Psalm 63
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory. Because Your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise You.
So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your Name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips, when I remember You upon my bed, and meditate on You in the watches of the night; for You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy.
My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.
But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals.
But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by Him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped. (ESV)
The Big Idea:
Because God’s covenant love is better than life itself, the believer who earnestly seeks Him in the dry places of this world will find in Him a satisfaction that fills the soul and a security that silences fear, so that even in the wilderness the heart clings to God and the mouth cannot stop praising Him.
1. The Seeking Soul (v. 1)
1.1 The Possessive Cry – Covenant language (“O God, You are my God”).
1.2 The Language of Appetite – Seek, thirst, faint.
1.3 The Wilderness as Occasion, Not Obstacle
2. The Satisfied Soul (vv. 2-7)
2.1 Remembered Glory, Present Vivification (v. 2)
2.2 The Comparative Claim – Better than Life (v. 3)
2.3 The Feast of Satisfaction (vv. 4-5)
2.4 Satisfaction Sustained Through the Night (vv. 6-7)
3. The Secure Soul (Clinging) (vv. 8-11)
3.1 The Grip of Mutual Holding (v. 8)
3.2 Confidence Amid Threat (vv. 9-10)
3.3 The Doxology of the Assured (v. 11)