Psalms

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Psalm 63


O God, you are my God, for you I long;
for you my soul is thirsting.
My body pines for you
like a dry, weary land without water.
So I gaze on you in the sanctuary
to see your strength and your glory.

For your love is better than life,
my lips will speak your praise.
So I will bless you all my life,
in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul shall be filled as with a banquet,
my mouth shall praise you with joy.

On my bed I remember you.
On you I muse through the night
for you have been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand holds me fast.

Those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down to the depths of the earth.
They shall be put into the power of the sword
and left as the prey of the jackals.
But the king shall rejoice in God;
(all that swear by him shall be blessed)
for the mouth of liars shall be silenced.

Commentary


The secondary title of this psalm “when he was in the wilderness of Judah” seems to refer to the time that David was on the run from King Saul, although some claim that it refers to the revolt of Absolom (see 1 Samuel chaps. 22-24). Those who prefer the latter do so because David refers to himself as “King” in the last verses, and he was not yet crowned king while under King Saul. However, we do know that the psalms were adapted for use in the Temple worship at a later date, so the reference to the king could well be to a later king of Judah, who may have felt alienated and distanced from God by personal or national trials, and the psalm was adapted to suit his needs.

O God, you are my God, for you I long;
for you my soul is thirsting.
My body pines for you
like a dry, weary land without water.
So I gaze on you in the sanctuary
to see your strength and your glory.

For your love is better than life,
my lips will speak your praise.
So I will bless you all my life,
in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul shall be filled as with a banquet,
my mouth shall praise you with joy.

On my bed I remember you.
On you I muse through the night
for you have been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand holds me fast.

Those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down to the depths of the earth.
They shall be put into the power of the sword
and left as the prey of the jackals.
But the king shall rejoice in God;
(all that swear by him shall be blessed)
for the mouth of liars shall be silenced.
                                   (vv. 1-11).

There is a deep mystic tone in the entire psalm, which shows David in deep crisis, yet in great peace before God. Only the mystics know how to marry suffering and joy, tribulation and peace, because their centre is in God. From Him they draw joy, peace and the ability to cope with suffering. If we would but face it as David did, we would see that the deepest pain in the human heart is longing for God, for the infinite, for the ultimate source of life and love. This deep-down ache is felt by everyone, whether they know it or not, and our lives are directed for good or ill depending on how we respond to it (see John 4:13-14). Unfortunately many people do not identify it, so they drown that thirst for the infinite with a life of pleasure or in the pursuit of power, or even in a life that degenerates into violence, none of which satisfies this hunger. It only serves to deepen it while destroying the individual and causing untold harm to others. If this need, “thirst”, “hunger” in the depths of our being is faced squarely and directed towards God and our ultimate happiness, then we can reach our full potential.

The God whom we perceive at first to be “out there”, at a great distance from us, will soon become “my God”, One with whom I am personally relating in deep covenant commitment. Initially the “you are my God” is perceived only vaguely, but as prayer deepens the sense of belonging to God deepens also. This brings a sense of security with it, and confidence in the knowledge of being personally loved by God. At this point the need, felt initially, is now recognized as a personal longing for God as our greatest love, and this love increases the thirst, which in turn drives us deeper into seeking God.

Indeed, it is a great grace to be able to say truthfully that it is for God Himself, and Him only, that we long. This shows that the life is now firmly directed towards its true and ultimate goal. The compass is set for the completion of the journey, just as St Luke shows us Jesus setting His face like flint to go to Jerusalem, and to all that God had destined for Him there (see Luke 9:51) (v. 1).

The wilderness of Judah, in the summertime, is a land that is parched, weary and waterless. This is the graphic description that David uses to describe his need for God. It is the same as saying: “I am an emptiness needing to be filled with the living God. I am dried out and will die unless the living water of God’s grace and life comes to give me life. Without God I am nothing, and never can be anything, for ‘He is my all’.” This inner pain of need overflows into the senses, so that the body, too, echoes this painful thirst for God, which in a strange way is also sweet. The only way to satisfy this lover is somehow to see the face of God, so David longs for the privilege of God’s presence in the sanctuary. There he can enter into communion with God before the Holy of Holies which housed the Ark of the Covenant, over which the glory of God manifested itself. It is in this sense that he can see the face of God. He knew that the full vision of God is only given when the veil of the flesh is removed in death
(see Exodus 33:20). 

In deep communion with God, David will receive grace and strength to handle his difficult situation (v. 2). The mystic knows well that the thirst for God can only be satisfied by deep communion with God in prayer, from which he can draw life, wisdom, grace and discernment to deal with his life. He knows, too, that time is not wasted in prayer, as many suppose it to be. It is a drink from the river of life in the heart of the Lord, a drink that invigorates and heals as well as teaches and gives direction to life.

Considering that, in the wilderness of Judah, David was a fugitive, deprived of both justice and personal freedom; that he was continually hunted there by King Saul who wanted to kill him, simply out of jealousy; that instead of a king’s bed in a palace, which was his right, he lay in caves with a stone for his pillow; that he was bereft of all family comforts and rights – considering all this, the next six verses are quite extraordinary. We who read these lines, with all the comforts of modern life about us, cannot really appreciate the enormous victory over anger, revenge, resentment, unforgiveness and fear that enabled David to soar into the pure air of God’s love, to breathe its heavenly fragrance in the midst of all his sufferings. This shows that he understands the prayer relationship with God, and the delicious fruit it brings into our lives.

To rejoice in God while transcending very difficult circumstances is wonderful: “Your love is better than life itself,” David says. He is here speaking about that very special quality of God that amazes us. It is His loving-kindness, the hesed of God, which is known and experienced by those who commune deeply with Him in prayer. When by our surrender to Him in prayer, we release God to show us His personal love, regard and care for each one of us, then we begin to understand that all life could be exchanged for one moment of His pure and holy love. Great joy is felt at the realization of His personal love for us, and praise follows naturally (see Galatians 2:20). It bubbles up from within, and may be expressed in the rejoicing of the heart, or the confession of the lips, or both. The body participates too, for we express our thankfulness to God by the lifting up of our hands as well as our hearts (v. 4).

Deep communion with God in prayer is the only thing that satiates the soul and quietens its restless longing, because it is fed at its deepest source by God, who is Spirit, and who communes with our spirit, now open to Him, so that the living waters of grace and divine life can flow freely onto the thirsty ground. The strange thing about this mystic prayer is that the deeper the soul is fed by God, the more its capacity for God increases, so that the thirst for God increases too. Therefore it cries out to God continually for more of this life-giving rain. The increased need is fed more and more by God until death removes the last obstacle to full communion, and the soul is “drowned”, as it were, in the sea of God’s love and mercy. This is heaven (v. 5).

When David worshipped God in the sanctuary he was aware that the golden cherubim protected the glory of God over the Ark of the Covenant; hence he saw himself, in prayer, under the shadow of those heavenly wings. For us who worship God in spirit and in truth, enjoying the mystery of the indwelling of the Trinity in our souls, we live all the time in the wonder of His presence and in the protection of His love – this is “the shadow of His wings”. For David the shadow of the wings was external, but let us hope that he internalized it through his prayer. For us it is internal, yet how many of us need to walk conscious of its privilege, for this is the way to learn how to pray always and stay in the presence of God amid our daily occupations.

The person who truly loves God will not find it strange to think of Him at night. Many who love God wake up in the dark to find a chorus of praise going up to God from their hearts during sleep. Like the lover in the Song of Songs they sleep, but their heart is awake to the One they love (see Song of Songs 5:2). Those who love God like to use the quiet hours of the night to commune with Him without distraction or hindrance from the world. Worldly people whose joys are in the flesh find this inexplicable, but the heart that truly loves God cleaves to Him in all the circumstances of life. They allow God to sustain them in grace, so that they not only cope with suffering, but transcend it, and thus it can become an instrument of redemption. Suffering must be a dark and dismal experience for anyone who does not allow God to give it meaning and direction.

The last three verses of the psalm bring us back, with a jolt, to the fact that the external circumstances have not changed just because David was finding his solace in God. No. Everything remains the same. He is still being hounded by those who seek his life, and by the slanderers who aid and abet them. However, he is now able to leave all justice and retribution to God, knowing as he does that God is always on the side of the innocent and of the oppressed, and he trusts God to see justice is done (see Psalm 34:6, 10, 15, 17-20).

Just because we seek union with God in prayer, it does not follow that we shall be free of the normal injustices and persecutions that are meted out to everyone in life. Indeed, those who seek God will have more than others, for they must deal with the evil they find in themselves, in others, and that opposition that comes from the Evil One himself. We concentrate on cooperating with God in eliminating the evil from ourselves, and let Him deal with others according to His justice, mercy and love, and we trust His Word in Scripture for the final defeat of the Evil One (see Revelation 20:10).

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