Psalm Chapter 61 - To the chief Musician upon Neginah, A Psalm of David

Psalm 61: The Rock That Is Higher Than I

There is a particular kind of prayer that begins not in the temple but at the edge of the map. "From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed." David has run out of geography. He has run out of strategies. And the petition that follows is one of the strangest and truest in all the Psalter: "lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Notice he does not ask for a different rock, or a stronger rock, or a more comfortable rock. He asks for higher ground than his own — ground he could not climb to alone. It is the prayer of a man who has finally understood that what he needs is not improvement but elevation. And then, with the candor of someone who has been answered before, he names what God has been all along: shelter, strong tower, the covert of wings. The end of the earth, it turns out, is not the end of God.

00:00 Hear My Cry, O God
00:15 From the End of the Earth
00:30 The Rock That Is Higher
00:45 The Covert of Thy Wings
01:00 The Heritage of Those That Fear
01:15 So Will I Sing Forever