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Psalm 63 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
David was in dire straits. His own son Absalom had conspired against him as king of Israel and now David is on the run, fleeing away from Jerusalem into the Judean wilderness. But even in this difficult situation, David is able to treasure his God in the wilderness. While all around him was bleak, his heart found his God to be the joy and rejoicing of his heart. As one author put it, “Once more the worse has brought out David’s best.” What about you? How do you handle your wilderness experiences? Family struggles? Loneliness? Unusual pressure? The wilderness represents parched and cheerless surroundings. Do your hardships bring out a deep devotion and intense love for your Lord like David had? David turned his bleak wilderness into a time of loving worship of his God.
The early church sang this Psalm first thing when they met for worship. It was called the morning hymn. Chrysostom said, “The spirit and soul of the whole Book of Psalms is contracted into this Psalm.” This is one of my favorite Psalms. I memorized it a long time ago. It is all about how God is the satisfaction of your soul, regardless of what is going on in your life. We’re going to track with David in the wilderness and learn how to survive and thrive even when our circumstances are bleak.
BE SURE GOD IS YOUR GOD – vss. 1.
Psalm 63:1a, O God, You are my God.
We’ve got to start here. Just saying you believe in God doesn’t make you a Christian. Just like saying the words from Psalm 23, “The Lord my shepherd” doesn’t make Him your shepherd. God will not be your soul’s satisfaction unless He is your God through Jesus Christ. Can you say, “O God, you are my God?” Has God given you this kind of heart to know Him? Jesus prayed in John 17:3, “This is life eternal, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Have you seen yourself, like David, a sinner in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness and submitted your heart and life to Jesus Christ?
That’s where this heart devotion and love for God must begin. If you aren’t sure about that, now is the time to clarify your relationship with Christ. The good news, the gospel, is the power of God to bring salvation to everyone who comes in faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Not by works, but by simple faith trusting in Christ alone. And the moment you respond by faith in Christ, God accepts you, declares you righteous, and joins you to His Son, Jesus Christ. You become a new creation in Christ, a child of God forever and ever.
That’s the beginning but it doesn’t stop there. With David, this is a personal relationship – God is “my God” and David finds his soul satisfaction in his God. God is looking for people who hunger and thirst after Him, who are no longer satisfied with the passing pleasures and fading pursuits of this world. God is looking for loving worshipers like David. He’s not only David’s God, but David loves Him and seeks Him.
Psalm 63:1b, I shall seek you earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
That word “earnestly” can also be translated “early” or the first light of dawn, and I like that. The first thing David is going to do, and he does it earnestly, diligently, is to go to God to seek Him. He knows there is nothing in this spiritual wilderness to satisfy his soul. It’s only dry, weary, no water to slake his thirst for God. He’s like that deer in Psalm 42, panting after God.
Psalm 42:1-2, As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?
Alexander Maclaren describes the wilderness as “No pools or streams, no sweet sound of running waters…all is hot, dusty, glaring, pitiless.” There’s nothing in this wilderness, in this world, to nurture your faith or satisfy your soul. The history of depraved humanity is the story of man trying to make it without God, and it hasn’t worked. Look at our world today. Madness, chaos, hatred, lies, arrogance, confusion, anxiety, depression, delusion, deception reign. This is Satan’s realm right now and he wants to deceive us into thinking this world is all there is. He offers substitute man-made religions, diluted Christianity, or raw paganism. Life is all about the physical, the material, pleasure. That’s the spiritually dry and weary, waterless wilderness. It will never satisfy your soul. David says my soul, my flesh, meaning all of me, yearns to be close to God, to treasure God in this wilderness.
We seek what we value. Seeking, thirsting, yearning in verse 1b are strong verbs. Seeking means looking for something, expending energy to go look. And if you’re seeking earnestly, you’re going to look until you find it. Did you ever reach back for your wallet and it’s not there? Immediately life changes and you begin to seek, diligently. You rifle through your desk drawer, all your pockets, jacket, pants, the car, under the seat, on the garage floor. Finally, you ask your wife if she’s seen it. Then you start making calls and hopefully an honest server at the restaurant assures you they have it. This is diligent seeking. And while God isn’t lost, you need Him and want Him in your life today, here and now.
David says, “Early will I seek you” (KJV). Get with God first thing in the morning before you head out into that wilderness. Whether it’s seven minutes with God or thirty, seek God diligently tomorrow morning. Make God the first object of your daily pursuit. You not only need to be near to God but make Him the treasure of your heart in your wilderness. David looked for opportunities to seek Him early and eagerly.
We seek what we love. I recall a snowstorm back in the late 60’s. The wind was blowing, and the snow was really piling up. I knew a young lady about 15 miles from my house, and I knew if I stayed home, my day would be a wilderness. So, I got in my ’61 Chevy convertible and drove towards this young lady’s farmhouse. All went well and I only had about two miles to go when a large snowdrift kept me from going further. So close, but not there. What’s a young man to do? Of course, I backed the car to the side of the road and began to diligently and eagerly walk through the large drifts of snow all the way to her house to spend time with the girl I loved. You seek what you love. And if you love your Lord like David, you will seek your Lord eagerly and early. You want to spend time with Him and hear His words to you. And if He is truly your God and you diligently seek Him, your heart will rejoice in His greatness.
REJOICE IN HIS POWER AND GLORY – vs. 2.
Psalm 63:2, Thus [So] I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.
When all around David was dry and bleak, he remembered his worship times back in Jerusalem and especially God’s greatness and glory. Warren Wiersbe says, “It is our regular worship that prepares us for the crisis experiences of life, the wilderness circumstances.” He adds, “What life does to us depends on what life finds in us.” If your heart has searched out God’s great works of power and displays of His glory, remembering these will lift you up. You can start with the great incarnation. We behold our God in the face of Jesus Christ, who is the glory of God. John 1:14, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” He came to earth in divine power and glory. He displayed the power and glory of God in His life. He went to the cross, died for sinners, and was raised from the dead through the power and glory of God. And now His message is the power of God to all who believe.
Beyond the incarnation of the Son of God, nothing shows God’s power and glory in our day more than the power, grace, and mercy that turns people’s hearts from the ways of sin and spiritual deadness to new life, regeneration, and energizing power to pursue godly paths. We behold God’s power and glory when we see sinners forgiven, marriages renewed, old habits and addictions overcome by the power of the Word and the Spirit at work in people’s lives. Regardless of our wilderness experience, we rejoice in these powerful and glorious works of God.
To behold God’s power and glory in all His attributes and acts feeds your devotion and love for your God just like David’s devotion and love for his God. Your God is glorious, awesome, dazzling, astonishing, wondrous. Just think of Creation. God’s glorious plan of creating a universe out of nothing, putting these two-legged humans made in His image on this planet to walk around and reproduce, planning for their fall into sin and then to send His Son to become one of those humans to live a perfect life for us, to die as a sacrifice for our sins, bearing our punishment, made sin for us, rising again from the dead, ascending to God’s right hand, sending the Spirit empowering His elect people to take this glorious and powerful message to the four corners of this globe, saving all those He had chosen before He created the world, and finally bringing them into His eternal presence to praise and enjoy His power and glory forever and ever. Wow! There’s nothing like it. There you see God’s power and glory.
ESTEEM THIS GOD ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE IN YOUR LIFE – vss. 3-5.
Psalm 63:3, Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
Though the wilderness is nasty, harsh, and difficult in this life, God’s faithful love, His “chesed,” steadfast, loyal love is far better than anything in this present earthly life. Instead of grumbling David sends words of praise through his lips. He is confident in God’s amazing love for him. Remember that song, “The Love of God is greater far, than tongue or pen can ever tell.” And David esteems God’s love above his own life. This is how you thrive in your wilderness. You esteem God’s loyal, faithful, unchanging love above even your own life. That’s what Paul and all the martyrs have done. God’s love is better than my own earthly life, so regardless of my circumstances, I’m going to praise Him.
Is Christ more important to you than anything else in your life? If He is, it will show in your attitudes, the decisions you make, how you spend your money, whom you date and marry, how you spend your time, your goals for your family. For God to be the true satisfaction of your soul in the wilderness, you will esteem Him and His steadfast love for you above everything else in your life.
Psalm 63:4-5, So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. 5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
Rather than swim around in self-pity and complain and or even curse in this wilderness, David determined to bless and praise his God who is better than life “as long as I live…while I have my being.” Don’t let your circumstance shut down your praises. Get your focus away from self and on the power and glory of your God.
Psalm 146:2, I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Then David kicks his praise and joy up a notch or two in verse five. The word “joyful” has an exuberance about it, a full-throated ring. Isn’t that great? Praise God from whom all blessings flow! God has sovereignly placed you in your wilderness. You can either grumble, murmur and gripe all day about how hard everything is, or you can sing, “Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin, how can my tongue describe it, where can its praise begin?”
Did you see this feast David is enjoying in the wilderness in verse five – “marrow and fatness.” Spurgeon said, “There is in the love of God a richness, a sumptuousness, a fullness of soul-filling joy, comparable to the richest food with which the body can be nourished!” David in his heart is feeding on the best of the best, the dainties of a royal banquet! God sets a table before His people in the presence of their enemies. Treasure God in the wilderness by feasting on His greatness and goodness.
TAKE TIME TO PONDER GOD’S BLESSINGS IN YOUR LIFE – vss. 6-8.
Psalm 63:6-7, When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, 7 For You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.
How did David pass those sleepless nights? He remembers all he can about God and God’s great works. He meditates, ponders, chews on, and thinks about God’s purposes, promises, works and ways. The Hebrew word for meditate is hagah, to moan, growl, utter. It’s used of a lion growling over his prey. So, with David, roll over and over in your mind all you can remember of your God. Think of all His attributes – He is infinite, eternal, unchanging in His being, wise, all powerful, holy, just, good, and truthful. He is self-existing, present everywhere, three persons, one essence. Remember His great deliverances in your life. Go back and trace in your mind how good God has been to you. How good God was when that deer slammed right through my windshield on the driver’s side while traveling down Oakhill Road and thankfully, though all the soft stuff crashed onto my lap, the head and bones flew over the roof.
Remember how God brought people into your life with God’s word, with the gospel. Ponder what God has been doing in your life in the last five or ten years. Treasure God in the wilderness by remembering how great and good your God really is! Remember God’s good providences, using the good and the bad, everything in your life to help you grow to become more like Christ. He’s using your wilderness right now to help you grow.
And David freely confesses in verse seven that in every step of his life God has been his help. God protects you like the hen protects her chicks under her wings. Neither you nor I could have come this far in our own strength. He is your sovereign Father who has ordered every moment of every day for your blessing, so you have every reason to sing for joy. That’s how you treasure God in the wilderness. And as verse eight says, you refuse to let anything tear you from God.
Psalm 63:8, My soul clings to [follows hard after] You; Your right hand upholds me.
This is so good. Tozer has a whole chapter on this verse in his book The Pursuit of God. Here’s how we live with God in the wilderness. We cling to Him. I like the King James version here, “My soul followeth hard after Thee.” The word “clings” is dabaq. It’s used in Genesis 2:24 when God says a husband shall cleave to his wife. He shall leave, cleave, and I like to add, “weave” his life into hers. Cleave is sticking to, clinging to, joined to. It’s used in Ruth 1:14 when instead of returning to her own people, Ruth clung to Naomi. You find it repeatedly in Deuteronomy. Here’s one example.
Deuteronomy 10:20, You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name.
David’s soul is “velcroed” to his God, but only because of the second part of verse eight. David clings to God because God’s right hand, God’s strong right hand, upholds David and holds him fast. David’s in this miserable wilderness, but he couldn’t be in a safer place. Never forget that God upholds you through your wilderness, and He won’t drop you, ever. With David we need to say, “I’m going to cling to God and not let anything in this world tear me away.” The more severe and weary this old wilderness gets, the more tightly I’m going to cling.
NEVER FORGET, YOUR FUTURE IS SECURE.
Psalm 63:9-11, But those who seek my life to destroy it, Will go into the depths of the earth. 10 They will be delivered over to the power of the sword; They will be a prey for foxes. 11 But the king will rejoice in God; Everyone who swears by Him will glory, For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped.
David knew his God was the Victor. When he faced Goliath, what did he declare? “I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel!” Satan would love to destroy David out there fleeing from Absalom, and he’d like to destroy you, to get you to wilt under the heat, to keep you from seeking God, and to pull you away from your God. You are Satan’s target, just like Job, and if he can get you to somehow throw in the towel and give up or even deny Christ by your sinful heart attitudes, he’ll go home feeling pretty happy.
But here we have the end of the story of God’s people in this wilderness. We win! All God’s enemies will go down in defeat. All liars’ mouths will be stopped (Rev. 21:8). When the Anti-Christ and all his armies think they are winning, here comes King Jesus out of heaven in that glorious second coming judgment, bringing justice to this world, delivering all His people, ruling over the entire world (Zechariah 14:9). King David knew something of this hope, and we know even more as God has revealed so much more in the New Testament.
This is how you treasure God in the wilderness when tragedy strikes, when your life takes a difficult turn, your burden grows heavy. May Jesus Christ be of infinitely more value to you than anything else in this dry and thirsty world. Seek Him diligently, eagerly, early with the morning dawn. “When morning gilds the sky, my heart awaking cries, ‘May Jesus Christ be praised.’” Don’t let anything tear you from your God. When your circumstances look bleak and things aren’t going so well, remember, your greatest joy and happiness is in your God. Ponder Him in all His power and glory. He is the only satisfaction for your eternal soul. Augustine said, “You have made us for yourself, and our souls are restless until they find their rest in You.”