PSALM 63 – 7/15/21
A psalm of David when he was in the wilderness.
Are you in a wilderness? Perhaps an emotional wilderness or a financial wilderness; a relationship wilderness, a health wilderness, or a moral wilderness. Have you a calling, a promise – and it is delayed? Are you at your wits end? You came to the right place. A wilderness is uninhabited, vast, and harsh. It is blazing hot and then it is frigid. It is a desert – barren and brutal, howling with predators around and underfoot. My friend, are you in a wilderness? Here is your anthem:
1 O God, thou art my God; early will I seek you: my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
May my first cry always be, “O God!” Elohim – Supreme, Almighty one. When I have nothing else to say, I will say, “O God.” Not in vain but in desperation. Never in contempt but in affirmation. “You are my God.” I will drink him in and say, “My God! My strength and my power. I will choose you. You alone. Early in the day will I seek you. Early in the process will I seek you. Before I seek another, I will seek you. Before I lean on myself, I will seek you. Before I pursue other options and supports – early will I seek you. You first, you only. With earnest and diligence, I will search for you as the beloved in Song of Solomon sought her lover:”
By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but I found him not. I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but I found him not.
The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loves?… Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? That we may seek him with thee.
Song of Songs 3:1-3, 6:1
v. 2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Banish from me my insatiable desire to see my power. Purge from me the passionate pursuit of my glory. Eradicate the dogged strong-will. Annihilate the stubbornness. When I want my way, help me remember that I am here “to see thy power and thy glory.” When I am feeble let me settle into my powerlessness and see thy power and thy glory. May I constantly fling myself off the throne of my heart. May I crucify my flesh a thousand times a day every time it rears its ugly head to see my power and my glory. Thank you for your promise that in due time, I will have my glory in your magnificent presence – but today all of it is yours. “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” Rom. 11:36.
v. 3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
We love life. We cling to life. We do not want to die. We will do whatever we can to enjoy it, enrich it, sustain it, prolong it, even when it is lousy. We will try every treatment and every option and then we will seek another opinion. We love life. But there is something better – his lovingkindness. May we cling to it as tenaciously as a dying patient gasps for breath. May we relish that goodness and kindness and value it more highly than our very life.
You have much or little to say today. Save it for another day. Today, resolve to open your lips and gush forth praise. Every utterance, every occasion. Praise. Praise. Praise. I will boast in you today, Lord.
v. 4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
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Is it not astounding that we can bless God? Normally the greater blesses the lesser and endows favor and approbation. We can reverse the trend and endow him with our favor and approbation. We esteem, admire, and approve of him. We lift up our hands (have you done it lately? Do so today. Do so now 😊) to receive his blessings and to yield ourselves to him in surrender. He relishes our praise. It is one of very few things you can give him. Think about that.
v. 5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness;
Yesterday we discussed the soul at length as the very essence of our being – our will, our affections, our mind, our passions, our emotions, and our desire. These are the things that fulfill us. These are the things that get us in trouble. In God they find their source and their fulfillment. Only as we align our will with his will, our affections with his affections, our mind with his mind, our passions with his passions, our emotions with his emotions, our desires with his desires will we find satisfaction. That is how he wired us. Because his name is Jealous, we short-circuit when we seek any of those things outside of him first. When we seek and see his power and his glory, only then shall our soul be satisfied as with a sumptuous meal. Is your soul hungry today? Is it anemic? Is it emaciated? Then follow this recipe and find joy for your soul.
and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
6 When I remember thee upon my bed,
and meditate on thee in the night watches.
He loves to be praised. He deserves to be praised. Praise, praise, praise. So open those lips and have them overflow with praise and joy unspeakable and full of glory. Speak his praise. Sing his praise. Cherish those night watches instead of dreading them. Say “Good morning, Holy Spirit.” Turn them to times of sweet pillow talk with the lover of your soul. May your thoughts at that time go to him early – before they go to the stressor, before they go to the day that lies ahead, to the need, to the desire. Let him rock you back to sleep after your precious time together instead of watching the clock tick. Ask him to show himself to you – his will, his affections, his mind, his passions, his emotions, his desires. Meditate on that and two hours will feel like five minutes.
7 Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
Do you speak a second language? If you only speak one, you can be bilingual by the end of the day. Joyful praise can be your primary language. Practice it. Master it. Use it fluently.
Abide in him in the shelter of his wings. There you are safe from all peril. That is your refuge and strong tower in the wilderness. Any wilderness. Every wilderness. You can access it 24/7. The key? “O God!” It couldn’t be more basic. Go there first. You will not need to go anywhere else.
8 My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
This is a glorious term. Strong’s dictionary says that figuratively, ‘follow hard’ means to “catch by pursuit.” It means to cling to, to cleave to, to stay with, to be joined to. As you align the aspects of your soul with God, you become glued together as it were. You adhere to one another and become conjoined. What a wonderful thought considering your were created for intimacy with him. This passage smacks of it!
Your lover will help you, he will sustain you, he will keep you close and guard you. He will hold and support you and will NEVER let you go. “See now that I, even I, am he… There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.” Deut. 32:29.
9 But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loves: I held him, and would not let him go… Song of Songs 3:4a
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