2. Praying, While Feeling Overwhelmed! Psalm 61:2

Text: “From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.”

Psalm 61:2.

Good morning, Christian feeling overwhelmed!   Your faith in Christ is strong, praise God, but the intensity of your daily experiences in life has become so severe, that you too often FEEL you are at the point of being overwhelmed by it all, and ready to halt. 

If this describes in any small manner your experience of life at this point, beloved Reader, read on – for God’s Word has new strength for you and me to claim every time we open the sacred pages of our KJV Bibles.  Hallelujah!  Jesus IS the Word made flesh! 

“In the beginning was the Word (capital W!), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word was made flesh (Jesus Christ), and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”  (John 1:1; 14)

“For the Word of God is quick (living) and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”  (Hebrews 4:12-13)

Many this very day (September 15th, 2022) – professing Christian and non-believers alike – find themselves ‘overwhelmed’ by the horror of a global pandemic virus that is suddenly sweeping across the nations of our world; causing death, gross illness; and utter fear.

 I believe that Corona Virus, if it has not been unleashed by the hand of an angry Lord God Himself – because of the increased rejection of Eternal Salvation offered by Him, through His Son, Jesus Christ - it has been Divinely permitted by Him, as an international chastisement of apostate and unbelieving mankind. 

“They (the unbelieving nations) forgot God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt (the ten terrible plagues); wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea.  Therefore, He said He would destroy them...”  (Psalm 106:21-23) 

Our righteous and Holy Lord God is long-suffering but is never ever to be mocked or ignored!

Suddenly today, human government; human reasoning; human science so-called; and all the skills of highly paid doctors and consultants are totally overwhelmed, and unable to quell the raging spread of this deadly plague.  Medical science is totally ‘overwhelmed’!

Hospitals and Health Centres, Care Homes and Clinics are being ‘overwhelmed’ by the onset of the Corona Virus pandemic.  Throughout the disobedient nations of the world, the death toll rises, and the liberties of populations are being curtailed, and taken away.  Already, humanistic Governments are calling for the isolation – self-isolation, or enforced quarantine – to be introduced, in a puny effort to stop the spread of this fatal plague.

What, therefore, should we, as born again, Spiritually regenerated, Bible-believing Christians DO in the midst of such an ‘overwhelming’ global situation?  God’s Word contained in our God-inspired Bibles offers us the only answer to such deep questions.

Verse 2. “From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee. No spot is too dreary, no condition too deplorable; whether it be the world’s end or life’s end, prayer is equally available.  To pray in some circumstances needs resolve, and the Psalmist here expresses it, I will cry.  It was a wise resolution, for had he ceased to pray he would have become the victim of despair; there is an end to a man when he makes an end to prayer.

Verse 2.  “When my heart is overwhelmed. It is hard to pray when the very heart is drowning, yet gracious men plead best at such times.  Tribulation brings us to God and brings God to us.  Faith’s greatest triumphs are achieved in her heaviest trials.  It is all over with me, affliction is all over me; it encompasses me as a cloud, it swallows me up like a sea, it shuts me in with thick darkness, yet God is near, near enough to hear my voice, and I will call Him.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 268)

What, therefore, does all the above mean at this time of global pandemic plague and spread of death and chaos?  What does it mean for the genuine child of God, the Spiritually regenerate, Bible-believing Christian servant of the Lord Jesus Christ?

It means that, in the face of such a deadly plague, you and I must be quick to get more serious about our state in the eyes of the Living Lord God; we must be quick to get to the place of prayer; we must be more urgent about witnessing and telling, not only our own family circles; but all who have ears to hear, that Christ returns real soon, and we must be good and ready for Him.  Otherwise, it will be all Eternally TOO LATE!

“If My people (genuine Christians), which are called my My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and forgive their sins, and will heal their land.  Now Mine eyes shall be open, and Mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.”  (2 Chronicles 7:14-15)

“Neither is there Salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12)

Fear is currently sent from Satan and permitted by the Lord God to test ‘His people’, at this time of unprecedented global plague, sickness, and death.  God’s people must not be afraid.

“When the action of the heart is paralyzed, even temporally, it will tell upon all the members, a chill there sends its cold vibration through every limb; Satan knows this well, and so all his dealing are heart dealings, efforts to paralyze the very spring of life itself.”  (Phillip Bennett Power 1862)

Verse 2. “Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.  There is a mint of meaning in this brief prayer.  Our experience leads us to understand this verse right well, for the time was with us when we were in such amazement of soul by reason of sin that although we knew the Lord Jesus to be a sure Salvation for sinners, yet we could not come at Him by reason of our many doubts and forebodings.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 268)

Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living Lord God, is the only Rock of our Eternal Salvation.  There is forgiveness of sins, and Eternal pardon found in no other.

“Unto Thee will I cry, O Lord my Rock; be not silent to me: lest I become like them that go down into the pit...Draw me not away with the wicked...”  (Psalm 28:1-3)

Thought: May the Lord God cover ‘His people’ with His protective hand.  Amen. “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”  Psalm 91:10. Amen.  Fearing the Lord, true Christians have nothing to fear.