Seeing Jesus in Psalm 61

 Psalm 61

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by stringed instruments.

1 O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer!

2 From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help

when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety,

3 for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.

4 Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings!

Interlude

5 For you have heard my vows, O God. You have given me an inheritance reserved for those who fear your name.

6 Add many years to the life of the king! May his years span the generations!

7 May he reign under God’s protection forever. May your unfailing love and faithfulness watch over him.

8 Then I will sing praises to your name forever as I fulfill my vows each day. (NLT)

Reading Psalm 61 made me immediately think about Jesus saying something similar. I did a little search to see how often David (or the psalmist) said “hear me, hear my prayer, listen to my cry” and so on. It wasn’t a simple search but it is a regular refrain often repeated in the Psalms.

("Hear my prayer" OR "hear my cry" OR "Listen to my prayer" OR "Hear me" OR "listen to me" OR "Answer me" OR "Listen to my cry" OR "I cry to you"

occurs 46 times in 39 verses in your custom selection ' in 'Psa'' in the NLT.)

41 So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. 42 You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” John 11

To be heard. Everyone needs to be heard. Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

MAIN POINT: What we say to God matters because He is listening.

For you have heard my vows, O God. Psalm 61 v.5

Then I will sing praises to your name forever as I fulfill my vows each day. Psalm 61 v.8

Nothing gets past God. He hears what you say. 

1. God hears your prayers

1. But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.Psalm 18:6

2. The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD will answer my prayer. Psalm 6:9

3. I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4

4. But I will call on God, and the LORD will rescue me. Morning, noon, and night I cry out in my distress, and the LORD hears my voice. Psalm 55:16-17

5. (Luke 1:13, 2 Kings 20:5, Deut. 26:7)

6. What I find fascinating is that in the John 11 passage when Jesus is about ready to pray that God the Father would raise Lazarus from the dead, Jesus wants people to know that God listens, hears prayer, and answers prayer. There is so much to say from the Bible and especially from the teaching and example of Jesus on the subject of prayer. But fundamentally Jesus wants us to know that His Father God is listening to our prayers.

2. God hears your promises to him

1. “Foxhole prayers” is the term given to prayers offered by soldiers in World War 1 in the trenches. People pray when they are in a tight spot. And people seem inherently to want to wager, plead and make deals with God. If you save me, I’ll…. How many students have prayed such a prayer right before a test; “Lord if you help me pass this test, I’ll….” The Bible is clear: God listens to our promises to Him and He takes them seriously.

2. Numbers 30 describes how God holds people to their vows to God, but if a young woman makes a vow and her father thinks it is an unwise vow, God then would not hold the girl to the vow.

3. In Psalm 15:4 we earlier saw that a mark of a blameless person was that they keep their word even if it hurt them. “Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the LORD, and keep their promises even when it hurts.”

4. Jesus himself shows us the struggle to yield and follow through with the  promise and plans we have made and that God requires of us when he prays in the garden, “Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Luke 22:42

3. God hears your songs (attitudes, emotions, thankfulness…)

1. Then I will sing praises to your name forever as I fulfill my vows each day. Psalm 61:8 NLT

2. Attitude counts for a lot. In the Bible it is clear God wants not just obedience but willing, cheerful, praise-giving obedience. Begrudging obedience is not God's desire. But there will be a process of coming to terms with our sacrifice. Jesus, Paul, David and many others in the Bible show us that there may be steps in getting to a place of praise. But that is the goal. To be willing and cheerful as we keep our promises to obey God. 

3. God isn’t just listening to our words, and God isn’t just listening to our arrangements pleas and prdo what you nsaidomises, But God is in this relationship long term (forever), and He is teaching us to have the attitude and heart that accompanies the relationship. Not just to give, but to give cheerfully, not just to sing but to sing from the heart, not just to mouth the words of thanksgiving but to accompany those words with understanding, belief, attitudes and actions that show we mean it.

Conclusion:

What we say to God matters and how we say it. Jesus showed us this very point throughout His life, and David belabours this in many of the Psalms. God hears the totality of who we are and He is working on making us a new creation that is full of praise. So he is listening to what you say, how you say it and what you have said you would do.

Handwritten Psalm 61