This is said to be «A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.» I suppose, therefore, that it was composed when he fled from Jerusalem because of the cruel treachery of his son Absalom. He must have been heart-broken, and stricken with the greatest possible sorrow as he fled away with his faithful followers into the wilderness of Judah. But even there he praised his God; and he did not sing unto him with old and stale Psalms, but with a new song. How restful and calm he must have been, in his great sorrow, to sit down even in the wilderness of Judah, and make a new hymn of praise unto the Lord! How gloriously he begins!
Psalms 63:1. O God, thou art my God;
The psalmist has no doubt about this great fact, he does not hesitate or falter, but he makes the positive assertion, «O God, thou art my El, my mighty God, strong to deliver me.» In the sixty-second Psalm, he had finished up with the power of God: «God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.» So he begins this new song with the great name El, which expresses the might and power of God: «O God, thou art my El, my mighty God;»
Psalms 63:1. Early will I seek thee:
People in the wilderness have hard beds to lie on, and they sleep all the fewer hours. David was up in the morning early, and he began the day with prayer to God: «Early will I seek thee.» «While the dew is on the grass, the dew of the Spirit shall be upon my soul.» He means also, «I will seek thee at once, immediately, now, without delay.» But how could he seek the God who was already his God? «Thou art my God; early will I seek thee.» Brethren, nobody ever seeks another man's God. Till God is your God, you will not want to seek him; and when you have him, you will seek him yet more and more.
Psalms 63:1. My soul thirsteth for thee,
He had a strong passion for God. There is, sometimes, an unbearable, insatiable pang of the body, which you cannot forget; and David had an insatiable longing of soul, which nothing could make him forget: «My soul thirsteth for thee.»
Psalms 63:1. My flesh longeth for thee-
Even his flesh, his body-not his carnal nature,-but his body mastered by his soul, was caused to yield its little help towards the making of this verse: «My flesh longeth for thee-
Psalms 63:1. In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
And this world is just like that. To the most of Christians, the six days of the week take them through the wilderness, and the Sabbath brings them to an oasis in the desert, an Elim, a place where there are wells of living water. But oh! what longings they have after God! What did David want when he was in the wilderness?
Psalms 63:2. To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
He did not want the sanctuary so much as to see God in the sanctuary. Brethren, it is well to have a love to our own place of worship, but it is infinitely better to have a soul longing for the God we worship, and to feel that the place of worship is nothing unless God be there.
Psalms 63:3. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee.
«In the wilderness, when my comforts are cut off, when my son, who was my darling, is seeking my life, my lips shall praise thee, for still thy lovingkindness is better than life.»
Psalms 63:4. Thus will I bless thee while I live:
«As long as I live, I will praise thee; every breath of mine shall be perfumed with thankfulness and adoration.»
Psalms 63:4. I will lift up my hands in thy name.
«In astonishment at the power of thy great name, and in confidence will I lift them up when they have been hanging down in weakness. I will go forth in holy activity, with uplifted hands, in thy name.»
Psalms 63:5. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness;
Orientals, in their feasts, are very fond of fat such as you and I would hardly eat; they think that the choicest part of their diet. So David, using his own metaphor, says that God would satisfy his soul as with the very marrow and fatness of joys.
Psalms 63:5. And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
A heart full of grace makes a mouth full of praise. When God makes thee inwardly to be content with himself, thou wilt be outwardly full of thanksgiving and praise.
Psalms 63:6. When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.
Of course, in the wilderness, they had to set a watch against Absalom and his men; and David very likely could hear the noise in the camp as they changed the sentries, and marked the hours of the night. «Oh!» said he, «while I lie awake, and the watchers are on guard all around, I will make the night to be a time of spiritual feasting: ‘My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness;' and I will make a song at night unto the God who giveth songs in the night: my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips.»'
Psalms 63:7-8. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after thee:
If he could not keep pace with his Lord, and did in some measure lose the joy of walking with God, then he would run after him. If thou canst not lean on Christ's arm, keep close at Christ's heel; be as near him as thou canst, like a dog who keeps close to his master: «My soul followeth hard after thee.» Where did David get the grace and the strength thus to follow after God? Listen.
Psalms 63:8. Thy right hand upholdeth me.
There is the secret upholding of divine grace, even when the soul cannot attain the fellowship at which it aims. When we are struggling to be near to God, let us thank the Lord who, by his Spirit, worketh in us the heavenly ardor that makes us run to him. The last three verses of the Psalm describe what would become of David's enemies.
Psalms 63:9. But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
The wicked always grovel, they never rise to higher things; and their course shall be downward,-downward to the grave, downward to eternal death.
Psalms 63:10. They shall fall by the sword:
They took the sword; they shall perish by the sword. They were seeking to slay David; they shall be themselves slain.
Psalms 63:10. They shall be a portion for foxes.
Not for lions; but for foxes, or jackals, for that is the word; the jackals shall gnaw them in pieces.
Psalms 63:11. But the king shall rejoice in God;
David was the king; so you see that he did not rejoice in the slaughter of his enemies, but he did rejoice in his God.
Psalms 63:11. Every one that sweareth by him shall glory:
Those who were true and loyal to the king would have reason for rejoicing when the rebels were overthrown; and those who were true and loyal to God would have still greater reason for exultation.
Psalms 63:11. But the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
Every true man must be glad that it is so. The mouths of liars will be stopped by the sexton with a shovel full of earth, if in no other way; but every lying tongue in all the world shall be silent one day at the judgment bar of God. The Lord bless to us the reading of his Word! Amen.