"I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands."

Psalm 63:2-4

This is one of the great psalms where David reflects on his own situation and on his knowledge of God, moving from present to past and on to the future. The main point of psalms for readers is that they give words to express our own feelings in all kinds of circumstances. Here the circumstance is living away from society in a desert, hiding from dangerous enemies. It may not be where you are now, but many of us have felt isolation, deprivation, and fear like this, and we are all likely to know people still in that situation. It is wonderful to be able to point them to psalms like this.

The psalmist, in the desert, longs for water and longs to experience God. The implication is that just now he can’t find either. It is so helpful to know it is okay to tell God we feel like that! David looks back to times when he was ‘in the sanctuary’ (v 2), feeling close to God, and reminds himself both of what he knew about God then and of the reality of the commitment that he had made to trust God. His circumstances had changed, but God had not: he was still more fulfilling than rich food (v 5)! David lies awake at night, but thinking of God, and remembering past help given, help him move forward. There are psalms where the psalmist can only manage to ask ‘how long?’ (Ps 13) but here he is confident that, eventually, his enemies will get their comeuppance and he will be able to rejoice again.

APPLY : When we feel alone & desperate, remember that God is ‘my God’ (1); verse 8 says, when I ‘cling to you; your right hand upholds me’.

CLOSING PRAYER : Thank you, loving Father, that whether I am in a desert place or on a mountain top, you are with me. You never leave me or forsake me. Help me to remember and always to be mindful of your presence.

(Edited from Encounter with God)