Psalm 63

Scripture:

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
    my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
    as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
    beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
    my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
    in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
    and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
    and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
    your right hand upholds me.

9 But those who seek to destroy my life
    shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
    they shall be a portion for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
    all who swear by him shall exult,
    for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Devotion:

Psalm 63 holds two realities in the same breath that we usually try to keep separate: desperate need and deep satisfaction. David is thirsty and satisfied. He is in the wilderness and under the shadow of God's wings. He is fleeing for his life and singing for joy. The psalm refuses to resolve that tension, because the point is that both things are true at the same time. 

We tend to think satisfaction is what comes after the wilderness ends. David is saying it is available inside it. Not because the wilderness is not real or not hard, but because God's hesed is more real and more sustaining than the circumstances around it. 

The application of this psalm could move in several directions. For some, it will be an honest look at where you are actually placing your thirst. What are you seeking that was never going to satisfy you? Isaiah named it as “laboring for what does not give life.” Peter named it as the “passions of your former ignorance.” It may be time to call something by its right name. For others, the invitation is the one in verse 6, to recover the practice of remembering God, not just during a quiet time but through the long hours of the night, in the ordinary and the anxious moments. For others still, it may simply be the phrase from verse 8: “My soul clings to you.” Is that true of you right now? If it is not, what would it take to get there? 

Ask God what He is saying specifically to you, something specific enough to act on. 

HEAR about it:

Apply:

Write your specific, measurable application. What will you do differently this week because of Psalm 63? Be concrete, make it something you can actually report back on.

Prayer and Reflection:

Take a few minutes to sit quietly and reflect on the passage you read today. Let the Holy Spirit bring to mind what stood out to you and why. Then spend some time in prayer. Pray for the people around you, for your outlook on this day, and for the needs you are carrying in your own life.

Father, do not let this truth stay in my head. You have shown me this week what it looks like to be thirsty for You, to remember You in the long hours, to cling when everything around me is uncertain. Work that down into the way I actually move through my days. Give me the courage to follow through on whatever You have asked me to act on. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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