The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"my God," Hebrew Eli (אֵלִי). See how the verse opens the whole matter: "O God, thou art my God." Before he speaks of thirst at all, he lays hold of relationship. This is not a distant deity but One already his own, so that the longing which follows is not the cry of a man who has never known God but of one who has tasted Him and wants more.

"early will I seek thee," ashachareka (אֲשַׁחֲרֶךָּ), from shachar, dawn, to seek earnestly and early. The word carries both meanings at once, at the dawn and in earnest. The thirsty soul does not seek God lazily or last of all, but first, at daybreak, with the urgency of a man who must have water; what we seek early reveals what we truly thirst for.

"thirsteth," tzam'ah (צָמְאָה). In the literal desert David's body knows real thirst, and he lets it teach his soul. A lesser man would think only of the discomfort; David reads the craving of his flesh as a signpost to a deeper craving and turns even his hardship into worship.

"longeth," kamah (כָּמַהּ), faints, yearns. "My flesh longeth for thee." The second verb is even more bodily than the first, a fainting after God. Our ordinary appetites are meant to teach us that we are made to need, and that the deepest need of all is God Himself.

"dry and thirsty land," eretz-tziyyah ve'ayef (אֶרֶץ־צִיָּה וְעָיֵף), a parched and weary land. This is where he prays, "a dry and thirsty land, where no water is", hunted and far from home. The outward drought becomes a picture of the inward one, and the desert itself preaches to him.

Explanation

Notice how David lets his circumstances preach to him. He is in "a dry and thirsty land, where no water is", a real, physical desert, hunted and far from home, and his body feels the genuine ache of thirst that a waterless wilderness produces. A lesser soul would think only of the discomfort. David does something wiser: he lets the thirst of his flesh become a parable of the thirst of his soul. "My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee", he reads his physical craving as a signpost to a deeper craving, and turns even his hardship into worship. This is a gift the believer can learn: our ordinary appetites, hunger, thirst, weariness, are meant to teach us that we are made to need, and that the deepest need of all is God Himself. And see how the verse opens the whole matter, "O God, thou art my God." Before he speaks of thirst at all, he lays hold of relationship, this is not a distant deity but "my God," already his own. The thirst is not the cry of someone who has never known God, but the deeper longing of one who has tasted Him and now, in the drought, wants more. Finally, "early will I seek thee", the word carries both meanings, at the dawn and earnestly. The thirsty soul does not seek God lazily or last of all, but first, at daybreak, with the urgency of a man who must have water. What we seek early reveals what we truly thirst for.

Gospel Focus

"My soul thirsteth for thee... in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is", the thirst of Psalm 63 finds its fountain in Jesus Christ, who is the living water for every parched soul. He stood and cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink" (John 7:37), and to the woman at the well He said, "whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). The dry land where no water is pictures a world that cannot satisfy the soul, and the thirst David felt is the thirst every heart carries, whether it knows the name of it or not, the thirst for God. And wonderfully, the One who quenches our thirst first thirsted for us: on the cross Jesus cried, "I thirst" (John 19:28), bearing the drought our sin deserved so that we might drink freely. The gospel's invitation is exactly this psalm's longing answered: "let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). So do not try to slake the soul's thirst at the dry cisterns of this world; seek Christ early, thirst for Him, and come and drink. He is the living water, and in Him the thirsty soul shall never thirst again.

Word Study

"lovingkindness," Hebrew chasdekha (חַסְדֶּךָ), thy steadfast covenant love. Out of his thirst David names the one thing he most wants, and it is God's covenant love. This is the treasure the whole valuation of the verse is built on.

"better than life," tov meichayyim (טוֹב מֵחַיִּים). One of the boldest valuations in all of Scripture. Life is the one asset we normally treat as priceless, the thing we will give away money, comfort, and possessions to keep; and David, in a desert where his life is genuinely in danger, says God's steadfast love is worth more. A man who values God's love above his own life cannot ultimately be threatened.

"bless thee," avarekhekha (אֲבָרֶכְךָ). Such a treasure calls forth wholehearted worship: "Thus will I bless thee while I live." The valuation does not stay a private opinion; it comes out as praise.

"lift up my hands," essa khappai (אֶשָּׂא כַפָּי). The body joins the soul. Lifted hands are the posture of a man both surrendering and reaching, and they are lifted "in thy name", not toward any lesser help.

"marrow and fatness," chelev vadeshen (חֵלֶב וָדֶשֶׁן), the richest, fattest portions. The man who began the psalm parched now says his soul is "satisfied as with marrow and fatness", the richest food at the feast. A soul that has found something better than life is not impoverished but full.

"joyful lips," siftei renanot (שִׂפְתֵי רְנָנוֹת). Notice what this supreme valuation produces: not something grim or ascetic, but gladness. The world imagines that treasuring God above life would be a bleak thing; David shows it is the fullest, gladdest satisfaction a human being can know.

Explanation

Weigh the sheer size of the claim in verse 3, for it is one of the boldest valuations in all of Scripture: "thy lovingkindness is better than life." Think about what life is worth to us. Life is the thing we instinctively rank above everything else; we will give away money, comfort, possessions, even limbs, to keep it. As the old accusation in Job put it, "all that a man hath will he give for his life" (Job 2:4). Life is the one asset we normally treat as priceless, the bottom line beneath which nothing is negotiable. And David, in a desert where his life is genuinely in danger, says there is something worth more even than that: the chesed, the steadfast love, of God. He has found the single treasure that outranks life itself. That changes everything, for a man who values God's love above his own life cannot ultimately be threatened; take his life, and you have not taken his greatest possession. And notice what this supreme valuation produces, it is not grim or ascetic, but overflowing with gladness: "my lips shall praise thee... I will lift up my hands... my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips." A soul that has found something better than life is not impoverished but "satisfied as with marrow and fatness", the richest food at the feast. The world imagines that treasuring God above life would be a bleak, joyless thing; David shows it is the very opposite, the fullest, gladdest satisfaction a human being can know.

Gospel Focus

"Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee", the love of God that is better than life is poured out to us fully in Jesus Christ, and it makes His people able to hold even their lives loosely. God's chesed has been shown at its highest in Christ, "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8), a love "which passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19). And because that love is better than life, those who know it can say with Paul, "to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21), and can refuse to love their lives "unto the death" (Revelation 12:11), for they possess something greater than life already. The satisfaction David tasted "as with marrow and fatness" is the joy Christ gives, "that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11), and the feast He spreads for the hungry soul, "he hath filled the hungry with good things" (Luke 1:53). Nothing this world offers can rival the love of God in Christ; it is better than life, better than every earthly good, and it satisfies the soul as nothing else can. So make David's valuation your own: prize the lovingkindness of the Lord above life itself, and let your lips overflow with joyful praise, for in Christ you have found the one treasure worth more than everything.

Word Study

"followeth hard after," Hebrew daveqah (דָּבְקָה), from dabaq, to cleave, cling, hold fast, the word for a man cleaving to his wife (Genesis 2:24). This is our part in the verse, and the word is strong. It is not a casual, occasional interest in God but a clinging, pursuing, holding-fast, the soul chasing after God the way a desperate man chases water in a desert.

"after thee," achareka (אַחֲרֶיךָ). The object of the pursuit is not God's gifts or God's rescue but God Himself. "My soul followeth hard after thee" -- nothing short of His own person will satisfy the thirst of verse 1.

"thy right hand," yeminekha (יְמִינֶךָ). The hand of strength. Against David's clinging grip the verse sets a far greater one, and the order matters: it is not that David holds on and therefore God supports him, as if his grip came first and earned it.

"upholdeth me," tamekhah bi (תָּמְכָה בִּי), holds me, grasps me, sustains me. Here is the wonder: even while David is cleaving hard after God, God is already holding him up. The pursuing soul is a sustained soul, and the very strength to cling comes from the hand that clings back. The hand that matters most is not our grip on God but His grip on us.

Explanation

This little verse contains the whole secret of the life with God, in two clauses that must be kept together. The first is our part: "My soul followeth hard after thee." The word is strong, dabaq, "to cleave," the very verb used of a husband cleaving to his wife, "shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). This is not a casual, occasional interest in God, but a clinging, pursuing, holding-fast, the soul chasing after God the way a desperate man chases water in a desert. And yet, read on, and the second clause quietly overturns any pride we might take in our own pursuit: "thy right hand upholdeth me." Here is the wonder, and the order matters. It is not that David clings to God and therefore God holds him, as if his grip came first and earned God's support. It is that even while David is cleaving hard after God, God is already holding him up. The pursuing soul is a sustained soul; the very strength to cling comes from the hand that clings back. Put the two together and you have the whole balance of grace: we truly do "follow hard after" God, with real effort and real longing, and yet the whole time our following is held up, carried, made possible by His right hand beneath us. We hold to God because He is holding us. So when your soul feels weak in the pursuit, remember, the hand that matters most is not your grip on God but His grip on you, and that hand does not let go.

Gospel Focus

"My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me", this twofold truth of clinging and being upheld is the believer's life in Jesus Christ, who both draws us and keeps us. We follow hard after God, yet only because He first drew us, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44); our pursuit is itself His gift, "for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do" (Philippians 2:13). And the right hand that upholds us is the almighty grip of Christ, from which none can be lost: "neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:28), for we are "kept by the power of God through faith" (1 Peter 1:5). The believer's security does not finally rest on the strength of his own hold on Christ, which wavers, but on the strength of Christ's hold on him, which never fails; "he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him" (2 Timothy 1:12). So cleave to the Lord Jesus with all your soul, follow hard after Him, and when your grip trembles, rest in this: His right hand upholds you. He who began the good work will finish it, and the hand that holds you will bring you home. Follow hard; you are held fast.