Psalms 63
Big idea: Written in a desert, and it uses that fact rather than complaining about it. My flesh longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water. The thirst is not a metaphor imposed on the situation; the situation supplies the metaphor. And out of it comes the sentence that outweighs everything else in the psalm: because your loving kindness is better than life. Not better than comfort. Better than being alive. The rest of the psalm is a man lying awake at night doing the one thing that satisfies him.
Psalm 63 is satisfied in a desert. Psalm 64 is ambushed by words in a city.
63:1–5 — Better than life
Written in a desert, and the psalm makes the landscape do the work: a dry and weary land with no water, and a body that thirsts in it. What he remembers is not rain but a sanctuary — he has SEEN something, and the memory functions as the water. Then the line the psalm is known for, which is a genuine comparison and not a pious flourish: better than life.
1 A Psalm by David, when he was in the desert of Judah. God, 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. 2 So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power and your glory. 3 Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you. 4 So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. 5 My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips,
63:6–11 — My soul stays close to you
The second half is nocturnal, and its verbs are all about proximity: remembering on the bed, staying close, being held up by a right hand. The clinging is mutual and the psalm says so — my soul stays close, YOUR right hand holds me up — which is a more careful sentence than it looks. Then the enemies, dispatched in two verses, and a king rejoicing.
6 when I remember you on my bed, and think about you in the night watches. 7 For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings. 8 My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up. 9 But those who seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. 10 They shall be given over to the power of the sword. They shall be jackal food. 11 But 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.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).