CHAPTER 63

A PSALM OF DAVID: THE PRAYER OF A THIRSTING SOUL

¹O God, You are 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 (this Psalm was written by David while he was in the wilderness of Judah, fleeing from Saul; it was a dark time in his life.

The statement, early will I seek You, seems to have been a habit with David [Ps. 57:89]. The statement, my soul thirsts for You, was also a statement often repeated by David [Ps. 42:12]. This gives us an insight into Davids consecration. How many hearts really thirst for God?);

²To see Your Power and Your Glory, so as I have seen You in the Sanctuary. (The phrase, a dry and thirsty land, where no water is, of Verse 1, pertains to the fact that David, while fleeing from Saul, did not have access to the Sanctuary. It was a spiritual dryness of which he spoke.)

³Because Your Lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. (David could easily have blamed the Lord for his predicament, but he never resorted to such. He never allowed the present situation, no matter how dark it may have been, to steal his worship of God. What a lesson for us!)

⁴Thus will I bless You while I live: I will lift up my hands in Your Name. (The first ten Verses sing of the First Advent of Davids Son and Lord. The Eleventh Verse speaks of His Second Advent [Rev., Chpt. 19]. In His First Advent, He found this world a wilderness, a dry and weary land, without one stream of moral refreshment, and His heart longed for the joys He had tasted from all eternity in His Fathers bosom.

But if He found this world to be a thirsty wilderness, yet He found God to be a satisfying Source of perfect joy and happiness.)

⁵My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips (when you read these words of David, you are also reading the words of the Greater Son of David):

⁶When I remember You upon my bed, and meditate on You in the night watches (meditation on the Word of God [both day and night] will cure one of fear, stress, and, thereby, most sicknesses).

⁷Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings will I rejoice (quite possibly, David had before him the Scroll of the 91st Psalm, which had been written by Moses about 500 years before [Ps. 91:14]).

⁸My soul follows hard after You: Your right Hand upholds me. (Davids statement means that no matter what the situation, or where it leads, he will follow. Many Christians follow if it is profitable [or if they think it is]. Many, when facing difficult times, cease to follow.)

⁹But those who seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the Earth. (David is speaking of Saul and those who would ally themselves with him. The Greater Son of David is speaking of the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. Those who rejected Him all died and went to Hell. It is the same now, and in fact always has been, for all who reject Him [Jn. 14:6].)

¹⁰They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes. (Exactly as the Holy Spirit predicted, it was brought to pass. Saul fell by the sword. In A.D. 70, all of Jerusalem fell by the sword.)

¹¹But the King shall rejoice in God; everyone who swears by Him shall glory: but the mouth of them who speak lies shall be stopped. (This speaks of David, and it came to pass exactly as stated; however, it speaks even in greater measure of the Greater Son of David and His Second Coming [Rev., Chpt. 19].)