The Rock That Is Higher than I
Zion's Advocate, Vol. 39, No. 9, September 1900.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. Ps. li. 2.
The extremity described by David, and the overwhelming state of the heart referred to by him, first claim our attention. One may be far from human help. In the midst of a multitude he may be desolate and disconsolate. His trouble he cannot explain to his nearest earthly friend, and if he could it would avail him nothing, for no human words can alleviate his sorrow, no human hand can raise his drooping spirit. The convicted sinner tries his own strength. His failure only plunges him into the mire of distress. He is thus brought to the end of his own strength, which is the end of the earth to him.
"From the end of the earth when my heart is overwhelmed." What depth of sorrow is here described! Imagine a ship in a storm, and it will assist the mind to conceive of the deep distress depicted by this language. Now lifted high on the rolling wave, now dropped low in the gaping deep, tottering, leaping, plunging, it is finally submerged by the foaming, raging, roaring sea. So the heart, stained by sin and terrorized by the thunderings of Sinai, is plunged into the gulf of overwhelming distress. David, at the time he wrote this Psalm, was fleeing from his rebellious son, Absalom. He had been driven from his home and the courts of his God by one who should have been a support and comfort to him. He was completely overwhelmed with complicated distresses, and had thus reached the very end of the earth. Thus the christian is sometimes driven away from his resting place, and wafted far from the rock of support upon his frail bark of self-confidence. The latter not being sufficient to withstand the storm sinks from him, and he himself is at once submerged. It was thus that Peter, while walking on the water, began to sink. Dear reader, have you ever been in deep distress, and have you felt that all your hope was gone? Have the inundations of trouble rolled over your distressed and affrighted soul till your strength was gone and you gave up in despair? Take this not as an evidence that you are deceived. Other children of God have been brought to the same extremity. David said, "My heart is sore pained within me; and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. And I said, Oh, that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest," Psalm lv. 4-6.
"From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed." God is everywhere. When John was banished to Patmos he was still in the presence of his God. The walls of Bedford jail could not keep out the One in whom John Bunyan trusted. Earthly banishment or imprisonment may trouble the christian, but as he is a stranger wherever he dwells, it is, after all, no actual banishment to him, especially as his God is in one place the same as another. "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." Ps. cxxxix. 7-10. So let the child of God be where he may, he can cry unto his Maker. To whom else could he cry? But will he be heard? Most assuredly, for David says, "in the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me." Psalm lxxxvi. 7.
The Rock of Ages towers far above the surging, foaming, threatening waves. Let us measure its height as far as our finite capacity can reach, that we may draw comfort from the contemplation of the support and shelter it affords. Are you a great sinner? Do your sins rise up in clouds of guilt that seem to reach the skies? But this rock is higher still. See how it lifted its spotless head above the crimes of the dying thief as his could was placed upon it far beyond the reach of the reigning power of sin! Here, oh! here let the guilty stand, and all sin flows down, and spotless innocency takes its place!
Dear, dying Lamb, thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransomed church of God,
Be saved to sin no more.
Are your troubles heaped like mountains upon you? If they were multiplied a million times they would not transcend the matchless height of this stupendous Rock! Here, here is a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest. In this Rock is found more than the most hopeful can hope for, more than the most credulous and trustful can believe, more than the most eloquent can describe. The utmost stretch of the strongest imagination cannot reach its height. If the wisdom, and greatness, and power of all men were combined in one man, that one man would still be compelled to say, "This rock is higher than I."
"Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." If we could reach it ourselves there would be no need of being led to it, but we cannot. The fog is too thick for us to see it, and the waves serve only to waft us from it. We cannot get to it! We cannot get to it! In vain do we take the hand of a fellow mortal. It would only be the blind leading the blind. Jesus said, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." All who claim to be saving sinners by bringing them to Christ are wicked impostors, for God alone can "bring the blind by a way they knew not." Unto him, then, will we cry, when overwhelming waves of trouble roll, and thundering clouds of guilt threaten us, unto him will we cry: lead us to the Rock, the highest and purest and most durable of all Rocks.
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.
In this Rock is found not only shelter and protection, but a sure foundation and plentiful supplies. It has forever stood, and will forever stand. All who are supported by it are as secure as the Rock itself.
On the Rock of Ages founded,
What can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation's walls surrounded,
Thou mayst smile at all thy foes.
This blessed Rock is the fountain from which flow perpetual streams of living water. "For they drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them: and that Rock was Christ." Oh! christian, why should you despair while you have such a shelter and fountain as this? Jesus cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." Is not this enough? This is for you if you are thirsting for righteousness and communion with him. What more could he say? What more could you ask?
See! the streams of living waters,
Springing from eternal love,
Will supply thy sons and daughters,
And all fear of want remove.
O Lord, increase our faith. Give us eyes to look to him who was pierced. Cause our hearts to thirst for draughts from that spiritual Rock.
In seasons of grief to my God I'll repair,
When my heart is o'erwhelmed with sorrow and care;
From the ends of the earth, unto thee will I cry,
Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.
And when I have ended my pilgrimage here,
Clad in Jesus' pure righteousness let me appear,
In the swellings of Jordan, on thee I'll rely,
And look to the Rock that is higher than I.
J. R. D.
Copyright c. 2003. All rights reserved. The Primitive Baptist Library.
