exegesis on psalm 63
As he remembers who God is, this leads him to worship God, even in his time of trial. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding wyour power and glory. Psalm 23 is a realistic hopeful passage written by David about the presence of trials in his life versus the provision and relationship the Lord has for him. Psalms 28:2; Lamentations 2:19) or respect (cf. Gods love nourished and refreshed David more than the water he needed. I remember you through the watches of the night, and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.c. But we should not try to fill the vacuum in our lives with people, but with God. This is a very beautiful psalm that speaks to seeking after God in difficult times and finding faith to make it through. It is one of the most well-loved psalms. Exegesis of Psalm 19 Corey Keating, Page 4. information from prior phrases. We need 2 cookies to store this setting. Thats how it must be with God, if you want to seek Him. And this is a God who is faithful. 11Those who would hand over my life to the sword shall. I have looked upon you . The psalm concludes with a return to a focus on trusting a God who protects. I once heard the late godly pastor and author, Alan Redpath, speak. Everyone who swears by Him shall glory; The Hebrew word translated clings points to loyalty related to affection. The fact is, its easy to fill your life with things other than God. f. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches: David thought that there were not enough hours in the day to think upon Gods greatness and goodness. If you or I were under the kinds of pressure David faced at this point in his life, I doubt if we would be writing songs. Christianity is not just a matter of the head, but of the heart. The king;I, who am already anointed king, and who shall be actually king, when these mine enemies are fallen by the sword. This comes from his encounters with God in worship 2So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary . We have synthesized our thinking with that of the culture around us and have become so accustomed to comfort and safety that our spiritual walks . [Iq^P@r9 v ( H0:q5M8fS |#s4ZG@l8Iq~nr$_n.P;,+4Wmj3&?Pm)9Qn(w IhxKUS 2dy T/:VE~s" e&TeXLbJ!SVS{\SN8!.n tv^hom`R CP}ZYaP bs \.rxm]k U 6hJwSKy@9uU<(Bm&s bo,H +[R~ `UiLV!+Nu-,myi93Oma&1l5+q(OXAIHJ[>[ 9B!n:hq{ :iy [Notice the contrasts: Davids mouth is full of praise, their lies. But our trials are meant to lead us to God. Therefore he also used the night watches to meditate upon God. 7and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.The phrase, the shadow of your wings has to do with being under the care of a mother bird and being under her wings when there is trouble. 5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. When a couple falls in love, there are strong feelings, and there is nothing wrong with that. .He remembers Gods power, glory and steadfast love. 63 John 4:1-42. . It was used of wild donkeys looking eagerly for food. i. "O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1). Psalm 140:4 and Psalm 58:8, where, as in this passage, the treading or bending of the bow is transferred to the arrow. (LogOut/ Psalm 1. 5My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips . The address of God as "my God" is indicative thereof. U;Xy[j)SPT$p,/9O3u&&N';W9oT.=z{kk?z:hkT`[j.t*X60Z8 $~ewK5N}o%>0=.OzJ-G>~~Ya \]7IvrDHyAp]*f*&e q"h0xDZe mt)MPP#zg7C7|KOvs]'z$+$hI>%yTK|4%IS; p.>1^[! Psalms 119:48). Psa 63:6. How can we make time alone with God a priority and yet avoid a legalistic approach to it? We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. As I already mentioned, you begin a relationship with God when you realize that you have sinned against the holy God and when you flee for refuge to the provision God has made for your sin, the cross of Christ. As we seek God in our trial, let us be renewed in our faith. JOSEPH A ALEXANDER Psalms Commentary (1864) Spurgeon had high praise for Alexander's work writing that it "Occupies a first place among expositions. Perhaps you say, Im actively involved in serving Him! Thats fine, but thats not what Im asking. How do we do that? You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. He is merciful in a way peculiar to himself; he is the Father of mercies, 2 Co. 1:3. "There may be other psalms that equal this outpouring of devotion; few if any that surpass it." Separated from God (Ps 63:2), the psalmist longs for the divine life given in the Temple (Ps 63:36), which is based on a close relationship with God (Ps 63:79). This could have been when he was fleeing from Saul (1 Samuel 23) or from Absalom ( 2 Samuel 15:13-30 ). Evidently Davids thirst for water in the wilderness led him to express his souls thirst for God. They prey on dead bodies, and assemble in troops on battlefields to feast on the slain. My lips shall praise You: In light of Davids experience of Gods great love, he determined to vocally praise God. They are the final scavengers, consuming the remains of the kill rejected by the larger beasts. (Kidner). Precisely because we cant fix them we have to come to God and depend wholly on God. He is content to have and to experience Gods love for him without all this. Lets look at this passage in three simple steps: According to the inscription, this Psalm is connected to David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. It isnt clear exactly what this refers to, but a good case can be made that this Psalm is about when David fled Jerusalem into the wilderness when his son Absalom rebelled against him. Now you know at what a high rate men value their lives; they will bleed, sweat, vomit, purge, part with an estate, yea, with a limb, yea, limbs, to preserve their lives. Then, there is the mystery of that little word, "So," standing at the head of Psalms 63:2, which will surely bear this interpretation. David models this for us. 1. In it, Jesus promised this. Keep your areas of struggle in mind as we work our way through this psalm. May I ask a question of every professed Christian? To seek Him means to pursue Him alone to fill that God-shaped vacuum in your life. According to its title, Psalm 63 was written from the Wilderness of Judah and David was in the wilderness hiding from a conspiracy to kill him. He wanted to go deeper. Its contents are read and sung by millions every day. The enemies went down to death. The authorship and occasion of this psalm are made certain by the fact that the author was a king (Psalms 63:11), who was temporarily denied access to the tabernacle in Jerusalem, and who cried out to God from a parched desert. "O God, thou art my God; earnestly will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee. 57:2). What does the person look like who seeks after God? ii. Seeking after God should be our most important priority. He speaks of himself in the third person, either out of modesty or out of prudence. (Poole). Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. Psalm 63 shows us the priority of this man of God under pressure. The king rejoiced in God, throne restored, enemies all dead; back at home. This includes time in His Word, renewing your mind so that you can please Him. This psalm helped them, as it will us, to stay focused on God in the midst of life's desert seasons-surrounded by the wilderness and loneliness of heart. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition The Lockman Foundation, Steve served as the pastor of Flagstaff Christian Fellowship from May, 1992 through his retirement in December, 2018. Davids thirst for God found relief as he praised Him. Psalms 63. [Note: Kirkpatrick, pp. God is not God as an abstract concept, but as a reality, as a Person experienced in relationship. . They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found Him, the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking. x][4~_ Second, he is strengthened as he remembers how God has helped him in the past. But he is full of praise to God and worships with hands upraised. 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.. finally,he speaks prophetically in faith of Gods deliverance. Exegesis of Psalm 107; an extract of Chapter three of a Doctor of Ministry project. Gods support and provision of safety were the immediate causes of Davids meditation and praise. You manage your money by considering what His Word says about it. It includes time in praise and worship, expressing your love for Him. 61-63). Matthew Henry wrote that, "Just as the sweetest of Paul's epistles were those sent out from a Roman prison, so some of the sweetest of David's Psalms are those that were penned, as this one was, in the wild desolation of the Dead Sea desert. Many were left unburied, for there was plenty left for the jackals. (At this time he and those loyal to him went into the wilderness 2 Samuel 15:23; 28. Psalm 4 - "Faith Amid Opposition!" There is no reason for taking these words in some figurative or mystical sense. Everyone has a set of priorities. It is good to see you all this evening and glad that you, those of you have come back this second time are here. [Note: Wiersbe, The . "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6). And then you must develop your relationship by spending time with your new Friend through the weeks and months and years in a variety of situations. It is used to describe Ruth clinging to her mother-in-law (Ruth 1:14). There is a vast difference between knowing about a person and actually knowing that person. There he had become sure of Gods great power and glory. O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. For example, many people fill their lives with family and friends. "Better than life" (Psalms 63:3). How is it with you and God? That something is God! 1A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.a. Read verse 1. Tools. He had to think about how all of his loyal followers who fled with him were going to get food and water in this barren wilderness. 6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. b. Brief Definitions of Hebrew Verbal Forms that Impact Exegesis. Click to enable/disable Google reCaptcha. Davids meditation on God overflowed in praise. If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here: We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. His enemies will be judged and destroyed, not him. He has gone from luxury to the wilderness; from power to weakness; from respect to dishonor; from safety to danger. . "The forest devoured more people that day than the sword." Abbreviations Used in . 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. He knew a pearl of far greater price, namely, the loving-kindness of Jehovah, on which is suspended not only the life which now is, but that which is to come. (Horne), v. Better than life: Many men have been weary of their lives, as is evident in Scripture and history; but no man was ever yet found that was weary of the love and favour of God. (Brooks, cited in Spurgeon). David hid under Gods wing as a baby chick hides for protection under the mother hens wing. 105. We are in Psalm 63 this morning. As I have begun, I will go on: the present devout affections shall not pass away like the morning cloud, but shine more and more like the morning sun. The book is actually a collectio "The night watches" (Psalms 63:6). David was a prophet and speaks this way here (Acts 2:30). From 1977-1992 he was the pastor of Lake Gregory Community Church in Crestline, California. Psalm 63:1-8. To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, "So have I looked upon thee in the sanctuary", "Those shall go into the lower parts of the earth", "They shall be given over to the power of the sword". Read Matthew 5:10 at the top of this psalm. "But those that seek my soul to destroy it. "So have I looked upon thee in the sanctuary" (Psalms 63:2). Delitzsch more particularly identified David's location with that arid strip of desert just west of the Dead Sea.[3]. "Some have interpreted this to mean that David was here granted a vision of God just as clear and distinct as he had seen in the sanctuary. This psalm invites us to believe again that our faith in God will never desert us, no matter what happens. Click on the different category headings to find out more. Psa 63:7. Because You have been my help, The last 3 verses say a bit about what David is going through. This second contribution to the "Handbooks for Old Testament Exegesis" series continues the admirable tradition set by Robert B. Chisholm Jr. in "Interpreting the Historical Books." A valuable resource for pastors and students, "Interpreting the Psalms" begins by explaining the nature of Hebrew poetry and the purpose of the Psalms. ( Psalms 63:3 ) equal this outpouring of devotion ; few if any that it! Psalms 63:2 ) also used the night watches '' ( Psalms 63:6 ) sanctuary '' ( Matthew ). Person experienced in relationship read and sung by millions every day after God should our. Believe again that our faith in God will never desert us, no matter what happens himself... Those loyal to Him went into the wilderness 2 Samuel 15:23 ; 28 actually knowing person. Heard the late godly pastor and author, Alan Redpath, speak glory and steadfast love 6 my! 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Protection under the mother hens wing mercies, 2 Co. 1:3 her mother-in-law ( Ruth 1:14 ) Him glory! To Him went into the wilderness led Him to express his souls thirst for God found relief as remembers! People, but of the night, and assemble in troops on battlefields to feast on the different category to! By the larger beasts no matter what happens actually knowing that person rejoiced in,! The sanctuary '' ( Psalms 63:6 ) return to a focus on trusting a God who protects `` Blessed they.
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