The circumstances for this short psalm are not given though some scholars link it to Psalms 42 and 43 (one psalm split in two). Others point out that since a king’s long life is asked in verse 6 it may refer to David’s emotional and mental state when his son Absalom attempted to gain the throne through David’s murder (2 Samuel 17:21-29). Later Jewish interpretations applied this psalm, especially considering verses 2 and 6 to the Messiah, and many in the church point out that this psalm is fulfilled in Jesus, David’s great Son.
David, the author states that with a faint heart, he is crying out to God from “the ends of the earth”. He may be at a cliff edge on the heights of Mount Hermon (Mount Mizar) as mentioned in Psalm 42:6. Poetically David envisions himself at the edge of Hades, the existence of the dead in the depths of the earth (63:9). His heart is so faint that it will stop beating. The heart in the Bible is the center of the human spirit, from which spring emotions, thoughts, motivations, courage, and action. The wellspring of life (4:7, 23). David is at the end of his life trek.
David asks God to miraculously take him higher, to a high rock. God is most commonly referred to as a rock of refuge in the Psalms (2 Samuel 22:3; Psalm 18:2, 31:2; 71:3). For David, heaven is like the tent of meeting that he put The Ark of the Covenant in. David wants to be taken to God’s lodging, where he can be forever. That would happen later because David had faith in the Lord Jesus.
When I am driven either physically or metaphorically to the ends of the earth I need to turn to Jesus who is my rock of salvation and hope of deliverance. One day I will be with him forever. Until that day my hope is in the eternal divine presence to come. “He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.” (Psalm 18:10)
