Psalm 63
Title
מִזְמ֥וֹר לְדָוִ֑ד בִּ֝הְיוֹת֗וֹ בְּמִדְבַּ֥ר יְהוּדָֽה
1God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water. 2So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power and your glory. 3Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you. 4So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. 5My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips, 6when I remember you on my bed, and think about you in the night watches. 7For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings. 8My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up. 9But those who seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. 10They shall be given over to the power of the sword. They shall be jackal food. 11But the king shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by him will praise him, for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be silenced.
Introduction
Psalms 63
This psalm has in it as much of warmth and lively devotion as any of David's psalms in so little a compass. As the sweetest of Paul's epistles were those that bore date out of a prison, so some of the sweetest of David's psalms were those that were penned, as this was, in a wilderness. That which grieved him most in his banishment was the want of public ordinances; these he here longs to be restored to the enjoyment of; and the present want did but whet his appetite. Yet it is not the ordinances, but the God of the ordinances, that his heart is upon. And here we have, I. His desire towards God (Psa 63:1, Psa 63:2). II. His esteem of God (Psa 63:3, Psa 63:4). III. His satisfaction in God (Psa 63:5). IV. His secret communion with God (Psa 63:6). V. His joyful dependence upon God (Psa 63:7, Psa 63:8). IV. His holy triumph in God over his enemies and in the assurance of his own safety (Psa 63:9-11). A devout and pious soul has little need of direction how to sing this psalm, so naturally does it speak its own genuine language; and an unsanctified soul, that is unacquainted and unaffected with divine things, is scarcely capable of singing it with understanding.
A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
Cross-references: Ps 63:1 · Ps 63:2 · Ps 63:3 · Ps 63:4 · Ps 63:5 · Ps 63:6 · Ps 63:7 · Ps 63:8 · Ps 63:9