While we have been on a journey through the Ten Commandments since January, our companion for the last five weeks of this series has been Lord, Hear My Voice, a new setting of Psalm 61. This Davidic psalm was possibly written while the king was fleeing from his son Absalom’s rebellion (see 2 Samuel 15-19). Like the Israelites wandering in the Sinai desert, David felt lost in the wilderness (he calls “from earth’s remotest bound,” Psalm 61:2) and was acutely aware of his own inadequacy. Just as the Israelites needed a mediator to even speak to God (Exodus 20:19), David recognizes his need for something greater than himself to rectify his situation, a “rock higher than I” (Psalm 61:2-3). Aren’t we in the same position? When faced with the totality of God’s Law, we know that we fall woefully short. We break every commandment daily. So let’s make David’s prayer our own. We cry for the Lord to “lead us to the rock”— the rock of Christ Jesus. Jesus is the tower of our defense. Because of Christ, we can know with confidence that the Lord hears us (Psalm 61:5), and we can end our journey through the law by offering daily praises to His name (Psalm 61:8).
—Henry C. Haffner
