MY SHELTER AND STRONG TOWER

“For You have been MY SHELTER, and a STRONG TOWER from the enemy” – Psalm 61:3

GOD is MY SHELTER and STRONG TOWER: “For You have been MY SHELTER, and a STRONG TOWER from the enemy” (Psa.61:3). In this Psalm of Protection, David began with a plea for God to hear and attend to him: “Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer” (v.1). He seemed to feel far from God: “From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed…” (v.2a). His was the cry of a heart that felt exhausted, feeble, faint, weary, weak, and almost giving up! God seemed far away, but David refused to trust his feelings and continued to cry out to God. He remembered the Rock!

David expressed his reliance on the Rock: “lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (v.2b). This is the portrait of a person seeking refuge from his enemy by hiding in the towering rocks of a mountain. He had found a place of concealment but realised the susceptibility of his position. So he pleaded to be led to a rocky shelter that was yet higher up and more difficult to attack than his current position. We sometimes think that hiding is a defeatist attitude, but God’s wisdom can instruct His people to hide for a while: “Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past” (Isa.26:20).

David was not a stranger to rocks. The caves of the rocks were places where he and his men had sought safety while being hunted by King Saul and his armies (1Sam.23:25). The word for “rock” means: “massive rock,” boulders or formations of stone. But the Rock here refers to God Himself. He is often described as such in the Bible: “No one is holy like the LORD, for there is none besides You; nor is there any ROCK like our GOD” (1Sam.2:2). David called Him “The Rock of Israel” (2Sam.23:3). Moses scolded Israel: “Of the ROCK who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you” (Dt.32:18). David knew the Rock; reconnected with the Rock, and desired to rest on the Rock.

The next images are military in nature: “For You have been a SHELTER for me, a STRONG TOWER from the enemy” (v.3). Here, David testified of what the Rock had been to him in times past. He was now ready to run to the Rock in the day of trouble! He held nothing back, but was completely open before God. He expressed his reliance on God as his Rock of Refuge – His SHELTER and STRONG TOWER – into whom he was willing to flee for protection from the enemy. The “strong tower” is a tall building on the city wall or in a walled city that could be defended against all foes, due to its height and formidable strength of construction. Proverbs 18:10 says: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” David had a place of refuge to escape tumultuous storms and vicissitudes of life.

Subsequent images in the psalm are gentler and more intimate, but with clear WILLINGNESS on David’s part: “I WILL ABIDE in Your tabernacle forever; I WILL TRUST in the shelter of Your wings” (v.4). The “tabernacle” or “tent” refers to God’s dwelling place. David was willing to “dwell in the house of the Lord” – in closeness and intimacy (Psa. 15:1; 23:6; 27:4). “The shelter of Your wings” depicts a mother bird sheltering her young with her wings (Psa.17:8; 57:1; 63:7).

In the light of the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ is our eternal Rock: “…for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST” (1Cor.10:4). He is like our sheltering mother bird (Mt.23:37). In Him, we find refuge when all hell is breaking loose. He is our sure bastion against all foes. Beloved, do you know the Rock? Are you related to and abiding in the Rock? Have you run into Him as Your Shelter and Strong Tower?