But my God, early will I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in the dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I was seeing thee in the cemetery. Because my lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be set aside as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. And I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the nightwatches, because thou hast been my help. Therefore, in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. My soul, for if hard after thee, thy right hand upholdeth me. those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go down into the lower parts of the earth they shall fall by the sword they shall be the portion of foxes but the king shall rejoice in god everyone that swears by him shall glory but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped so reads god's word psalm 63 is a continuation of our study and it's been a challenge in my heart studying these last few psalms. It's quite wonderful as we look into God's word and discover the truths therein. Psalm 63 is close not only numerically but in thoughts and in spirit to psalms 62 and 61 and also to psalm 64 which God will reveal at a later date David here as the title indicates he's in the wilderness of Judah some commentators think he may have been in the wilderness fleeing from Saul and then they also suggest more certainty when he's fleeing from Absalom his son because we read there that in verse 11 he says, but the king, he's talking about himself, David, but the king, we know he was only king when Absalom was pursuing him. He wasn't king when Saul was pursuing David. So time where David is in great distress, as we considered briefly a previous study. As you know, Absalom, he spent four years running the people over to his side. He sat in the city gate, and anyone with a problem, he said, come to me and I'll be a judge, and I will give you wisdom, and I will give you judgment on your problems. And he won over the hearts of many people. He was estranged from David, his father, and Absalom's plan was to be king. That was his desire. And Jerusalem and upon the throne. And Absalom was advised that as he made that move, not to pursue David into the wilderness. God restrained him. And that was his downfall. If Absalom actually pursued David when David fled from Jerusalem, he feared that Absalom would put the city to the sword. David feared that It would be a great disaster for the people of Jerusalem. So he and his faithful men flee to the wilderness of Judah, which is beyond Jordan. And that place is a wilderness. It's barren, it's bleak, it's very hot and very dry. And this psalm here is David's desire to have fellowship with God. Some years ago, I read a book, by a military group called the Long-Range Desert Group. They were a group of men who went behind the enemy lines during the Second World War. They were based in Egypt, and they were fighting the Italians and the Germans in Libya, and the region of Chabuk, et cetera. And one of their missions, early missions, they traveled many, many miles in the desert under a man called Ralph Bagnall. He was an explorer, He was a desert explorer in the early years before the war started and he devised means to travel across the Sand Sea. And he got a group of men together, made a bag of bonds they seemed to have been, and they had no equipment. And when he started, he told his men, we need tents. This became his list, his big shopping list. their mark and got all their equipment. And their first mission was to go and destroy so many enemy aircrafts up there in Libya. And they did that. They traveled many, many miles across the desert. They destroyed the airplanes. They navigated with a sun compass. Their eyes were bagged and others. And part of the team got left behind and the enemy came along in their aircraft, found them and shot their vehicles. Only three men survived in that vehicle. And these three men had no choice but to walk in the desert. And they just split their hearts and minds to get back to their base, which was hundreds of miles away. They had a very limited water supply. And as they began to walk, one was injured. I think he got shot in the throat, if I remember rightly. And they just walked and walked. And one of them was secretly drinking and to cross the desert. What do they think about? What do they think about as they journeyed? Do they think about comforts of home, nice beds, nice food? No, all they thought about was water. That was their consuming passion. They needed water to survive. And that's a picture of David here. He has one foot. And it's not water, it's not the comforts of the palace, it's not the security and all that he knows in Jerusalem. The one thought in his heart is fellowship with God. That's all he's consumed with, fellowship with God. And I wonder tonight, what are we consumed with? What are you being consumed with this week? Is it making money? Is it legitimate? Is it making good friendships? Is it beautifying our houses, our gardens, making plans for our holidays? A myriad of things can draw our attention away from this basic concept that David has here of seeking God. Verse one he says, Oh God, thou art my God. And the word there God is the word Yahweh, which is the Lord God, the God of Israel. So that first word there, oh God, he's declared that God is the national God of Israel. That is the religion of the people, the Jews. There's also, my God in that is, he's the God of Israel. You have two thoughts there. He's the national God. but he's also a personal God, Israel, Jacob. And we can likewise with David, oh God, thou art my God. Because God has touched our hearts and has revealed himself to us in the scriptures and in his son, the Lord Jesus. And it's wonderful to have that assurance as David has here, thou art my God. And each of us can declare that from our hearts that this God is my God you know this personal living relationship with God and it's alive but David is active and he wants to progress he wants to know more of God so he says early that word early has two meanings in the Hebrew it can mean it means before the dawn before the dawn rises David is up He's seeking God. It shows his commitment, his zeal for the knowledge of God. He says, early will I seek thee. The word there, seek, is an interesting word. It means to seek with diligence, to seek not just in a random manner. You go to my workshop in my garage. It's full of tools and bits of rubbish and all sorts. And often I need something. I know it's in there, but I've got to seek for it. I can't remember where I put it. It's buried somewhere. And you're moving things all the time. This is the sense of his word here. It's a methodical seeking. Seeking with a desire. This is what David has. He has this desire to seek and to know God. He already knows God, but he wants this relationship to be deeper and to be more deeper as he contemplates his God and his situation. This psalm has been used often in the church, Orthodox churches, as a psalm of the morning. But David also speaks here of the night season, in verse six, and I'll remember thee upon my bed, I meditate upon thee in the night watches. David, he has sleepless nights. It's a blessing, isn't it, to have a good night's sleep to be refreshed. Have you ever considered it's a blessing to have a sleepless night? We don't think that way, do we? We think, oh, it's a bit restless. So much going on in my head, so many thoughts running around, the little mole hills of the day, the little problems we have. At night, some have become big mountains, insurmountable. But David, he uses those night seasons to meditate upon God's opportunity for him to seek God and to understand his ways. But I remember thee upon my bed and meditate. He's pondering, he's ruminating upon the promises and the words of God. He's remembering and he's thinking of God's glory and God's salvation. He's thinking of these wonderful aspects of the character of God. These previous signs we looked at, 61, 62, we looked at 63, and God willing, sometime 64. 61 and 64 seem to give us a sense of David finding shelter and refuge in God. 62 and 63 takes us more into a sanctuary, into a secret place with God. And it's wonderful to see how David works out this relationship with the Lord in his problems, maybe even his feeling that the night season was the whole of his experience at this present time, it was dark, it was depressing, yet he still remembers his God. And that's a good lesson for us to take home tonight, that when we're distressed and perplexed and when we're downhearted, when we are broken, let's follow David's example. and meditate upon the Word of God. Let's be earnest and seek, with all our being, to know God. David says, also in verse one, he says, my soul thirsteth for thee. He has a real yearning to know God in an experimental way. It's nice to have doctrine, it's good to have doctrine, but we want to see more than that. We want to see this living relationship with the living God. David has a real soul first, for thee, for God. As we have a first for water, and a hunger for food, David's saying, my soul, my inner being, the real me, hungers for God. It's important, he's saying to himself, that I should know this God, and to know him, experimentally to know God in his fullness and his soul thirsts for him. Do you have that thirst tonight? I don't. To my shame, I dare say most of us, we don't have this thirst, this real longing to know God, to know God to come amongst us, amongst us as individuals, as families, as a church, that God would reveal himself. My flesh longeth for me in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. It's saying, I can't live without you. I can't live without your presence and without your blessing, where no water is. And he says to the Lord, to see my power and my glory. Is that not our heart's desire? To see God's power and his glory. I think as Roger the other week said, if God was to send revival, could we cope with it? Interesting question. Now being small as we are, resources as they are, could we cope with revival? I think Judy said to me, I think it was yesterday, we can, because in days of revival, God gives the strength and the resources to deal and to cope with the pressures that such an event would bring upon the church. And David knows this, to see my power, my glory, so as I've seen thee in the sanctuary. He's obviously seen this in the sanctuary, this deep experience of God. And he longs for that to continue in the wilderness. David wasn't concerned about the palace. He was concerned about the presence of God, for we know that the Shekinah glory dwelt in the tabernacle, in the sanctuary. That's where God resided. That's where the Jews came for fellowship with God. But we can go one step further, can't we? In the New Testament, as 21st century Christians. The tabernacle of God is now with man. God dwells in our heart by his spirit. We don't need to go to Jerusalem or some holy shrine for God dwells within us. That's a blessing to know that the Lord God dwells within us by the power of his spirit. What condescension, what grace that God should dwell within your heart and within mine. of God. He says in verse 3, because by loving kindness is better than life, because by chesed, because by tenderness, by mercy, by goodness is better than life. He's saying to be with God is better than life. Life is nothing without God and he's saying to the Lord there, by loving kindness And we can rehearse, can't we, in those night seasons, in the times of seeking, times of meditation. We can meditate upon the loving kindness of our God, upon his election, his predestination, his mercy, his sufferance on the carrot of his cross, all for his people, because by loving kindness, better than life. And because he realizes that kindness is beyond what he deserves, he says, my lips show praising. That is the natural upflowing of the heart, of a heart full of gratitude and wonder. My lips, he says, show praising. And that is why we're here. This is our chief event, to glorify God. and to enjoy him forever. This is why we're created. We're created to praise God and to glory in his loving kindness. Many people out there tonight are looking for satisfaction in one thing or another. But true satisfaction, true heart satisfaction is found in the person, in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and to know him. There's no greater satisfaction for a human heart to enter into. My lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in thy name. Thus will I bless thee? When we praise God, do we realize we're blessing God? What a thought that is. Thus will I bless thee while I live. While I live. It's now. Now is the time to praise. And I will lift up my hands in my name. And that lift up of hands is lift up in prayer, supplication. It shows that the true heart, his real character is coming submissively to his God. It's not coming demanding. He says, I will lift up my hands in my name. Verse five, he says, my soul shall be satisfied as with marrow, and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. My soul shall be satisfied. Do you not know this to be true in your own heart? When we come to worship, when we hear a sermon, when we sit under the word of God, do you not find it satisfies us? Sometimes, not so much in the present days, but in the past, I've been to worship, I've sat and listened to a sermon, morning and evening, I've come home dissatisfied because the preacher hasn't presented Christ. He hasn't presented the word of God. I just feel a little bit irritated and dissatisfied, but David here, he knows that through his seeking, his diligent seeking, he says, my soul shall be satisfied. How? As with marrow and fatness, There's a big spread, a big banquet. That's the picture he's given us here. There's an interesting verse in Exodus where Aaron and Moses, they're called up to be with the Lord on the mount and the 70 elders go with them and read there that they ate and they drank with God and God did not touch them. This is the picture here. Fellowship, it's no greater fellowship with a human being, is it? And to sit down and have a meal, to enjoy food and drink together. And again, in the book of Revelation, the Lord says, you know, that blessed are we who can eat, we can sup with him. That's the prospect. That could be now. It's future, it's bankrupt prepared for us, but it could be now. and we seek the Lord with all our heart. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and the door shall be opened unto you. Dave has this view of this marrow and fatness, and we know that fatness was the portion during the sacrifices given to the Lord. Meat was very scarce in those days, and even farmers at much meat, it was fun. Celebrations, I remember the prodigal son fasted, killed a fatty calf. Here David has this sense of being truly, truly satisfied with the Lord. And as a consequence of that, again, he says, my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. He's not just murmuring the words. It's a bit like calling, he's belling him out. He wants to express that gratitude unto his God. Again in verse six he says, well I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches. The Psalms, they're full of this instruction to meditate upon his Lord day and night. And that, as I've already said, is where our satisfaction lies. He says, because thou has been my help. Because thou has been my help. Again, he's, as we talked about in the previous psalm, he's looking upon what God has done in the past for him. He's known God to come to his aid. He's known God to come to be his help in the time of need. And he remembers these things. And that's a good lesson for us also. Remember what God has done for you thus far. Remember the promises. Jackie read out some of those promises to the ladies yesterday. I am with you always. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. As your days are, so your strength will be. And David is remembering what God has done in the past. Because thou has been, past tense, a help therefore in the shadow of thy wings. Will I rejoice? and his spirit is under the shadow of my wings, under the wings of Yahweh, under the wings of his God. Again, some commentators say these wings here refer to the wings of the cherubim over the mercy seat and the tabernacle, but we read here that can't be so. because that has been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings, God's wings, it's God who's giving that shelter, that shade from the heat of a day. Do you feel like the heat of a day bearing upon you? Pressures of life, family commitments, some weeks you just seem mental, don't they? There's so much going on and you feel the heat, you feel the pressure. A day didn't come, because he knows his God and he can come and he can shelter under the shadow of God's wings. What a privilege for you and I, for us tonight, to shelter under his wings. Apostle John, what did he do? He leaned upon the breast of the Lord to get the Last Supper. He was sheltering under his wings, a bosom of Christ, a place of warmth and comfort, a place of security. David has this real intimate relationship with God. One commentator says that this psalm is almost like a love letter to the Lord. It's full of compassion and desire, this fervent spirit to know his God in a deeper sense. Because that has been my help. Therefore, in the shadow of my wings, will I rejoice? He knows the security, he knows the truth of this, and it causes him to rejoice. This man is full of praise. Remember where he is. He's in the wilderness. He's in the desert. There's no water. No provisions probably. Life is difficult and hard yet the man rejoices. Maybe some of us feel like that sometimes. We're in a desert, a dry place. It should not stop us from rejoicing in our God. And he has a determination in God's sight. It says, my soul followeth heart after thee. My being, my life, followeth. You could say there as Adam cleaved to his wife. That's the sense of the word there. A sense of, Jacob says, unless you bless me, I won't let you go unless you bless me. It's this cleaving, this hugging, this real desire, my soul falling hard after people. This is a challenge, a challenge to us. Does your soul cleave hard after me? We cleave hard after other things, worldly possessions, our homes, We can go on, can't we? But are we cleaving hard after God? Are we cleaving? Are we longing for this deeper fellowship with our God? And it's not done on your own strength. We don't have the strength. We don't have the determination. We don't have the will. We're so weak. The Spirit is willing. But David gives us an encouragement in verse 8, verse B. As if the Lord comes alongside David and takes him by the hand and says, come on David, walk this way. And his hand upholds him. He leads him. David prayed another psalm to lead me to a rock that is higher than I. And so what the Lord does for us, he leads us in the paths of righteousness. When David turns his faults to his enemies, to his own son, but those that seek my soul to destroy it, shall go down into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword. They shall be the portion of foxes. Those who take up the sword will perish by the sword. Peter took a sword and struck the high priest here, the servant's high priest here. And the Lord said, this is not of my kingdom. My kingdom is not of flesh and blood. It's a spiritual kingdom. Our weapons of warfare are spiritual weapons. We are not to take up arms, or we will fall by them if we do. They say, those who seek my soul, who seek my life to destroy it, they shall go down to the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword. They shall be the portion of foxes. Their bones will be strewn on the battlefield. There'll be no one there to bury them, and the fox and the jackal will come and scourge upon their carcasses. And in David's mind, that's happened. That has happened. Those that seek my soul shall go down into lower parts of the earth. Because he has this confidence, he has this knowledge that he is safe under the shadow of the Lord's wings. as we close very quickly but the king shall rejoice in god the king this is david were we going to say even our lord jesus christ is this not a picture of him also in his days of trial and tribulation the days of his humiliation but he now sits at god's right hand but the king shall rejoice in god Everyone that's swearing by him shall glory, as you and I. There will be a day when we will glory in the great Messiah as he returns to this world to judge and to bring in a new heaven and a new earth. But the mouth of him that speak lies shall be stopped. That's a day, that's a prospect, that day looms ever nearer. We're one step nearer to glory. The days are short, and we have a responsibility, do we not, as the people of God who know these truths, to declare it, to make it known. Whoever we be, we are to speak a testament season. Because those who scoff may need to be warned. Those who mock need to be warned. their mouths will be stopped for the Lord will come and he will usher in his kingdom. So may the Lord bless those who spoke to us tonight. Let's pray that we have a real desire to know him as we contemplate this psalm tonight and let us turn now to a hymn book and sing. We have 632, nearer my God to thee, nearer to thee