Psalm 63 A Psalm of David When He Was in the Wilderness of Judah.

 ¹O God, You are my God;

Early will I seek You;

My soul thirsts for You;

My flesh longs for You

In a dry and thirsty land

Where there is no water.

²So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,

To see Your power and Your glory.

³Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

My lips shall praise You.

⁴Thus I will bless You while I live;

I will lift up my hands in Your name.

⁵My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth shall praise

You with joyful lips.

⁶When I remember You on my bed,

I meditate on You in the night watches.

⁷Because You have been my help,

Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.

⁸My soul follows close behind You;

Your right hand upholds me.

⁹But those who seek my life, to destroy it,

Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

¹⁰They shall fall by the sword;

They shall be a portion for jackals.

¹¹But the king shall rejoice in God;

Everyone who swears by Him shall glory;

But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.

Commentary

Vs. 1 “O God, You are my God;

Early will I seek You;

My soul thirsts for You;

My flesh longs for You

In a dry and thirsty land

Where there is no water.”

The desire of the saints, of all believers, is not found or satisfied in this world, but in Him who sits above this world! Thus, with unshakable confidence David begins this psalm with a personal declaration to God, that He is his (my) God! For only the Lord our God who created heaven and earth, whose Son the Lord Jesus Christ now sits enthroned by Him waiting till He makes all His enemies His footstool is the God that we love, worship and long for! Early then I will seek you, for my soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You, in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water, I need You! For only in You is there Living Water that can satisfy my every thirst and my every desire! Everything else leaves me wanting.

Vs. 2 “So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,

To see Your power and Your glory.”

David’s searching for the Lord then led him to the temple’s sanctuary, just like it now leads many to the church sanctuary. And like him they too often come seeking His power and glory which they have heard so much about. And yet to experience it is not to be apprehended by natural means, for to experience God one must first receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and then being born-again by His Holy Spirit, they will experience it, the transforming power of God’s Holy Spirit in their person and in their lives! For only through Christ is God’s power and glory found. Therefore start with the Lord Jesus Christ, with believing in Him, for apart from Him you will experience nothing genuinely from God.

Vs. 3 “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

My lips shall praise You.”

When one experiences God’s lovingkindness they will truly say it is better than life! Better than anything in this life! For by God’s loving kindness for us all we have the Gospel given to us all, and by the Gospel, by the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilling it for us all; by suffering Crucifixion death for our sins remission and by rising from the dead the third Day we are now given new and everlasting life the moment we believe in Him! Therefore, when anyone experiences God’s grace (i.e., His absolute forgiveness of all their sins and transgression with the complete erasing of them all) their lips, my lips, shall praise Him!

Vs. 4 “Thus I will bless You while I live;

I will lift up my hands in Your name.”

This then is the result of having God’s grace for oneself. For praise and thanksgiving are the natural fruits thereof.

Vs. 5 “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth shall praise

You with joyful lips.”

O, how the longing soul is now satisfied and the distressed soul is put at peace by God’s grace. Therefore my mouth shall praise You, not “mechanically” as if something done out of “ritual”, but truly out of a joy filled heart!

Vs. 6-7 “When I remember You on my bed,

I meditate on You in the night watches.

⁷Because You have been my help,

Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.”

Recalling God’s faithfulness, David now tells how he meditates on God in the night watches, when there is silence all around, when there is seemingly no one in world but God, he recalls all that God’s Person has done for him, how many countless times He has been his help. Therefore, because God has been his/our help, we too shall take refuge in the shadow of His wings and rejoice in Him alone.

Vs. 8 My soul follows close behind You;

Your right hand upholds me.

Just as a chick follows closely behind its mother hen, so too we will follow closely behind Him. For it is there that we feel deeply safe and secure, for it is His right hand that upholds us. 

Vs. 9-10 ⁹But those who seek my life, to destroy it,

Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

¹⁰They shall fall by the sword;

They shall be a portion for jackals.

Looking outward than from that safe and secure place, David sees that those who are seeking to destroy his life shall all go to the lower parts of the earth, to the grave! They shall all fall by the sword, they shall all be a portion for jackals, wild canine beasts shall feed on their rotting corpses.

Vs. 11 “But the king shall rejoice in God;

Everyone who swears by Him shall glory;

But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.”

 Therefore the king shall rejoice in God, for it is of God to uphold and keep him as the head of His nation, thus everyone who swears by Him, (swears in truth allegiance to Him), shall glory. But the mouth of those who speak lies, shall have their mouths stopped, there will be no liars in Christ's Kingdom!

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.