built in a strategic location and in a sturdy way for fortification and defense purposes.
• Third, he envisions a tent. This may refer to the tabernacle in which Israel worshipped God in the wilderness, or it may simply refer to a tent in which a close, the family would live together in peace and safety rather than running endangered and alone in the wilderness. After all, the tent of the Lord was a far safer place to be than David’s family. As you know, even David’s own family members were dangerous company to keep. His son Amnon raped Tamar, his half-sister, and then his half-brother Absalom killed him. Later on, Absalom, David’s son, would even attempt to kill David, also.
• Finally, David also referred to the “shelter” or “shadow” of God’s “wings.” This may simply refer to getting so close to God that is was like young, helpless fledgling birds finding shelter and safety under their mother’s wings when they slept at night. Or it may also refer to the wings of the angelic cherubim figures on the Ark of the Covenant mercy seat in the Holiest of Holies in the tabernacle, whether God’s presence was manifested most strongly.

Through each of these analogies and visuals, David envisioned God as his ultimate destination. More than any rocky outpost, fortified tower, family tent, or intimate parental presence, David wanted to be near to God, and that’s how he prayed. God had met needs like this in his life before, so David called out for him to do so again. He felt helpless and endangered, overwhelmed and exhausted, lost, and unable to find his way. He needed God.

We can see his firm resolve to let God be all these things for him by the “I will” statements in v.4. He shifts from asking for these things in an immediate, physical way in the opening lines to trusting in God for these things instead. It’s not as though David never utilized such things in a physical, material way.

This psalm demonstrates that David did not rely on his military defense program when he was in a bind or in danger. He relied on the Lord instead. He hid in caves many times, positioned himself in a fortress on Mount Zion (in Jerusalem), and conducted operations from a stronghold in the wilderness, too (1 Chron 12:8). What’s important here, though, is that such things were not always available – and even when they were, he didn’t trust in them. He trusted in God to be his “high place” and “fortress,” his tabernacle and protective wings.

David Remembers God’s Covenant (Psa 61:5-7)

In these verses, David’s focus shifts from his present state of exhaustion and the need for shelter and protection to God’s special covenant and promise to him. We’ve spoken about this before on a previous Wednesday night, so I won’t belabor it now. But this refers to God’s promise for a never-ending kingdom to David (2 Sam 7:8-16). This promise included possession of the land of Israel, ruling authority over the nation of Israel, and a dynasty that would never end. So, when David felt all hopeless and afraid, he would often remind himself of God’s promises to him.

These thoughts were especially helpful because they were based upon the mercy and truthfulness of God (2 Sam 7:15; Psa 61:7). As you might recall, this “mercy” is the faithful, endless, loving loyalty of God by which he will never abandon his promise or relinquish his people. That’s why David envisioned God’s chesed (loyalty) and truth as “preserving him.” This means that be viewed God’s chesed and truth as the guards (or “bodyguards” or “security detail”) that watched over him at all times, guaranteeing his safety, even in the darkest of times and the most dangerous moments.

David Set His Sights on Praising God (Psa 61:8)

In our darkest hours, our prayers to God should take us on a mental and emotional journey through character, promises, and past acts of the faithfulness of God. They should lead us from fear to faith and from faith to praise. Such prayers don’t automatically “teleport” us from danger to safety, but they give us the ability to sleep at night amid any danger, knowing that God himself is our fortress and shelter and his loyalty and truthfulness to us watch over us like our very own security detail.

By “performing vows,” David refers to the ancient practice of people coming before a royal ruler or pagan deity to which they had submitted themselves, offering sacrifices and gifts and affirming their submission and loyalty. That’s what David envisioned here. He relied on God completely, knew that God would be faithful to him, and intended to offer his full loyalty to God in return, despite his present difficulty.

Is that your perspective today? We may not be David (in fact, I know we’re not!), but we know today that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would be born as a descendant of the royal, Davidic line. Listen to what God revealed to Mary before Christ was born, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call his name JESUS. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Lk 1:32-33).

We also know that as the eternal, Davidic heir, he will not only rule over Israel but over the entire kingdom of God in the new heaven and earth that God will make. What’s more, all who have placed their trust in Christ as God and Savior will enjoy the protection, presence, and pleasures of God forever. Listen to what Revelation 21:1-5 has to say about this:

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

Can you see a similar emphasis here? David rested in the chesed and truthfulness of God, just as John tells us that Christ is “true and faithful” to us today. No matter what far and distant place we find ourselves inhabiting today, and no matter how confused or overwhelmed we may feel at the moment, we can call out to God and know that he will keep us safe if we will hide in him.

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[1] James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

[2] Derek Kidner, Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 15, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 237.