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.” Psalm 63:1
Head south and east from Jerusalem and in just a few miles you will be in the desert of Judah. The central feature in that region is the Dead Sea. David was very familiar with this area, as he grew up in Bethlehem, in the rugged, often barren hill country of Judah. The green pastures and quiet waters he described in Psalm 23 would have been very rare where he was tending sheep.
The good news, for David, was that those hills contained a complicated matrix of caves and hiding places – a fact that enabled him to evade the jealous King Saul on numerous occasions. In one of those times when David was again hiding in the wilderness, he wrote Psalm 63.
This Psalm is profoundly helpful for us as we experience the fact that we too live in “a dry and weary land where there is no water.” We are hungry and thirsty, and we eventually learn that nothing in this world can satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts.
So David points us to the One – the only One – who can.
“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.” Psalm 63:2-3
David had tasted and experienced that “the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). Now he exhorts himself and all of God’s people to look to the Lord and experience again the wonder of His steadfast love. The Psalm is filled with David’s promises:
“So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands…
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…
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
My soul clings to you…” Psalm 63:6-8
Discipline is essential in the Christian life. Even when – or especially when – you don’t feel like praising the Lord – it is vital that you make these promises and fulfill them. Continue to sing. Continue to read. Continue to pray. Continue to meet with your fellow believers. Memorize Scripture. Meditate on it. Hold fast to the truth you know. Cling to God with your soul. When we maintain these disciplines, look at what we discover:
“My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” Psalm 63:8
We hold fast to the Lord only to find that He has been holding us all along. You may know that truth in your mind (“no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand” John 10:29), but you have to rehearse the truth, sing it, discuss it, meditate on it over and over in order to experience that truth in the depths of your soul.
I’ll be honest, when I read this Psalm to someone in the hospital, or at the front end of a long recovery process, I usually stop at verse 8. But David doesn’t. Listen to how he closes this Psalm.
“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.” Psalm 63:9-11
David disciplined himself to remember God’s JUSTICE. Yes, we need to remember and rest in God’s LOVE. But it is vital for our spiritual life to also remember and cling to His justice. Absolute, unflinching, exactly proportional and eternal judgment is coming. To really be comforted by God we must know Him as He really is. God is both loving and just – both holy and gracious. These traits are inseparably bound in the unified, glorious nature of the Lord. Knowing this, delighting in Him – is the key to obeying the Biblical directive to “Rejoice in the Lord” (Php. 4:1,4).
How can you find joy in the Lord even when you are running from enemies and hiding in a cave in the barren desert of Judah? David shows us in Psalm 63. Learn from David. And learn from Pastors like John Piper who have guided people to the still waters they need in the Lord. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him” (Piper).
Another place I find refreshing for my soul is in the accounts of God’s faithfulness to His people throughout the ages. Check out this inspiring podcast from Pioneers: Maverick. It tells the true story of an African Muslim who is given a Bible and by simply reading the New Testament has an encounter with the living Christ. The story is riveting, both for the miracles God performs through this man and for the unimaginable suffering God calls him to endure. The missionary who first began to disciple this man warned him as Ananias did the Pharisee Saul, ” I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:16). But as with Paul, the suffering only served to magnify the glory of the Lord Jesus. Cling to the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength!
