Psalms 61:1-8
1 Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.
2 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.
3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trusta in the covert of thy wings. Selah.
5 For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.
6 Thou wilt prolong the king's life: and his years as many generations.
7 He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.
8 So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.
In this song there is the same undertone of confidence as in the preceding one. Here, however, it is rather the voice of one man than that of the people. The reference to the king, in verse Psalms 61:6, although in the third person, makes it likely that it was written by David under the stress of trial, most probably at some period of exile from his city.
His longing is for restoration to God rather than to circumstances. All through there seems to breathe a sense of perfect confidence in God, together with a consciousness of present need, and a longing desire for a return to past experience. There is no uncertainty in his mind concerning God's help of him in days that are gone. The very height of the psalm as a prayer is reached when he cries: "O prepare lovingkindness and truth, that they may preserve him." There has been some difficulty as to the word "prepare." Perhaps it ought not to be there. In that case we have an affirmation rather than a petition, which may read: "Lovingkindness and truth shall continually guard him." The one impression from reading the psalm is that of the singer's sense that in the midst of trouble his hope is still in God.