New Psalm of the Month: Psalm 63
Psalm 63 is prefaced by the divinely inspired words A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. There are thirteen Psalms in the Psalter that begin with this kind of historical note. Hebrew scholar Mark Futato argues that these superscriptions (titles before the Psalm begins) aren’t necessarily original, but that they are canonical. This means that they’re a part of God’s holy word and help us to interpret the Psalm more fully by providing historical background.
The background to Psalm 63 is 1st Samuel 23-24. In those chapters, David and around 600 of his men are fleeing from the hand of the wicked king, Saul. They move from wilderness to wilderness, cave to cave, wherever they can go (1 Sam. 23:13) to escape Saul’s reach. Saul, threatened by David, wants to put him to death despite his innocence. David’s innocence is so clear that even Saul’s son, Jonathan, sides with David in the conflict with his father (1 Sam. 23:17). Perhaps it was from the crag of a rock that David penned the words of Psalm 63:7-8, “For you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”
If we were to categorize this Psalm into a particular genre within the Psalter, it would be a Psalm of confidence. This falls somewhere between a lament (where the Psalmist is crying out because of the disorienting circumstances of life), and a Psalm of thanksgiving (where the Psalmist is rejoicing over deliverance from evil). The Psalms of confidence teach us to pray in the midst of trials. David was on the run; death was closing in through the hand of Saul’s army. Nevertheless, David could sing, “Your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” (Ps. 63:3) Even amid his wilderness wanderings, David continued to worship Yahweh, and to trust in him.
How could David continue to praise God despite being treated like a fugitive? Because he believed that God’s steadfast love was better than life! In other words, the source of David’s joy wasn’t whether he slept on a bed of roses or a rock, but that God – the Rock – was his refuge. He didn’t tie God’s steadfast love to his external circumstances but believed that the LORD was with him even in the wilderness. For David, God’s sure love was better than all the comforts of the world.
Do you believe God is with you when you find yourself in “the wilderness”? When comforts are stripped away, and people are against you. When you’re slandered or mistreated by others. It’s there that we’re tempted to cry out, “What gives, God – Don’t you love me?” This Psalm reminds us that he does indeed. It helps us to rise up, even during our trials, and declare a hearty trust in the God who upholds all things, including us (Ps. 63:8). As New Covenant believers, we sing this Psalm of confidence with the assurance that even in the desert, God provides the water of life to his children through Christ (Ps. 63:1 cf. Jn. 4:14). He gives the rich food of Christ’s body to satisfy our souls during the earthly pilgrimage (Ps. 63:5, cf. Jn. 6:54-56), so that with David we can praise the Lord.