Psalm 63:1-11

1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;

My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,

In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

2 Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,

To see Your power and Your glory.

3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

My lips will praise You.

4 So I will bless You as long as I live;

I will lift up my hands in Your name.

5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

6 When I remember You on my bed,

I meditate on You in the night watches,

7 For You have been my help,

And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.

8 My soul clings to You;

Your right hand upholds me.

9 But those who seek my life to destroy it,

Will go into the depths of the earth.

10 They will be delivered over to the power of the sword;

They will be a prey for foxes.

11 But the king will rejoice in God;

Everyone who swears by Him will glory,

For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped.

I.       David’s Thirst for God (63:1–2):

A.   The psalmist seeks God earnestly

1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;

My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,

1.     Not half hearted

2.     What if we all sought God that way, earnestly every Sunday

3.     “To seek with longing” from the Hebrew

4.     With God being the priority of our lives… not us being the center

5.     My souls thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you

a)    Flesh and soul and spirit

b)    Our whole self

c)     As the deer psalm 42 1-2      

B.   He longs for God in a dry, parched and weary land

In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

C.   How do we view the spiritual landscape of this world?

D.   Are we thirsty or are we quenching our thirst with other not appropriate things

E.   Is the desert in the psalmist heart?

1.     What is the desert to us?

2.     A mere barren place?

3.     Israel received most of the 1st 5 books of the bible….before the promise land where they learned to follow God and walk in his ways

4.     Came to Elijah and john the Baptist in the wilderness

5.     Jesus went out into the desert to fast and to be tempted and over come the devil and his temptations   Mark 1:12

6.     The wilderness

a)    Strips us of our defenses

b)    Reveals our vulnerability

c)     Quiets us before God

d)    Makes us ready to hear Him

e)     Enables us to do battle with ourselves

f)      To overcome the devil

7.     I submit it is the place where we are totally dependant upon God to for everything

2 Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,

To see Your power and Your glory.

F.    David remembers where his spiritual thirst has been quenched in the past

1.     It is in the “sanctuary”

2.     I have seen you

3.     in your power and glory    

II.    David’s Thanksgiving to God (63:3-5)

3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

My lips will praise You.

4 So I will bless You as long as I live;

I will lift up my hands in Your name.

5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

A.   Your loving kindness is better then life

1.     Loving kindness   His unconditional “grace,” & “covenant-love,” that holds us securely

B.   My lips will praise you

C.   So I will bless you ……this morning how long ……

D.   I will lift up my hands unto your name……

1.     What does it say there …..again

E.   He vows to honor and praise God

5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

F.    David’s “soul” (“self”) is now “satisfied” or “fully fed”

1.     As with marrow and fatness

2.     Leviticus 3:16 how can that be …. By law no fat was to be eaten because it was the Lord’s

3.     Here, as a result of worship,

a)    God gives His own food to David and he is filled

b)    Again David responds in praise “with joyful lips,” or, literally, lips “of a ringing cry”   LOUD!

III.  David’s Thoughts concerning God (63:6-7)

A.   The remembrance (63:6)

6 When I remember You on my bed,

I meditate on You in the night watches,

1.     David declares, “I lie awake thinking of you.”

2.     Memory encourages faith and shows us the faithfulness of God in our lives

3.     Jesus extends this practice to us in the elements of the Lord’s Supper He says, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:24)

4.     I meditate on You

a)    To ruminate to re chew it over and over again, to mull it over…   

B.   The rejoicing (63:7)

7 For You have been my help,

And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.

1.     David worships God in song you have been my help

2.     God is his source, protector, sends him back to praise again

3.     I sing for joy

a)    The verb here means “to shout for joy.”      

IV.David’s Triumph in God (63:8-11)

A.   The deliverance (63:8, 11)

8 My soul clings to You;

Your right hand upholds me.

1.     My souls clings to you

2.     Your right hand up holds me

3.     hand of power is what holds us  

11 But the king will rejoice in God;

Everyone who swears by Him will glory,

For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped.

4.     God’s right hand holds David securely

5.     We too have our enemies

a)    Paul reminds us, our real foes are not human and thus our weapons must be spiritual,

b)    “Mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:3-4)

B.   David’s joy is not merely in winning the battle

1.     It is in the God who wins the battle for him

2.     This is the danger in worshiping God for His benefits

3.     When we are winners is that we end up worshiping the benefits

4.     Not the God who gives them to us.

C.   The destruction (63:9-10)

9 But those who seek my life to destroy it,

Will go into the depths of the earth.

10 They will be delivered over to the power of the sword;

They will be a prey for foxes. 

(Jackles)