Because thy lovingkindness is better than life. Matthew Lawrence, in "The Use and Practice of Faith, "1657. “To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.” Well, then, let us go to the sanctuary again, or make the place where we are a sanctuary. God helps his people; namely, to. —In Psa 63:1-8 verses the writer expresses his holy desires after God, and his confidence in him, and then in Psa 63:9-11 remaining three verses he prophesies the overthrow of all his enemies. 1. Ver. 7. Remember--and meditate. It delights not in grumbling, reproaching, or scolding. Ver. The soul's support. The benefit of it, first, is very great; yea, in effect all things else. If day's cares tempt us to forget God, it is well that night's quiet should lead us to remember him. 1. "Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible". It may be, moreover, that the king heard the voices of the sentries as they relieved guard, and each time he returned with renewed solemnity to his meditations upon his God. Let this be the resolution of both saved and unsaved. Following hard after God is expressive of ardent and intense desires. The meditation of anything hath more sweetness in it than bare remembrance. 1. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. Parkhurst, considering the "hand" to be the chief organ or instrument of man's power and operations, and properly supposing the word to be thence used very extensively by the Hebrews for power, agency, dominion, assistance, and the like, regards the lifting up of men's hands in prayer, as an emblematical acknowledging of the power, and imploring of the assistance, of their respective gods. Satan did so, and once and again caused him to stumble and fall. Ver. And sometimes the distance is long, and the progress up hill, and the road rough, and the weather unfriendly, and enemies would thrust us back; and sometimes we lose sight of him, and ask those we meet: "Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" 8. Ver. They that take the sword shall perish with the sword; bloody men shall feel their own life gushing forth from them, when their evil day shall at last come, and they shall be given up to feel in their own persons the horrors of death. 10. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/spe/psalms-63.html. Surely it intends much more than a languid, inert inclination; or "the desire of the slothful which killeth him, because his hands refuse to labour." In the bed, of choice, rather than anywhere else, where I am left to my, liberty. See Psalms on "Psalms 63:1" for further information. 1. ), Twelve Sermons (on Psalms 63:1-8) in "Sermons on various Practical Subjects. 130-4. O Well beloved, why dost thou pain a poor soul with delays? The forty-fifth was on the lilies, and represented the kingly warrior in his beauty going forth to war; here we see him dividing the spoil and bearing testimony … Thou hast been not only my helper, but my help, for we could never have helped ourselves, nor could any creature have been helpful to us but by him. This Psalm may be regarded as THE PREFACE PSALM, having in it a notification of the contents of the entire Book. Henry Hammond. let me never even dream that any one dear to me has fallen by the sword, and lies there to be torn, and gnawed at, and dragged about by these hideous howlers. The sight of God was enough for him, but nothing short of that would content him. Believers may also conclude from the divine promise that their souls shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. Although the great assize is reserved for another world, yet even here, at the common sessions of providence, justice often bares her avenging sword in the eyes of all the people. In Elohim, the true idea of the root is that of awe, while the adjectival form implies permanency. When he was in the Desert of Judah 1 O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; My soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Ordinances without God are but like bones that have no marrow in them; they are but like shells without a kernel. My lips shall praise thee. II. II. ... C H Spurgeon. Ver. William Strong(--1654), in the "Saints' Communion.". When the wilderness caused David weariness, discomfort, and thirst, his flesh cried out in unison with the desire of his soul. I. 7. Important duties too much neglected: "Remembering, II. But those that seek my soul, to destroy it. My lips. And there is that in a gracious soul, which takes abundant satisfaction in God, and in communion with him. In his hour of desolation he looks up from the desert to heaven. Ver. Seventhly, and lastly, with his intellect: And meditate on thee in the night watches. It is the psalmist's desire to teach us the way to blessedness, and to warn us of the sure destruction of sinners. As a place of choice. When I remember thee upon my bed. A view of the divine glory crucifies our lusts, and puts the corruptions of our heart to death. Ver. He must give himself to the single soul with as absolute a completeness as if there were no other being besides it, and, on his side, man knows that this gift of himself by God is thus entire; and in no narrow spirit of ambitious egotism, but as grasping and representing the literal fact, he cries, "My God." Is it not against the law of nature that men should become beasts' meat; yea, the meat of such beasts as are carrion, and not man's meat? A lamentable spectacle to see the vilest of all creatures ravenously feast themselves with the flesh of the noblest, and irrespectively hale and tear in pieces the caskets which whilome enclosed the richest jewel in the world. Spurgeons's The Treasury of David". 3. In case of excessive weariness, contracted to the body from some occasion (this is, often put accidentally in Scripture), "To commune with, our hearts upon our bed, "etc., the occasion of it, here; it may fall out that the bed may be the fittest. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life. His eye grew dim, his colour was changed, and his mind was weakened; and therefore, as used by the psalmist, implies the utmost intenseness of fervency of desire, as though it almost impaired his sight, altered the very hue of his body, and even injured his understanding; effects sometimes of eager and unsatisfied desires. We might paraphrase, "O thou Ever awful One, my Strength, or my Strong God art thou." Psalm 63 allows us to peer into the heart of this man after God’s own If we say “O God, thou art my God,” it brings out the possession which the believer has in God. When he was in the Desert of Judah. 3. This was another way in which David expected to have his soul feasted. I. They form not their verbs, as our western languages do, in the present tense, but they begin at that which is past. "Kindness" to needy, helpless, lost. The soul's pursuit after God. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. There were three night watches: the first (La 2:19); the middle (Jude 7:19); the third, or morning watch (Exodus 19:24, 1 Samuel 2:11). We see best in the dark if we there see God best. 4. Their former experience of the Lord's satisfying them, may also encourage believers to hope that he will again satisfy them, as with marrow and fatness. The text is an expression not only of faith, but likewise of obedience, and so to be looked upon by us. Because thou hast been MY help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. O God, thou art my God. I will lift up my hands. Praising God In Bad Times. Who shall divide us from his love? God giveth the upper and the nether springs. Ver. Joy in the Fellowship of God - A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. This made David long to be in the sanctuary when he was in the wilderness; and why so? Ver. This is a serious word; pity it should ever be used as a byword. Peter Damiano (988-1072). Ver. Ver. THE COMPLETE WORKS OF C. H. SPURGEON Within this set you can access other study helps [ bible, theology, commentary, sermons, and more ]. This Psalm is peculiarly suitable for the bed of sickness, or in any constrained absence from public worship. And the desires of a truly renewed soul are not sluggish and ineffectual; they lead him to the use of all appointed means, and to the exertion of his utmost endeavours till the object be attained. Ver. Believers grow in their knowledge of the divine character in the sanctuary, by observing and feeling the application of those great doctrines to the souls of men, by the power and influence of the Holy Spirit. I. Divers are the lives, but better is thy life than our lives. Ver. But, alas! It follows. Psalm 73 – “My Feet Almost Slipped” The title of this psalm (A Psalm of Asaph) tells us that it was written by the great singer and musician of David and Solomon’s era (1 Chronicles 15:17-19, 16:5-7, 25:6). Spurgeon Sermons, Complete Set Browse the complete set of Charles Spurgeon’s 63 volumes of sermons below by expanding a section as you go, or perform a search here. why standest thou aloof? 4. There is more encouragement in the least blessing bestowed upon ourselves than in the greatest blessing bestowed upon a stranger; and, therefore, on every account we may safely say, that a whole library of biographical books, and those relating exclusively to righteous individuals, could not so minister to the assurance of a believer as the documents which his own memory can furnish. (first clause). The Lord also satisfies the souls of his people, by filling them with the Spirit. Then his words are found, and they eat them; and his word is the joy and rejoicing of their hearts... 5. Because the expressions of his love demand praise. I. 1. Matthew Henry. One hath chosen for himself a life of business, another a country life, another a life of usury, another a military life; one this, another that. IV. Joseph Francis Thrupp, in "An Introduction to the Study and Use of the Psalms, "1860. The word is ordinarily applied to water. Else he would not have followed the Lord with constancy, or even have longed after him. Ver. Jacob dug a well near to Sychar, which was afterwards called Samaria, and as the woman of Samaria said, "drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle, " John 4:12. Jeremiah 14:1-22; Philippians 4:9. Ver. Thomas Horton. To know the true God was to know that such a craving was satisfied. These views of the divine glory in the sanctuary arm us for our conflict with the last enemy. 63 O God, you are my God; t earnestly I seek you; u my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in v a dry and weary land where there is no water. An unknown good, be it ever so desirable in itself, cannot be the object of desire. The armies encountered in the wood of Ephraim, across the Jordan; there was "a greater slaughter that day of twenty thousand men; ""and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured." Around her throne he places seven members of his body and faculties of his mind, as the seven chief angels... who stand before the Lord, that they may praise and admire her; these are his lips, his tongue, his hands, his will, his mouth, his memory, and his intellect. The soul overflows, Ver. Ver. Fifthly, with his mouth: And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. My flesh longeth for thee; by the two words soul and flesh, he denotes the whole of his being. Thomas Le Blanc. There are two ways especially in which God is blest of his creatures. Yes, but not as in the sanctuary; and therefore he saith, To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary; there I have seen thee otherwise than ever elsewhere; there he saw the king upon his throne and in his glory. Describe the nature of, and show the intimate connection between. 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