A Word in Season: When Overwhelmed (Psalms 61:1-2)

My name is Jeremy Walker and I'm the pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church in Crawley in West Sussex in England. It may be that over the course of the last few days you have felt somewhat overwhelmed or overcome.

I'm not sure what might have prompted that in your case, maybe it's just you feel that the general situation is more than you can manage, perhaps it's the pressure of having your children at home or the pressure of being at home with your parents, perhaps the fact that you have been unwell or your fear you're getting unwell or you know someone who is unwell, the first case of this COVID -19 in someone that you know and love, the sense that it's coming closer, the fact that death may now be nearer than you'd ever imagined, it might be that yesterday was very strange, if you're a Christian you couldn't go to church, you felt like you were out of the loop and this week and some of what lies ahead may seem to be looming before you and you're not quite sure where to start or where to begin.

David’s Cry for Help in Psalm 61

Well listen to what David wrote in Psalm 61, he said, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. We don't know precisely under what circumstances David wrote those words but we do know that he felt alone and apart, the very ends of the earth and his heart was overwhelmed within him, he felt as if he was about to go under and that may be how you feel this morning but his response was one of trust in God, lead me to the rock which is higher than I am.

You'll notice in this he's entirely dependent upon God that the Lord would save him and bring him to a place of safety and that place of safety is a high rock, a place in which he can be safe from all the billows that are going over his soul, he's asking that God would raise him to a place of peace and serenity and safety that there his soul would be able to rest in peace.

Faith and Prayer Under Divine Protection

The old bible commentator Matthew Henry said of this verse, we should therefore by faith and prayer put ourselves under the divine management that we may be taken under the divine protection. You may still feel overwhelmed as you listen to these things and you may feel overwhelmed in days to come, what then should our response be as we have to face challenges perhaps we've never faced before, things that burden our souls, we need to ask God to lead us to the rock that is higher than we are when our soul is overwhelmed within us.

For you perhaps it will be the first time you've ever done that, you've run out of other options, you don't know where else or to whom else you can go, well I assure you of this that you can go to the Lord Jesus Christ, you can go to the God of heaven and earth, you can trust in him, you can call upon him and he will save you and he will keep you.

Crying Again to the God of Salvation

Perhaps you're a Christian and this will be the nth time that you've done this and yet here you are again, here are new challenges and once more you're feeling that your soul is overwhelmed, well now then is the time to cry to the God of your salvation, lead me again to the rock that is higher than I.

My friends we are very weak, we are very frail and we are easily fearful but God is mighty, God is merciful, he is good to all who call upon him, so do that in these and coming days and every time you feel like you're about to be swallowed up by fears and troubles, cry out to the Lord and he will lead you to the rock that is higher than I.