A Living Complaint

Rev. J. den Hoed, Franklin Lakes, NJ

In Psalm 61:2, David says, “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.

These words were spoken by David while he was fleeing from Jerusalem; the sword of his own son Absalom has driven him away from his home and city. An even greater burden is that each step carries him farther and farther 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.

As he crosses the Jordan River, far from his former life, he cries out, “From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee.” When a child of the Lord may be there, this is a blessed place. He cannot help himself. All that he formerly possessed seems so far away. There he may cry out unto 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 our 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 no longer has a home anywhere and is driven out unto the ends of the earth. Such a 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 no attraction, but in the life of God’s people these places become very blessed ones. There God’s people come to miss that which they cannot miss anymore.

When David crossed the Jordan River, he entered into a land where he felt himself an exile. Such people cross rivers which they do not know exist, and then there is no friend or helper 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 toward him. That enemy might do and say whatsoever he wished because the Lord had sent him. You can see him coming; Shimei of the family of Saul was coming to curse him. He shouted, “Come out, come out, thou bloody man of Belial” (2 Samuel 16:7b).

Oh, how deeply this penetrates into David’s soul. 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” (2 Samuel 16:9). But no, that servant of the Lord may see this as coming from God’s hand and says, “Let him curse, for the Lord has bidden him.” What a wonderful place for God’s child. He may bow before the Lord and 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 to the only lifeline that is left.

Peter knew this when he was 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 is then vain.

For God’s Church this is always a way against flesh and blood. We are enemies of it because it is a way in which I lose what I cannot miss to maintain myself. 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 pour out their entire heart at His footstool. Those who learn something of this know that even when trials are present, even when they are at the end of the earth with a heart that is overwhelmed, matters have become different. Blessed are they who come to His footstool in this way, for there they may learn another prayer, another supplication. With all they have experienced, they do not have a 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 can be seen in the life of David. He could not be satisfied with the end of the earth nor 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. It is not that they miss times when there may be fullness in what the Lord has given, times when they may rejoice and believe, or times when their cup is overflowing. Then, whether it is a thimble or a bucket, when it is full, nothing needs to be added. 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 that there is a place where he himself 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 be hungry or thirsty again, but here below they will always hunger before they eat and always thirst before they drink. Here below the Lord leads them from darkness to 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 or desired. The Lord leads His people in such ways so that all ground outside of the Rock may fall away. Yes, outside of this Rock I must perish. There I may cry, “Lord, lead me to the Rock which 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 upon that Rock, then alone it will be well with them. That Rock never trembles. From the stillness of eternity, it 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 within Himself; therefore, in the fullness of time this Rock opened a way which we had closed.

Have you learned that the way is closed and that in and of yourself you can never open this way? This is where the Lord will begin. Here, 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 Way that is higher than I.”

Do you know this Rock? He is the only hiding place; there is none safer. It is a place bought with the price of blood. 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 a living complaint in your heart: “Lord, take me by heart and hand and lead me upon ways that are only good.”

Say not, “Oh, but my sins are greater than can be forgiven. The difficulties of my salvation are too great to be overcome, especially by a poor creature as I am, that am able to do nothing, no, not to raise one penny towards the discharge of that great debt I owe to God.” For here thou wilt find upon thy union with Christ that there is enough in His blood, and mercy enough in His bowels, to justify and save such a one as thou art. Yea, and I will add for thy encouragement, with God to justify and save thee that canst not pay Him one penny of all the vast sum thou owest Him, when, by the same rule of justice, He condemns the most strict, self-righteous Pharisee that thinks thereby to quit scores with Him. It is righteous for a judge to cast him that has paid ninety-nine pounds of the hundred which he owed because the payment was not full, and to acquit him whose surety has paid all though himself did not, and freely confesses that he cannot pay one farthing of the whole debt.

— Rev. John Flavel

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