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A Living Complaint

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A Living Complaint

9 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

David says in Psalm 61:2, “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.” These are precious words inspired by the Spirit of the Lord. They flow out of the heart of one who sees nothing but darkness, one who can no longer understand the pathway upon which he must now walk.

David is fleeing away from Jerusalem. The sword of his own son, Absalom, has driven him away from his throne and city. But more than this, each step takes him further away from God’s temple, the place where he has so often experienced His blessed communion, away from the place where the promise of the Lord has filled his life.

He crosses the Jordan River, and there, far away from what was formerly his life, he cries out, “From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee.” When the child of the Lord may be there, this is a blessed place. He cannot help himself. All that he has formerly possessed seems so far away. There he may cry unto a God who is now a stranger for his soul.

By nature we do not know this cry. There may be many questions in our life, but we do not know that living complaint. Because of our deep fall in Adam, we are all exiled from that which we formerly possessed. A separation has come between God and the soul. How terrible it is when our eyes have been blinded for this. In this state, we have many complaints, but we are strangers of a living complaint. That is a complaint which is given by and may return unto the Giver. What a wonder of God’s grace when for the first time, He makes one an exile. This is one who has no home anywhere and is driven unto the ends of the earth. This one is at a place where there is no friend or guardian who stands by. Do you know of such a place? For the natural man this place holds nothing attractive. But in the life of God’s people, these places become very blessed places. God’s people miss that which they cannot miss anymore.

David crossed the Jordan River and entered into a land where he felt himself an exile. Those people cross rivers which they did not know existed, and then there is no friend or help near at hand. They are at the end of the earth. It is a place where all human strength has come to an end. Then it becomes my guilt that I am so far away from the Lord. David says, “When my heart is overwhelmed.” There his heart smote him. He thought of Bathsheba, of Uriah, and he saw all that his life had been — nothing but sin and shortcomings from his side. He became the guilty one. The Lord was righteous in all His doings.

On the other side of the river the enemy was coming. And the enemy might do and say what he wished, because the Lord had sent him. You can see him coming. Shimei, of the family of Saul, is coming to curse him. He may shout, “Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial” (2 Samuel 16:7b).

Oh, David may feel this so strongly. His heart is overwhelmed. The Lord has come as a righteous God, holy and just. David cannot stand in the presence of this God. His faithful servant, Abishai, cannot endure all this anymore. He says, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord, the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head.” But no, this servant of the Lord may see this as from God’s hand, and says, “Let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him.” What a wonderful place for God’s child. He may bow before the Lord, may see his unworthiness and God’s righteousness. No, there the church does not sink away in eternal despair. But there, by grace, they may reach out unto that only lifeline which is left.


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.


Peter knew this when sinking through the waves, and he cried, “Lord, save me” (Matthew 14:30b). This is the cry of the church at the end of the earth with a heart which is overwhelmed. “Lord, save me.” All human help has become vain.

For God’s church this is always a way against flesh and blood. We are enemies of such a way, because in this way I lose what I cannot miss to maintain myself. But what a wonder it is that the Lord knows what is good for His people. He deems it necessary that they are led in ways of strife and difficulty. This is so that the church with a heart which is overwhelmed may bow before Him and may pour out their entire heart at His footstool. And those who may know something of this, may know that even when the trials are there, even when they are at the end of the earth with a heart that is overwhelmed, matters have become different. Blessed are they who may learn to come to His footstool in this way. For there they may learn another prayer, another supplication. With all that they have experienced, they have no seal upon God’s work in their life. They know of a beginning and are not strangers of a wilderness journey. But with all this, they still miss the surety for their never-dying soul.

This may be seen in the life of David. He could not be satisfied with the end of the earth, neither with a heart which by the grace of God could cry unto the Lord. No, the church of the Lord cannot be satisfied with that. Not that there are not times when there may be a fullness in what the Lord has given, times when they may rejoice and believe, or times when their cup is overflowing. And whether it is then a thimble or a bucket, when it is full, nothing needs to be added. But the Lord says, “Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up” (Jeremiah 45:4). This is done so that His people may be driven to the place upon which they may rest.

David says, “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Oh, he knows there is a place where of himself he cannot come. Therefore he cries unto heaven that the Lord may lead him. Lord, help me; give me faith to look away from myself and see that rock as the only resting place. Give me a need in my heart for the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. Give me eyes to see Him who was pierced because of my sins. Give me the end of the earth and a heart that is overwhelmed, so that I cannot find life in anything outside of this rock. When outside of this rock, give me a continual hunger and thirst.

How very true this is: God’s people will one day eat without ever being hungry and will drink without ever being thirsty. In heaven those people will never hunger or thirst again. But here below, they will always hunger before they eat and always thirst before they drink. Here below the Lord leads from darkness into light and from light into darkness. His people must come to the rock that is higher than I. Therefore the ways of strife are ways which often cannot be understood nor desired. The Lord leads His people in such ways so that all ground outside of this rock may fall away. Yes, outside of this rock I must perish. There you may cry, “Lord, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

Today there is so much resting outside of this rock. May the Lord teach you to bow your knees. It is a place where we may confess our great guilt and deep need. One thing is certain; when the Lord places His people on that rock, then alone will it be well with them. That rock never trembles. From the stillness of eternity, that rock was given as the only resting place for a poor and needy people. It was given not because of their poverty and need, but because a holy God was moved from within Himself. Therefore in the fullness of time this rock has opened a way which we have closed.

Have you learned that the way is closed, and that of yourself you can never open this way? This is where the Lord will begin. There His people begin to learn that the way of God with His children is often a difficult way. But through it all, they may learn of a living complaint, “Lord, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

Do you know that rock? That rock is the only hiding place. There is no safer place. That is a place bought with the price of blood. And even when your sins rise higher than the mountains, do you know that this rock is still higher? This rock has satisfied the justice of God. May there be the living complaint in your heart, “Lord, take me by heart and by hand and lead me upon ways that are only good.”


Rev. J. den Hoed serves the congregation of Rock Valley, Iowa.


The Rock Christ

When Israel’s tribes were parched with thirst,
Forth from the rock the waters burst,
And all their future journey through
Yielded them drink, and gospel too!

In Moses’ rod a type they saw
Of His severe and fiery law;
The smitten rock prefigured Him
From whose pierced side all blessings stream.

But, ah, the types were all too faint
His sorrows or His worth to paint;
Slight was the stroke of Moses’ rod,
But He endured the wrath of God.

Their outward rock could feel no pain,
But our’s was wounded, torn, and slain;
The rock gave but a watery flood,
But Jesus poured forth streams of blood.

— J.N.

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van vrijdag 1 april 1994

The Banner of Truth | 24 Pagina's

A Living Complaint

Bekijk de hele uitgave van vrijdag 1 april 1994

The Banner of Truth | 24 Pagina's