Psalms 61:1-2
Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
from the end of the earth I call to thee,
when my heart is faint.
Lead thou me to the rock that is higher than I.
These days, when somebody is troubled spiritually, the knee-jerk counsel offered by “spiritual” types in movies, books and TV is that “if you need something to believe in, believe in yourself.” G. K. Chesterton writes of this “Doctrine of the Inner Light”: “Of all conceivable forms of enlightenment the worst is what these people call the Inner Light. Of all horrible religions the most horrible is the worship of the god within… That Jones shall worship the god within him turns out ultimately to mean that Jones shall worship Jones. Let Jones worship the sun or moon, anything rather than the Inner Light; let Jones worship cats or crocodiles, if he can find any in his street, but not the god within. Christianity came into the world firstly in order to assert with violence that a man had not only to look inwards, but to look outwards, to behold with astonishment and enthusiasm a divine company and a divine captain. The only fun of being a Christian was that a man was not left alone with the Inner Light, but definitely recognized an outer light, fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as an army with banners.” Today’s verse recognizes just that reality as the psalmist very sensibly asks to be led, not to himself, but to the rock that is higher than he. Drowning people know that is the safest place to be. Today, seek the Rock that is higher than you.
