Singing Praise
Psalm 61:1–8
So will I ever sing praises to your name. Psalm 61:8

David began this psalm feeling at “the end of the earth” (v. 2), far from God. But as he thought about God and prayed to him, he drew closer to God and grew in confidence until he ends actually expecting to be established in Jerusalem, his capital, for many days and many generations. That is something to praise God for. And that, quite naturally, is how the psalm ends: “So will I ever sing praises to your name, as I perform my vows day after day” (v. 8).

Shouldn’t that be true for you as well? It is not only David who had such a great God, or those who lived with him in this Old Testament period. His God is our God, and it is our privilege to know him even more intimately than David did, for we know him in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Rock that is higher than we are, infinitely higher. He is very God of very God, as the creeds say. He 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 myself 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 to be poured out at the final judgment. He is our tower that we can run into and be safe. He is our tabernacle. The apostle John used this very word when he wrote, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). In the Greek the word “dwelt” is literally “tabernacled.” Jesus is the one who said of the city of Jerusalem, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing” (Matt. 23:37). But he has gathered us to himself.

Sometimes we need to feel we are at “the ends of the earth” before we can discover how wonderful Jesus is. That is what the great Augustine was thinking of when he wrote, “They that are godly are oppressed and vexed in the church or congregation for this purpose: that when they are pressed, they should cry; and when they cry, that they should be heard; and when they are heard, that they should laud and praise God.” We will be happy Christians if we learn to do just that.

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.