When My Heart Is Faint
Psalms 61
January 26, 2020
Tonight we come to the 61st Psalm.
It is recorded to be “For the choir director; on a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David.”
This is a distinction seen 4 other times thus far.
We saw it in the 4th, the 6th, the 54th, and the 55th Psalm.
What all of those Psalms have in common is that
They find David during a time of duress
In which he is crying out to God for deliverance.
And it seems that this 61st Psalm also falls under that distinction.
There is NOT A SPECIFIC SETTING given to the Psalm,
But we are able to discern the mood from the things David writes.
The most insightful phrase comes in verse 2.
“From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint;”
• Some have considered that this Psalm may have been written by David as he had to flee from Absalom.
• (It cannot be during the reign of Saul because David announces himself as king in verse 6)
• And so some have wandered if it was during Absalom’s rebellion since David announces that this Psalm is coming “From the end of the earth”
Perhaps that is true, or it could just be David’s way of saying
That regardless of where he is, is cry always comes to God.
What is clear however is David’s mood.
This song was song “when my heart is faint;”
“faint” translates ATAPH in the Hebrew
5 times it is translated as “overwhelmed”
The root of the word literally means
“to shroud” or “to cover from darkness” or “to hide”
It carries the picture of one whose heart is afraid, and burdened,
And who just wants to crawl into a corner
And hide from his burdens.
Jeremiah used the word 3 times in the second chapter of Lamentations to describe the miserable condition in Jerusalem after it fell.
Lamentations 2:11-12, 19 “My eyes fail because of tears, My spirit is greatly troubled; My heart is poured out on the earth Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, When little ones and infants faint In the streets of the city. They say to their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” As they faint like a wounded man In the streets of the city, As their life is poured out On their mothers’ bosom…”Arise, cry aloud in the night At the beginning of the night watches; Pour out your heart like water Before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him For the life of your little ones Who are faint because of hunger At the head of every street.”
He used the word as he described little ones fainting from hunger.
Jonah used the word to describe his condition as he sank to the bottom of the sea.
Jonah 2:6-7 “I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. “While I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple.”
David here uses that word to describe the condition of his heart.
• He is overwhelmed…
• He just wants to hide…
• His heart could faint away…
It is quite a picture of desperation and despair.
Life has overwhelmed him
And he would just like to escape from the hardship.
Thankfully we don’t live here all the time,
But most everyone in here can probably think of times like this in life.
When the circumstances of life and the hardships of reality
Have defeated your heart and you wish you could just hide from it all.
You wish you could just escape it.
You are overwhelmed and your heart seems to want to quit.
THAT IS THE MOOD OF DAVID HERE.
What is also clear in this Psalm is that DAVID KNOWS WHAT HE NEEDS.
• He needs the nearness of God.
In verses 2-4 David uses 5 different word analogies to describe what it is that he longs for from God.
• (2) “Lead me to the rock”
• (3) “You have been a refuge”
• (3) “A tower of strength”
• (4) “Let me dwell in Your tent”
• (4) “refuge in the shelter of Your wings”
In David’s despair and in his desire to hide from it all,
David calls upon his hiding place.
• David calls upon the One who has never failed to be a refuge for him.
• David calls upon his shelter
• David calls upon his strong tower
That is really the main theme of this song.
The overwhelmed man crying out to the One who can shelter him.
And as I read this Psalm this week, it brought to my mind
A very important reality that I don’t think we have discussed much.
And that is the BENEFIT AND NECESSITY OF ABIDING IN CHRIST.
We have often times spoken of Christ as our refuge in the salvation sense.
• We have discussed many times recently the necessity of being “in Him”
• We understand the doctrines of justification and imputation.
• Namely that by faith, I can be found in Christ.
• That is I can be clothed in His righteous works before God.
And we understand this necessity
Especially as it relates to the coming judgment.
That I not stand before God robed in my filthy rags, but in His righteous works.
And so we might say that we understand the necessity of
Taking refuge in Christ when it comes time that we die.
BUT TONIGHT we need to discuss the necessity of
Taking refuge in Christ while we are alive.
Being in Christ certainly comes with more benefit
Than just escaping the coming judgment.
In reality we take refuge in Him daily.
In the New Testament we don’t run across this word “refuge” or “strong tower” very often.
The New Testament favors a different word.
There we see the word “abide”
So before we work through this 61st Psalm
I want to take you to a passage in the New Testament
That will perhaps help you better understand what David is singing about.
TURN TO: JOHN 15
• Even as you turn, many of you are already aware of the analogy that is coming.
• It is the passage where Jesus reminds us that He is the vine and we are the branches and we must abide in Him.
Hopefully you already understand what Jesus means when He reveals Himself as the “the true vine”.
• It is a reference to the failure of Israel, who never was the vine God intended them to be.
• The basis is found in Isaiah 5 where Israel is compared to a vine that refused to give God the fruit He desired; namely justice and righteousness.
• Here Jesus announces that He is “the true vine” which is to say He is everything God ever intended Israel to be. Where they failed, He succeeded.
He fulfilled the righteousness and justice that God desired from Israel.
And as such salvation itself occurs when we abide in Christ.
That is another way of saying, “when we take refuge in Him”
Or “when we are found in Him”
Just to sort of connect more dots in your mind.
John 6:56 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”
Eating His flesh and drinking His blood was the equivalent of trusting in His sacrifice.
• When the Jews partook of the sacrifice on the altar, it was an act of faith that
the sacrifice removed the wrath of God from them.
• They took ownership of the sacrifice.
• They identified with the sacrifice.
• They trusted in it.
That is what Jesus said.
• When you trust in My sacrifice.
• When you take ownership of it, that it was for you.
• When you identify with it, that is the equivalent of you abiding in Me.
It’s simply the message of the gospel
That we by faith are identified with Christ and found in Him
So that as He was clothed in our sin and suffered for it,
We are clothed in His righteousness and rewarded for it.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
That is what it means to abide in Jesus.
It is to receive and trust all that God has for us in Christ.
He is the true vine that God accepts
BUT THAT IS NOT ALL JESUS TALKS ABOUT.
Jesus also makes those important statements
About the necessity of abiding.
(15:4-5) “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
There Jesus adds a secondary application to this concept of abiding,
And that is the necessity NOT OF JUST COMING TO HIM ONCE,
BUT OF REMAINING IN HIM.
Why?
Because from Him we are continually finding what we need.
We could refer to it as THE SAP
What is it that is flowing from Christ to us?
You see in this text a reference to 3 things.
Jesus speaks of His words, His love, and His joy
• (7) “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you”
• (9) “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My
love”
• (11) “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you”
So when we abide in Christ, you are already seeing that
We receive more than just justification on the Day of Judgment.
• We are also receiving His words (truth)
• We are also receiving His love
• We are also receiving His joy
These are things that flow to us through Him,
They don’t come from any other source.
Other phrases in the Bible that refer to this same reality would be phrases like:
“be filled with the Spirit”
Or
“let the word of Christ richly dwell within you”
Indeed if you think about it, the “fruit of the spirit”
Speak of these same realities.
So when we abide in Christ,
We now have our access to truth, love, and joy.
ON THE FLIP SIDE, if you don’t abide in Him you don’t receive these things and it is impossible then to bear fruit.
(5) “apart from My you can do nothing”
• Nothing of value is possible without abiding in Jesus.
• Nothing of value is possible without taking refuge in Jesus.
And that is why FRUIT is even seen as the TRUEST EVIDENCE that you do abide in Christ.
• If you produce fruit, it is evident that you are abiding in Him since you couldn’t
produce fruit otherwise.
• If you don’t produce fruit it is evident that you are not abiding in Christ,
regardless of whether or not you claim to be.
WE ALSO SEE in this analogy from Jesus that those who do abide in Jesus are also PRUNED.
(2) “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”
That is to say that God cuts the vine, He injures the vine, He brings pain to the vine and the chief purpose is to make it more fruitful.
We might see that as the trials and sufferings God allows
To cause us to drop what is insignificant
And focus solely on Christ who is our source.
Because when you are most focused on Christ, you are the most fruitful and that is when you bring God the most glory.
(8) “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”
Now I show you that passage because I simply want you to be aware
The reality that abiding in Christ
Is not just something we do to prepare for judgment.
Abiding in Christ is what must be done daily in life
If we are to be fruitful and bring glory to God.
And in order to make sure we do this,
God will prune us or injure us in order to drive us to Him.
And when the plant is injured, it takes in more of that healing sap, that sap which is truth, and love, and joy, and then that branch produces even more fruit.
Now, go back to Psalms 61
Where we find David in a state where he HAS BEEN PRUNED.
We find David in a state where he has been injured.
He is overwhelmed, he is faint.
BUT DAVID KNOWS WHAT TO DO.
• He needs to abide in the vine.
• He needs to be found in Him.
• He needs to take refuge in Christ.
So now, perhaps you have a better framework
For what this specific song is about.
In order to study it we just break it down into 2 points.
#1 DAVID’S DESPERATION
Psalms 61:1-4
The Psalm begins with David approaching God.
“Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer.”
It speaks to David’s direction.
• In his affliction…
• In his pain…
• In his sorrow…
He isn’t running from God, he is RUNNING TO GOD.
He knows where to go.
And it doesn’t matter where he is, the response is the same.
(2) “From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint;”
• Deities and religions in that day were very geographical.
• False gods where thought to dwell in regions and so often times when people
were in various places they would cry out to the deities of those regions.
But not David.
It didn’t matter where he was, he knew where to go.
• When his heart was faint.
• When he was overwhelmed.
• When he wanted to hide,
• No false deity would do; there was no substitute, he needed God.
And then we see our first great analogy of Christ.
“Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”
It is a picture of having come to the end of himself.
This poor branch had done all it could do.
He was empty and he was dry.
• He needed a source.
• He needed a fountain.
• He needed a higher rock.
• He needed a vine full of sap.
And it is a great reminder of the sufficiency that we find only in Christ.
Only Christ has what the believer needs for life.
Now that is not to say there aren’t other physical necessities in life.
We understand that our bodies need water or food or air.
We understand that at times we need medicine.
And those things are found from the earth around us.
But when we are talking about things of the soul.
• When we are talking about spiritual things.
• When we are talking about things of the heart.
There is only one place a Christian goes for these things.
They come from our vine.
They come from our high rock,
And if you don’t run to Him
You will soon find yourself to be an empty well and a dry spring.
I still remember many years ago before I was a preacher, I was building furniture in my shop in Stephenville and I had hired one of the youth from our church to work with me.
One day he came in and his attitude was terrible.
Everything was wrong, life was cheating him, it was just negative, negative, negative.
So I asked him, “When is the last time you read your Bible?”
And he said, “I don’t know, it’s been a while.”
I told him, “I can tell, because your whole life is selfish and sour.”
That is true.
Only from Christ comes the truth and love and joy we need.
David knows this.
He is beaten down and overwhelmed,
He needs to ascend the hill to the mountain that is Christ.
And why does David know this?
EXPERIENCE has taught him that God has all that he needs.
(3) “For You have been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the enemy.”
• David recalls that God has always had the solution.
• David recalls that God has always been a faithful refuge.
• Abiding in Him has never been a bad idea in the past, and so it is certainly the necessary decision now.
And that brings us to David’s request.
(4) “Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah”
What a request!
• Can I just be near You?
• Can I just abide in You?
• Can I just rest in You?
• Can I feed off of You?
That is the prayer of the overwhelmed man.
That is the request of the faint-hearted man.
Life has defeated me, I feel like I just need to hide, I am totally overwhelmed, can I please rest in You? Will You lead me back to You? Will You be for me a refuge again?
I don’t have to tell you Christian of the necessity of this in our life.
This is the solution.
When life is overwhelming, it is to Christ that you must run.
• Open His word…
• Let it dwell within You…
• Gaze into His face…
• Cast your burdens on Him…
Want some passages that speak to this?
Philippians 4:6-9 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
1 Peter 5:6-7 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Do you see that all of those verses are saying the same thing?
• Abide in Me
• Be Filled with the Spirit
• Lead me to the rock that is higher than I
• Let the word of Christ dwell within you richly
Those are all saying the same thing.
• When life has overwhelmed you what you need is more of Jesus.
• You need to go rest in Him.
• God has pruned you and injured you that He might drive you nearer to Him.
• Because only then are you fruitful to His glory.
That is where David is.
He knows this.
He is desperate and He longs to rest in Jesus.
Our youth sing a song frequently that I love
It is a bit of an adaptation of an old hymn.
“Lord I come, I confess, bowing here I find my rest. Without You, I fall apart, You’re the One who guides my heart.
Lord I need you, O I need You, every hour I need You. You’re my one defense, my righteousness, O God how I need you.
Where sin runs deep, Your grace is more, where grace is found, is where You are. Where You are, Lord I am free. Holiness is Christ in me.
Lord I need you, O I need you, every hour I need You. You’re my one defense, my righteousness, O God how I need you.”
Well that is what David is saying.
“You’re my one defense, my righteousness, O God how I need you.”
Or the old hymn we sing.
“I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord, No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.
I need thee, oh, I need thee, every hour I need Thee. O Bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee
I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby. Temptations lose their power When Thou art nigh
I need thee, oh, I need thee, every hour I need Thee. O Bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee
I need Thee every hour in joy or pain. Come quickly and abide or life is in vain
I need thee, oh, I need thee, every hour I need Thee. O Bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee.”
But you understand the answer when life overwhelms.
It is an INDICATOR that you need to abide in Jesus.
YOU NEED MORE SAP! Not just for judgment, but for today!
David’s Desperation
#2 DAVID’S CONFIDENCE
Psalms 61:5-8
Here we find WHY DAVID IS SO CERTAIN that running to God is the right answer when he is overwhelmed.
• Here is why David doesn’t run to another god…
• Here is why David doesn’t run to philosophy…
• Here is why David doesn’t run to psychology…
• Here is why David doesn’t run to social media…
David is confident in God and in what God provides.
GOD PROVIDES GRACE
(5) “For You have heard my vows, O God; You have given me the inheritance of those who fear Your name.”
David is here recalling his salvation.
• It is all the beauties of justifying faith and imputed righteousness.
David remembers the vows he made to God.
• Like when we confess Jesus as Lord and pledge our life to Him.
• And upon that faith we also understand imputed righteousness and justification.
David remembers the inheritance God gave him.
• We also receive an inheritance that we did not earn.
• We receive the inheritance of the righteous One; we receive Christ’s inheritance.
There can be no other word for this than grace.
That God would be willing to accept the fickle vow of a sinful man
And in exchange grant him a glorious inheritance.
ONLY GRACE WOULD DO THAT.
And because God did that for David,
David is confident that God is all he needs.
And to that we would ask along with Paul:
Romans 8:31-32 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”
So why would I run to another
When life is empty and dry and overwhelming?
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
Only Jesus has measureless life!
To the woman at the well
John 4:10 “Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
To the crowd at Jerusalem
John 7:37-38 “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'”
It is the reality that this Savior who gives us freely His inheritance
Will also freely give us abundant life.
David knows that and so he is confident to draw near to Him.
GOD PROVIDES HOPE
(6-7) “You will prolong the king’s life; His years will be as many generations. He will abide before God forever; Appoint lovingkindness and truth that they may preserve him.”
• You see there a prolonged life. (“prolong the king’s life)
• You see there a permanent dwelling (“before God forever”)
• You see there preserved faithfulness (“truth that they may preserve him”)
David knows that when he draws near to God he gains all that he needs.
THIS IS HIS HOPE.
We certainly understand that.
Romans 10:11 “For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”
It is our sinful flesh that at times seeks to handle things on our own,
And even when life gets hard,
It is our sinful flesh that MAY HESITATE to run to Christ.
BUT THIS WE ALSO KNOW.
No one ever ran to Christ and was disappointed with what they received.
• His Word
• His Love
• His Joy
• (That sap we talked about)
Is always sufficient and always enough and always delightful.
David knows that.
He is confident of that.
GOD PROVIDES JOY
(8a) “So I will sing praise to Your name forever,”
• The song today is a sad song.
• The song today is a song of desperation.
• The song today is a song from one who is overwhelmed.
BUT HE ALSO KNOWS, if he can just get to his refuge or to the rock that is higher than him, that song will quickly turn to a song of praise.
This is why we read those evidences of one who is filled with the Spirit
Or of one who lets the word of Christ dwell in them richly.
We read:
Ephesians 5:18-20 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;”
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
When you are filled with the Spirit…
When Christ’s word is abiding in You…
When you are drawing near to the vine…
When Christ is your refuge…
The song of praise is your native tongue.
It is not a command, it is a privilege.
The point is that those who draw near to Christ receive Christ’s joy.
John 15:10-11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
David is confident that when he draws near to Christ,
His heart will no longer be overwhelmed,
But rather filled with joy and praise.
GOD PROVIDES ENDURANCE
(8b) “That I may pay my vows day by day.”
• Today he is overwhelmed…
• Today he wants to hide…
• Today he doesn’t know where to find the strength to go on…
• Today it is hard…
But once he enters his refuge
The strength to pay his vows and honor his commitment will return to him
It is the very epitome of what Jesus said:
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
David knows that once he enters his refuge, his strength will return.
This is the song of David and it is a great song to the church
To remind us that we don’t just take refuge in Christ at judgment,
We take refuge in Christ during daily life.
• IN HIM ALONE is truth and love and joy and strength.
• BY HIS SPIRIT ALONE do we find “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”
• THROUGH HIM ALONE is “life and life abundant”
SO THE POINT TONIGHT IS that when you think of being “in Him”
Don’t just think about the judgment,
Think about tonight and tomorrow and every day after.
That is the message for those who are faint of heart.
“I need You, O I need You, every hour I need You. My one defense, my righteousness, O God how I need You.”
