Bible Commentaries
Psalms 61

Verses 1-8

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.