PSALM OF CONFIDENCE

Psalms were composed in response to some life situation. When the Psalmist experienced God’s love and salvation in his life, he sang with hymns of joy. When he experienced hardship, he composed a lament.

This is a Psalm written by David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. He was being pursued by his own son Absalom, and chased out of the city of Jerusalem.

Psalm 63 is a Psalm of Confidence.
From verse 1, he expresses "O God, You are my God" which in Hebrew means ‘the Strong One"
In the midst of his troubles and weaknesses, he looked to God as the Strong One.
Early will I seek You speaks of his eagerness to meet with God.

My soul thirst for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land speaks of David’s thirsty soul.
So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.
He sought for God with the same intense desire he had when he worshiped God in happier days at Zion. He remembered those times, like how he desired the Lord in Psalm 27:4
"One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple."

The desire of David to meet with God, gives us a key to understanding why he was a "man after God’s heart." In this place of wilderness, he sought for God and longed for His presence.

V 5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness (fat and abundance).

He knows that only in God can his needs be met and be fully satisfied. Your loving kindness is better than life - God’s love is worth more than life itself. The longing thirst for God is satisfied by the recall of who God is in his power and glory.
Out of that recollection, he starts to praise God with his whole being.
My lips shall praise You,
I will lift up my hands ,
My mouth shall praise You
I will meditate on You (mind)

David knew how to worship God - with his whole being.

We can say this Psalm as a prayer to God if today, you are feeling week, you are lonely, you feel dissatisfied in your soul, you may be going through a time of wilderness. David chose to praise God in the midst of his troubles. We can say he was in a time of brokenness...put yourself in his shoes, how would you feel if your own son is pursuing you?

David was probably very lonely, and He seeked for God, he thirsts for God, he longed for God to meet that need.

V 6 I meditate on You in the night watches. Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
(meditate - to reflect, to ponder)

In the night, when you are troubled, and you cannot sleep, it would be a good time to meditate on God.
David was not sitting on his throne in a place of power, but was running for his life from his rebellious son Absalom and a host of traitors.

When circumstances goes against us, it is easy to think that God is not for us and is against us. But David reminds us that the opposite is true. When everything seems to go against you, God is the one who is for you.

Some times, life offers little hope, and when hope is gone, only despair remains.
When facing problems, trials and sufferings, we may feel like giving up.
David ran from his beloved son who threatened to kill him, knowing there was no hope except in God.

When we feel like there is no hope, when life has disappointed you to the point of despair, we have only one hope and God is all the hope we need because he promises to be with us, He is our protector, He is our deliverer. Our only focus in these times of wilderness is on God. "My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me."

-jo-