Text: Psalm 61:1-8
Introduction: In our hymnal, “Great Songs of the Church,” William Cushing’s hymn, “O, Safe To The Rock That Is Higher Than I” is linked to Psalm 61. Psalm 61 says: “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”
Cushing wrote:
O, safe to the rock that is higher than I
My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly;
So sinful, so weary, thine, thine would I be:
Thou blessed Rock of Ages, I’m hiding in Thee.
Hiding in Thee, hiding in Thee –
Thou blest Rock of Ages, I’m hiding in Thee.
People who have lived with the Lord for any length of time know the force of that hymn and the image it is based upon. It is because life is filled with sorrows, and there are times in life when there is lierally no one else to whom we can trun to for comfort or help. Some examples:
- Some people spend most of their time alone.
- Others are surrounded by unsympathizing family; perhaps because these others are not Christians and resent the believer’s convictions and lifestyle.
- Some have an unbelieving spouse.
- Some have people resenting you at work.
Yet if they are Christians and have any experience of the Lord at all, they know that God is a Rock to which they can turn, a rock that is higher, wiser, and stronger than themselves.
As was David’s desire to know the Lord more intimately, that should be our desire also.We can know God more intimetely than David becasie we know Him in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the Rock of Ages. But He is also the Rock that has been cleft for us, crucified, that we might be saved from sin. “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide my self in Thee!”
Jesus is our refuge; but not only a refuge from human enemies and foes. He is a refuge from the wrath of God. He is our tower that we can run into and be safe. He is our tabernacle. John used this very word when he wrote John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Sometimes we need to feel that we are at our wit’s end before we can discover how wonderful Jesus is.
