Evening, September 22
Go To Morning Reading
“When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than
I.”
Psalm 61:2
Most of us know what it is to be overwhelmed in heart; emptied as
when a man wipeth a dish and turneth it upside down; submerged and
thrown on our beam ends like a vessel mastered by the storm. Discoveries
of inward corruption will do this, if the Lord permits the great deep
of our depravity to become troubled and cast up mire and dirt. Disappointments
and heart-breaks will do this when billow after billow rolls over
us, and we are like a broken shell hurled to and fro by the surf.
Blessed be God, at such seasons we are not without an all-sufficient
solace, our God is the harbour of weather-beaten sails, the hospice
of forlorn pilgrims. Higher than we are is he, his mercy higher than
our sins, his love higher than our thoughts. It is pitiful to see
men putting their trust in something lower than themselves; but our
confidence is fixed upon an exceeding high and glorious Lord. A Rock
he is since he changes not, and a high Rock, because the tempests
which overwhelm us roll far beneath at his feet; he is not disturbed
by them, but rules them at his will. If we get under the shelter of
this lofty Rock we may defy the hurricane; all is calm under the lee
of that towering cliff. Alas! such is the confusion in which the troubled
mind is often cast, that we need piloting to this divine shelter.
Hence the prayer of the text. O Lord, our God, by thy Holy Spirit,
teach us the way of faith, lead us into thy rest. The wind blows us
out to sea, the helm answers not to our puny hand; thou, thou alone
canst steer us over the bar between yon sunken rocks, safe into the
fair haven. How dependent we are upon thee—we need thee to bring us to thee. To be wisely directed and steered
into safety and peace is thy gift, and thine alone. This night be
pleased to deal well with thy servants.