My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up.
Parallel Translations
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My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up.
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My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
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(63-9) My soul cleaveth unto Thee; Thy right hand holdeth me fast.
Cross-references (19)
Passages linked to Psalms 63:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 41:10 Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
- Psalms 18:35 You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand sustains me. Your gentleness has made me great.
- Psalms 73:23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand.
- Song of Solomon 2:6 His left hand is under my head. His right hand embraces me.
- Psalms 37:24 Though he stumble, he shall not fall, for Yahweh holds him up with his hand.
- Psalms 73:25 Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you.
- Psalms 94:18 When I said, “My foot is slipping!” Your loving kindness, Yahweh, held me up.
- Isaiah 42:1 “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.
- Psalms 41:12 As for me, you uphold me in my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.
- Genesis 32:26-28 The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” Jacob said, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.” He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob”. He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
- Isaiah 26:9 With my soul I have desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me I will seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
- Philippians 2:12-13 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
- Colossians 1:29 for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
- 2 Chronicles 31:21 In every work that he began in the service of God’s house, in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
- Matthew 11:12 From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
- Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able.
- Luke 18:5-7 yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’ ” The Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says. Won’t God avenge his chosen ones who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
- Psalms 143:6-7 I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
- Song of Solomon 3:2 I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 8 My soul has cleaved hard after thee The…
8 My soul has cleaved hard after thee The Hebrew verb means also to apprehend, or follow, especially when in construction with the preposition which is here joined to it, and therefore we might very properly render the words, — My soul shall press or follow after thee. But even should the other translation be retained, the sense is, that David’s heart was devoted to God with steadfast perseverance. The phrase, after thee, is emphatical, and denotes that he would follow with unwearied constancy, long as the way might be, and full of hardships, and beset with obstacles, and however sovereignly God might himself seem to withdraw his presence. The latter clause of the verse may be taken as referring simply to the deliverance which he had previously mentioned as having been received. He had good reason to persevere, without fainting, in following after God, when he considered that he had been preserved in safety, up to this time, by the divine hand. But I would understand the words as having a more extensive application, and consider that David here speaks of the grace of perseverance, which would be bestowed upon him by the Spirit. To say that he would cleave to God, with an unwavering purpose, at all hazards, might have sounded like the language of vain boasting, had he not qualified the assertion by adding, that he would do this in so far as he was sustained by the hand of God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He assureth himself by the Spirit of God to…
He assureth himself by the Spirit of God to have the gift of constancy.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 63:8 My soul followeth hard after thee: thy…
Psa 63:8 My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
Ver. 8. My soul followeth hard after thee] Adhaesit anima mea post te. As hard as mine enemies do after me, even hard at heels, as we say; Sic trahit sua quemque voluptas. A Christian’s close cleaving to God is the continent cause of all his comfort. This we must beg of God, Jer 13:11, sc. that we may cleave to God with full purpose of heart, Act 11:23, and if he seem to withdraw, to follow him hot foot, and press his footsteps.
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Thy right hand upholdeth me] For otherwise I should faint and fail in the pursuit of thee; my short legs and pursy heart would never hold on.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Followeth hard after thee, i.e. pursueth thee eagerly, diligently,…
Followeth hard after thee, i.e. pursueth thee eagerly, diligently, and resolvedly, and as it were step by step, when thou seemest to run away from me; which is the emphasis of this Hebrew word. My soul and spirit cleaveth to thee, as this verb signifies, Gen 2:24; Jer 13:11, when my body is absent from thy sanctuary.
Upholdeth me: I do not lose my labour in following hard after thee; for though I am not, yet restored to the enjoyment of thy presence in thy house, yet I have present supports from thee, whereby my spirit is kept from fainting under my manifold pressures, and is enabled with faith and patience to wait upon thee, till thou seest fit to deliver me.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain My soul followeth hard after thee,.... In a way…
My soul followeth hard after thee,.... In a way of duty, and in the use of means; as prayer, meditation, &c. though at a distance from the house of God, and worship of it; that he might not lose sight of him; that he might know more of him, and have more communion with him; being drawn after him with the cords of love, and strongly affected to him. Or, "my soul cleaveth after thee", or "to thee" (t); not to the world, and the things of it; not to that which is evil, but to that which is good, even the "summum bonum"; not to the creature, but to the Lord; which is expressive of union to him, even such an one as is between man and wife, who cleave to each other, and are one flesh, Gen 2:24; and as is between head and members, vine and branches; see Co1 6:17; and of communion in the exercise of grace, and discharge of duty. To cleave to the Lord into hold to him, the head; to exercise the graces of faith, hope, and love upon him; and to follow him in his ways and worship; to abide by his truths; to attend his ordinances; to keep close to his people, and to adhere firmly to his cause and interest; see Act 11:23. The Targum is,
"my soul cleaveth after thy law;''
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thy right hand upholdeth me; that he fell not through the snares laid for him, and the stumbling blocks thrown in his way; that he stood and bore up under all his afflictions, temptations, and difficulties; that he was enabled to follow hard after the Lord, and cleave unto him; this supported, supplied, and protected him, even the mighty power and grace of God. In what a happy, comfortable, and safe condition must the psalmist be! his soul following hard after the Lord; and the Lord holding and sustaining him with his right hand! and how vain must be the attempts of his enemies against him! whose destruction is next predicted.
(t) "adhaesit post te", Montanus, Gejerus; "tibi adhaesit", Tigurine version; so Piscator, Michaelis.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. My soul followeth hard after thee] דבקה…
Verse 8. My soul followeth hard after thee] דבקה נפשי אחריך dabekah naphshi achareycha, "My soul cleaves (or) is glued after thee." This phrase not only shows the diligence of the pursuit, and the nearness of the attainment, but also the fast hold he had got of the mercy of his God.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 63:8. My soul followeth hard after thee —…
Psa 63:8. My soul followeth hard after thee — Pursues communion with thee, and a conformity to thee, with earnest, increasing, and restless desire, lively expectation, and unwearied diligence: follows thee resolvedly, and, as it were, step by step, when thou seemest to depart, and withdraw thyself from me, as the Hebrew phrase here used implies. My soul and spirit cleave, or adhere to thee, (as the word דבקה, dabekah, is rendered, Gen 2:24; Jer 13:11, and elsewhere,) even when my body is absent from thy sanctuary. Thy right hand upholdeth me — Supports and preserves me from sinking under the many trials and troubles which have lain, and still lie, heavy upon me; and upholds me in my devotions, maintaining holy desires in my heart, and preventing my being weary in thy service: so that I do not lose my labour in following hard after thee. Let us always remember we should fail and be weary of following the Lord, and certainly should not follow him fully, if his right hand did not uphold us. It is he that strengthens us in the pursuit of himself, that raises and supports good affections in us, and encourages and comforts us, while we are labouring after what we have not yet attained. It is by his power that we are kept from falling, and enabled to persevere in his ways. Let him therefore have the praise and glory!
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain My soul followeth hard after thee - The word…
My soul followeth hard after thee - The word used here - דבק dâbaq - means properly to cleave to; to adhere; to be glued to; to stick fast. Then it means to attach oneself to anything; and then, to pursue or follow after. The idea here is that of adhering to, or cleaving to; and the meaning is, that the psalmist adhered firmly to God, as pieces of wood glued together adhere to each other; that he, as it were, stuck fast to him; that he would not leave him or be separated from him. The language represents the feelings of true piety in adhering firmly and constantly to God, whatever there may be that tends to separate us from him. The adhesion of bodies by glue is a striking but not an adequate representation of the firmness with which the soul adheres to God. Portions of matter held together by glue may be separated; the soul of the true believer never can be separated from God.
Thy right hand upholdeth me - The right hand is that by which we accomplish anything; and, by constant use, is stronger than the left hand. Hence, the expression is equivalent to saying that God upheld him with all his strength. The meaning is, that God sustained him in life; defended him in danger; kept him from the power of his enemies.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. My soul followeth hard after thee—Or, my soul…
8. My soul followeth hard after thee—Or, my soul taketh fast hold behind thee. The figure is that of following close behind, and taking fast hold meanwhile of, the person leading. “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” 1Co_6:17; see Jer_13:11.
Thy right hand upholdeth me—See Son_2:6. It is not enough that we should take firm hold of God, but God must also take hold of us. Our feeble grasp would be insufficient, but “none can pluck us out of his hand.”
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“Soul,” here, must be understood of the inner and spiritual nature, as in Psa_63:1; Psa_63:5
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. followeth hard after thee] Lit., cleaves after thee;…
8. followeth hard after thee] Lit., cleaves after thee; cleaves to God (Deu_10:20 &c.) and follows Him (Hos_6:3). Hard = ‘close.’ Cp. Shakespeare, Hamlet, i. 2. 179 “Indeed my lord, it followed hard upon.”
thy right hand &c.] Cp. Psa_17:7; Psa_18:35; Psa_41:12; Isa_41:10. Man’s effort is met by God’s care (Php_2:13).
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8, 9. While he draws ever closer to God, his enemies will be destroyed.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) My soul . . .—Literally, my soul cleaved…
(8) My soul . . .—Literally, my soul cleaved after thee, combining two ideas. (Comp. Jer_42:16.) The English phrase, “hung upon thee” (comp. Prayer-Book version), exactly expresses it.
For “depths,” or “abysses of the earth,” comp. Psa_139:15; Eph_4:9. It means the under world of the dead.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain My soul followeth hard after thee; or, clingeth close…
My soul followeth hard after thee; or, clingeth close after thee (Kay, Cheyne); "Tibi adhaeret teque sequitur" (Gesenius) longs to come as near to thee as possible; while, on thy part, thy right hand upholdeth me; i.e. with a reciprocal action, thou puttest forth thy right hand to sustain and support me, drawing me to thee, and holding me, as it were, in thy embrace.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 8. My soul followeth hard after thee, or…
Ver. 8. My soul followeth hard after thee, or is glued to thee. We follow close at the Lord's heels, because we are one with him. Who shall divide us from his love? If we cannot walk with him with equal footsteps, we will at least follow after with all the strength he lends us, earnestly panting to reach him and abide in his fellowship. When professors follow hard after the world, they will fall into the ditch; but none are ever too eager after communion with the Lord.
Thy right hand upholdeth me. Else he would not have followed the Lord with constancy, or even have longed after him. The divine power, which has so often been dwelt upon in this and the preceding Psalms, is here mentioned as the source of man's attachment to God. How strong are we when the Lord works in us by his own right hand, and how utterly helpless if he withhold his aid!
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Ver. 8. My soul followeth hard after thee. This is the language of a good man in his worst frames; for when he has lost his nearness to God, he will be uneasy till he has again obtained it, and will follow after it with all his might. It is also his language in his best frames; for when he knows and enjoys most of God, he wants to know and enjoy more. But it may especially be considered as the language of an afflicted and seeking soul, not sinking under its burden, but earnestly breathing after deliverance, and supported by the prospect of obtaining it. Hence it follows, Thy right hand upholdeth me...
I shall consider what is implied in the soul's following hard after God, and then enquire the reason of it.
I. Following hard after God supposes,
1. A previous acquaintance with him. An unknown good, be it ever so desirable in itself, cannot be the object of desire. Hence, when God shines into the heart, it is to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, as the foundation of all gracious exercises, and especially as the source of all fervent desires after him.
2. Following hard after God is expressive of ardent and intense desires. It does not consist in cold and languid wishes, but insatiable longings after communion with God and conformity to his will.
3. It implies laborious exertion. My soul followeth, it followeth hard after thee. Not earth nor heaven merely is the object of pursuit, but God himself. 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.
4. Perseverance in seeking. To follow implies this, and to follow hard implies it more strongly. It is as if the psalmist had said, "Does God retire? I will pursue. Does he withhold the blessing? I will wrestle with him till I obtain it. He long waited to be gracious, and I will now wait till he is so." II. We are to enquire the reason why David thus followed hard after God.
1. Guilt and distress followed hard after him.
2. His enemies also followed hard after him. Satan did so, and once and again caused him to stumble and fall.
3. He had followed hard after other things to no purpose.
4. We may add the powerful attractions of divine grace. Condensed from Benjamin Beddome's Sermon, "The Christian's Pursuit, " in "Short Discourses, "1809.
Ver. 8. My soul followeth hard after thee. kyrha hqbd The primary sense of qbd is agglutinavit, to glue together; from thence it signifies figuratively to associate, to adhere to, to be united with; and particularly to be firmly united with strong affection. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, wyvak qbdw, and cleave to his wife; "properly, be closely united and compacted with his wife, with the most permanent affection. Ge 2:24. The psalmist, therefore, means that his soul adhered to God with the warmest affection, and longed to offer up his sacrifice of praise in his sanctuary. Samuel Chandler.
Ver. 8. My soul followeth hard after thee. tqkd, adhaesit, adherescit anima mea post te: My soul cleaves after thee, as do things which hang by another; the root is of so great frequency in Scripture, as of enquiry amongst critics; it imports here the posture of David's spirit, and speaketh it close to God; and so depending upon him, as nothing could loosen it from him: Satan's subtlety, Saul's cruelty, his own personal loss and indemnity, are not all of them of any force or dexterity, to cut asunder or untie the Gordian knot of this unity. The cleaving of David's spirit was a gluing of the Lord's spirit: a marriage of the Lord's making is altogether incapable of the devil's breaking. It is no wonder David's words report him so much devoted to God, seeing with the same breath they speak him supported by God; Thy right hand upholdeth me, saith he. Alexander Pringle, in "A Stay in Trouble; or the Saint's Rest in the Evil Day, "1657.
Ver. 8. My soul followeth hard after thee. The original is kyrxa yvkg My soul cleaves after thee. As if he had said, Go, lead on, my God! Behold, I follow as near, as close, as I can; e vestigio; I would not leave any distance, but pursue thy footsteps, step by step, leaning upon thine everlasting arms, that are underneath me, and following thy manuduction. John Gibbon, in "The Morning Exercises, "1661.
Ver. 8. The soul's following, and following hard after God--what means this? 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." It evinces an intenseness of concern that quickens and rouses the man into life and earnestness; that draws his very soul along with it; that reconciles him to every needful exertion and sacrifice, however trying; and urges him to persevere, whatever difficulties or discouragements he meets with in his course. 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?" and when we spy him again, he seems to advance as we advance, and when we gain upon him and get nearer, he seems to look back and frown, and tell us to retire. The exercises and feelings of Christians in the divine life will enable them to explain these allusions. Who among them all has not, like the Jews, been sometimes "discouraged because of the way?" Who has not resembled Barak's adherents--"Faith, yet pursuing?" Who has not frequently said, My soul followeth hard after thee? William Jay.
Ver. 8.
I. The soul's pursuit after God. It follows,
1. In desire.
2. In action.
3. Earnestly.
4. Quickly.
5. Closely. II. The soul's support. Thy right hand upholdeth me, the arm of strength. In doing and bearing. G. J. K.
Ver. 8. "A mighty hunter before the Lord."
I. The object of pursuit: Thee.
II. The manner of pursuit: Hard after.
III. The dangers encountered. J. S. B.
Ver. 8. (second clause). God's right hand upholds his people three ways.
I. As to sin; lest they should fall by it.
II. As to suffering; lest they should sink under it.
III. As to duty; lest they should decline from it. W. Jay.
Psalms 63:9*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain My soul followeth hard after Thee, Thy right hand…
Psa_63:8
My soul followeth hard after Thee, Thy right hand upholdeth me.
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Endeavour and support
I. The effort which the Christian makes. My soul followeth hard after Thee. This seen in his--
1. Uniform obedience to God. This obedience spiritual, of the heart; and universal.
2. Lively faith in the promises.
3. Communion and fellowship with God. Hence he follows hard after God as his guide, his refuge and his portion. Are we doing this?
II. The support which the Christian receives.
1. God delivers their feet from falling, His right hand upholds them.
2. Their hearts from fainting. Learn, then, to love the ordinances of the sanctuary and to improve them; and to ascribe all our good to God. (W. Tonse.)
The saint following hard after God
I. Following after God is the motion of the soul--
1. In knowledge (Hos_6:3). The knowledge of the only true God, as God and our God, is the principle and root of piety (Joh_17:8). Lift up thy voice and cry for it. Follow hard after it. Search for it as for silver. Dig for it as for hid treasures. Read daily. Pray fervently. Think seriously.
2. In faith. Believe in God, saith our Saviour, believe also in Me. If we believe firmly, we will follow hard after Him. Following hard and believing firmly, is following and believing with vigour, and ardour, and constancy.
3. In love. The love of God shed abroad in the heart kindles in it love to Him; and the love which it kindles, impatient lest it lose sight of Him, follows Him with ardour. It cannot bear the thoughts of distance. It wishes to be near Him, and to enjoy the comfort of His presence.
4. In hope. Are we in prosperity? Let us follow Him in hope of its continuance. Are we in adversity? Let us follow after Him in hope of its removal. Are we in darkness? Let us follow after Him in hope of light. Are we in danger? Let us follow after Him in hope of salvation.
5. In desire. Desire is the stepping of the soul in the way toward God, the fountain of our blessedness and glory; and the stronger and more lively desire is, our motion in following after Him will be quicker and faster.
6. In obedience. New obedience is the motion of the soul after God in the way of His commandments.
7. In communion. God looks down on His chosen following hard after Him, and they look up to Him. In speaking and hearing. He speaks, and they hear.
II. The ardour of the soul following after God which the text expresses by the word hard, includes--
1. Keenness in respect of desire.
2. Diligence in respect of means.
3. Vigour in respect of exertion. With all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.
4. Perseveringly in respect of continuance.
5. Affectionately in respect of complacency and delight. This is ardour in piety. What more concerning it can we say? Alas! it is above our experience. O that the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord were shed abroad more diffusively in our heart by the Holy Ghost! (Joh_7:37).
III. The ends and purposes for which pious souls follow hard after God.
1. That they may see Him in His beauty and glory.
2. That they may be near Him.
3. That they may hear Him.
4. That they may be helped. They have weights to carry which are too heavy for their weakness, and exertions to make in obedience and self-denial which are above their strength. Of themselves they are nothing, and can do nothing but as succoured from above. Believing and feeling their own insufficiency, they would be always near their help.
5. That they may be enriched. God is rich, rich in mercy, rich in goodness, rich in grace; and in following after Him His people are enriched and filled with His goodness. The riches of His glory is their treasury; and Christ having the key that opens it, and authority and power over all it contains, their wants are supplied, and their souls filled with all the fulness of God.
6. That they may be preserved. Their adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. The world is a numerous and formidable party, devising their hurt. Yet are they in safety, because they follow hard after God their preserver.
7. That they may be brought to His kingdom and glory. He is the breaker up of their way before them, and that they might not err, or go wrong, and come short, He hath appointed the Captain of Salvation their leader and commander. (A. Shanks.)
Holy ardour
I. Describe this state of experience. It implies--
1. A renunciation of the world. This results from a conviction of its vanity.
2. A deliberate choice of God, as the only adequate good of the soul.
3. A vehement and intense desire after Him.
4. The exercises of faith and hope.
II. Investigate the reasons why it is so rare. It is obvious few Christians enjoy this experience. The principal causes of their languor are--
1. Inattention to the state of their own hearts. They are not recollected; thy do not examine themselves closely. Hence they are ignorant of their real condition, and do not keenly feel their wants.
2. Permitting the objects of sense to make too deep impressions. These naturally tend to blunt the edge of holy desire, and to divide and weaken the soul.
3. Neglect of the instituted means.
4. The indulgence of wrong dispositions, etc. Unbelief, pride, vain curiosity, levity, censoriousness, uncharitable or useless conversation, etc.; all these, like cold water, tend to damp and weaken, if not wholly to extinguish, the desire for God.
III. Represent it as the most desirable experience.
1. It is the best security against the allurements and troubles of the world. A heart earnestly pursuing God has no leisure to gaze on the seductive charms of temporal good, and no disposition to pierce itself with the thorns of worldly solicitude.
2. It renders every duty delightful. In this state nothing is done through custom, formality, or any other inferior motive--but every duty is performed with the highest views.
3. It prepares us for the largest communication. We always receive from God what we earnestly and faithfully seek from Him (Luk_2:9-10). By this holy fervour the soul throws itself open to receive all the fulness of God--the shoreless, fathomless ocean of good.
4. It advances our sanctification, and consequently qualifies us for glory. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
The divinity of a true life
I. God is the Supreme Object of a true life. My soul followeth hard after Thee.
1. As the centre of my affections. I want to fix, settle my heart, with all its varied sympathies and affections, in Thee. Thou art the original centre of my soul; but I have lost Thee, and now my intense desire is to come back to Thee.
2. As the guide of my life. I want a guide; I have lost my way; the path is intricate, perilous, and very dark.
3. As the companion of my heart. I want a friend, some one who understands me, can sympathize with me, calm my agitated nature. My sense of desolation sinks me like lead, saddens me as a thunder cloud.
II. God is the sustaining power of a true life. Thy right hand upholdeth me.
1. Thy right hand in the blessings of material nature.
2. Thy right hand in the beneficent influence of Providence.
3. Thy right hand in the moral forces of the Gospel. It is Gods power alone that can sustain the soul in its strugglings after life. (Homilist.)
The Christians pursuit
I. What is implied. Following hard after God supposes--
1. A previous acquaintance with Him. Holy affections are not heat without light, but light and heat combined; the mind is both illuminated and sanctified.
2. Ardent and intense desires.
3. Laborious exertion.
4. Perseverance in seeking. His seeming slights shall only increase their importunity.
II. Why David thus followed hard after God.
1. Guilt and distress followed hard after him.
2. His enemies followed hard after him.
3. He had followed hard after other things to no purpose.
4. We may add, the powerful attractives of divine grace. The reason why David followed after God was, that goodness and mercy followed after him. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
David following God, and upheld by Him
I. Davids carriage to God.
1. The inclination of a Christians heart to God, and his simple propensity towards Him. There are three notions in which we may took upon God, according to either of which the soul of a Christian is inclined and carried after Him. First, as the Author of nature. Secondly, as the Giver of grace. Thirdly, as the Bestower of glory and eternal life. All these three are considerable in God, and in reference to all of them are a Christians desires after God, and his soul does propend towards him.
2. A Christians importunity. A good Christian, if he be in some distance and separation from God for a time, yet cannot long be content to be so. This may be made good unto us according to a twofold explication; whether ye take it of a distance and separation in regard of spirit, a state of spiritual desertion; or whether ye take it of a distance and separation in regard of the means; a deprivation of the public ordinances and ministerial dispensations. A good Christian cannot long content himself in either of these estrangements from God; but while it is thus with him, his soul does follow hard after him. Let us therefore so carry ourselves that we may not provoke God to deal thus with as. It is a great deal better for us, and more kindly, and more to be wished for, that our desires should be carried after these things for the excellency which is in the things themselves, and our own closing with them, than from want and deprival of them. For which cause it concerns us to prevent God, that He may not be forced to deal so with us.
3. A Christians adherence, My soul cleaveth to Thee; so some translations render it; and indeed it is most agreeable to the original text, which signifies to adhere (Gen_2:24; Pro_18:24). This cleaving implies three things: union as the foundation of it; fastening as the progress of it; perseverance as the accomplishment. Now, to quicken us so much the more to the practice of this present duty, which is here in Davids example commended to our imitation, let us further consider this with ourselves, that there is nothing else which is, indeed, fitting for our souls to cleave unto but God alone.
II. Gods carriage to him. Thy right hand, etc.
1. By the right hand of God, we are in one word to understand, His strengthening and confirming grace; which is called His right hand, in regard of the powerfulness of it, and dexterity for the preserving of His people. This is that which (as David here signifies) is extended and stretched forth to this purpose, as to himself, so to all other Christians, who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation (1Pe_1:5). This upholding of Gods right hand, thus explained, is often mentioned to us in Scripture (Psa_138:7; Psa_139:10; Son_2:6). And many such places as these, all coming to this purpose, to show unto us Gods almighty power and grace in the supportment of His servants. This is seen, and does discover itself especially in two particulars.
(1) As to matter of sin, upholds me that I fall not into that.
(2) As to matter of affliction, upholds me that I sink not under that.
2. But why is the power of God in His stablishing and assisting grace expressed by the name of His right hand, here and in other places? We may conceive for three reasons especially.
(1) As it is a hand of strength, the right hand is such, it has more strength than the other hand has. And so is it with the grace of God. The right hand of the Lord hath the pre-eminence, as we find it twice there repeated (Psa_118:15-16); hence, also, called a right hand of power in others (Mat_26:64; and Mar_14:62), etc.
(2) As it is a hand of readiness, it is more expedite and ready to be used than the other is, and therefore we express all expediteness by a word taken from hence, which we call dexterity. So is Gods grace where it puts forth itself, it is very ready and expediting, and He Himself is ready presently to use it upon any occasion, for the good of His servants.
(3) As an hand of success. It is the right hand so, forasmuch as whatever it takes in hand prospers to it, and does infallibly obtain its effect. (T. Horton, D. D.)
The saint upheld by Gods right hand
I. The course of piety.
1. Begins in reconciliation.
2. Goes along the way of Gods commandments.
3. Ends in everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
II. The upholding of the soul in following hard after God in the course of piety.
1. The dominion of grace in the soul is maintained. Upheld by almighty strength, it lives and reigns.
2. The dominion of grace in the soul is extended. Under this influence faith increases, hope expands, holiness brightens, and the cross becomes light and easy.
3. The purposes of the heart under the dominion of grace to follow hard after God in the course of piety are accomplished by His upholding the soul with His right hand.
III. The right hand with which David believed himself to be upheld.
1. His power. Upheld by this attribute which is omnipotent, no weight can crush, no calamity can overwhelm, and no enemy can break the purposes of the pious heart, and turn it off the way of Gods commandments. What can He not do? what will He not do? what is He not ready to do for those who are upright before Him, and keep the way of His testimonies?
2. His mercy. In the upholding of power, mercy shines; and in the upholding of mercy, power exerts itself gloriously. What upheld you when your foot slipped? was it not mercy? What kept you out of the gulf of despondency? was it not mercy? What succoured you in the hour of temptation? was it not mercy? What strengthened you under burthens and vexations? was it not mercy?
Conclusion.
1. In the practice of unfeigned and lively piety there is reward.
2. Pious souls are upheld in their course.
3. Pious souls are sensible of their being upheld by the right hand of power and mercy.
4. Pious souls acknowledge their upholding by the right hand of the Lord to His praise (A. Shanks.)
.
Psa_64:1-10
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Psa 63:1, Psa 63:5, Psa 63:8.
Psalms
THIRST AND SATISFACTION
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Psa 63:1, Psa 63:5, Psa 63:8.
It is a wise advice which bids us regard rather what is said than who says it, and there are few regions in which the counsel is more salutary than at present in the study of the Old Testament, and especially the Psalms. This authorship has become a burning question which is only too apt to shut out far more important things. Whoever poured out this sweet meditation in the psalm before us, his tender longings for, and his jubilant possession of, God remain the same. It is either the work of a king in exile, or is written by some one who tries to cast himself into the mental attitude of such a person, and to reproduce his longing and his trust. It may be a question of literary interest, but it is of no sort of spiritual or religious importance whether the author is David or a singer of later date endeavouring to reproduce his emotions under certain circumstances.
The three clauses which I have read, and which are so strikingly identical in form, constitute the three pivots on which the psalm revolves, the three bends in the stream of its thought and emotion. ‘My soul thirsts; my soul is satisfied; my soul follows hard after Thee.’ The three phases of emotion follow one another so swiftly that they are all wrapped up in the brief compass of this little song. Unless they in some degree express our experiences and emotions, there is little likelihood that our lives will be blessed or noble, and we have little right to call ourselves Christians. Let us follow the windings of the stream, and ask ourselves if we can see our own faces in its shining surface.
I. The soul that knows its own needs will thirst after God.
The Psalmist draws the picture of himself as a thirsty man in a waterless land. That may be a literally true reproduction of his condition, if indeed the old idea is correct, that this is a work of David’s; for there is no more appalling desert than that in which he wandered as an exile. It is a land of arid mountains without a blade of verdure, blazing in their ghastly whiteness under the fierce sunshine, and with gaunt ravines in which there are no pools or streams, and therefore no sweet sound of running waters, no shadow, no songs of birds, but all is hot, dusty, glaring, pitiless; and men and beasts faint, and loll out their tongues, and die for want of water. And, says the Psalmist, such is life, if due regard be had to the deepest wants of a soul, notwithstanding all the abundant supplies which are spread in such rich and loving luxuriance around us-we are thirsty men in a waterless land. I need not remind you how true it is that a man is but a bundle of appetites, desires, often tyrannous, often painful, always active. But the misery of it is-the reason why man’s misery is great upon him is-mainly, I suppose, that he does not know what it is that he wants; that he thirsts, but does not understand what the thirst means, nor what it is that will slake it. His animal appetites make no mistakes; he and the beasts know that when they are thirsty they have to drink, and when they are hungry they have to eat, and when they are drowsy they have to sleep. But the poor instinct of the animal that teaches it what to choose and what to avoid fails us in the higher reaches; and we are conscious of a craving, and do not find that the craving reveals to us the source from whence its satisfaction can be derived. Therefore ‘broken cisterns that can hold no water’ are at a premium, and ‘the fountain of living waters’ is turned away from, though it could slake so many thirsts. Like ignorant explorers in an enemy’s country, we see a stream, and we do not stop to ask whether there is poison in it or not before we glue our thirsty lips to it. There is a great old promise in one of the prophets which puts this notion of the misinterpretation of our thirsts, and the mistakes as to the sources from which they can be slaked, into one beautiful metaphor which is obscured in our English version. The prophet Isaiah says, according to our reading, ‘the parched land shall become a pool.’ The word which he uses is that almost technical one which describes the phenomenon known only in Eastern lands, or at least known in them only in its superlative degree; the mirage, where the dancing currents of ascending air simulate the likeness of a cool lake, with palm-trees around it. And, says he, ‘the mirage shall become a pool,’ the romance shall turn into a reality, the mistakes shall be rectified, and men shall know what it is that they want, and shall get it when they know. Brethren! unless we have listened to the teaching from above, unless we have consulted far more wisely and far more profoundly than many of us have ever done the meaning of our own hearts when they cry out, we too shall only be able to take for ours the plaintive cry of the half of this first utterance of the Psalmist, and say despairingly, ‘My soul thirsteth.’ Blessed are they who know where the fountain is, who know the meaning of the highest unrests in their own souls, and can go on to say with clear and true self-revelation, ‘My soul thirsteth for God!’ That is religion. There is a great deal more in Christianity than longing, but there is no Christianity worth the name without it. There is moral stimulus to activity, a pattern for conduct, and so on, in our religion, and if our religion is only this longing-well then, it is worth very little; and I fancy it is worth a good deal less if there is none of this felt need for God, and for more of God, in us.
And so I come to two classes of my hearers; and to the first of them I say, Dear friends! do not mistake what it is that you ‘need,’ and see to it that you turn the current of your longings from earth to God; and to the second of them I say, Dear friends! if you have found out that God is your supreme good, see to it that you live in the good, see to it that you live in the constant attitude of longing for more of that good which alone will slake your appetite.
‘The thirst that from the soul doth rise Doth ask a drink divine,’ and unless we know what it is to be drawn outwards and upwards, in strong aspirations after something-’afar from the sphere of our sorrow,’ I know not why we should call ourselves Christians at all.
But, dear friends! let us not forget that these higher aspirations after the uncreated and personal good which is God have to be cultivated very sedulously and with great persistence, throughout all our changing lives, or they will soon die out, and leave us. There has to be the clear recognition, habitual to us, of what is our good. There has to be a continual meditation, if I may so say, upon the all-sufficiency of that divine Lord and Lover of our souls, and there has to be a vigilant and a continual suppression, and often excision and ejection, of other desires after transient and partial satisfactions. A man who lets all his longings go unchecked and untamed after earthly good has none left towards heaven. If you break up a river into a multitude of channels, and lead off much of it to irrigate many little gardens, there will be no force in its current, its bed will become dry, and it will never reach the great ocean where it loses its individuality and becomes part of a mightier whole. So, if we fritter away and divide up our desires among all the clamant and partial blessings of earth, then we shall but feebly long, and feebly longing, shall but faintly enjoy, the cool, clear, exhaustless gush from the fountain of life-’My soul thirsteth for God!’-in the measure in which that is true of us, and not one hairsbreadth beyond it, in spite of orthodoxy, and professions, and activities, are we Christian people.
II. The soul that thirsts after God is satisfied.
The Psalmist, by the magic might of his desire, changes, as in a sudden transformation scene in a theatre, all the dreariness about him. One moment it is a ‘dry and barren land where no water is’; the next moment a flash of verdure has come over the yellow sand, and the ghastly silence is broken by the song of merry birds. The one moment he is hungering there in the desert; the next, he sees spread before him a table in the wilderness, and his soul is ‘satisfied as with marrow and with fatness,’ and his mouth praises God, whom he possesses, who has come unto him swift, immediate, in full response to his cry. Now, all that is but a picturesque way of putting a very plain truth, which we should all be the happier and better if we believed and lived by, that we can have as much of God as we desire, and that what we have of Him will be enough.
We can have as much of God as we desire. There is a quest which finds its object with absolute certainty, and which finds its object simultaneously with the quest. And these two things, the certainty and the immediateness with which the thirst of the soul after God passes into a satisfied fruition of the soul in God, are what are taught us here in our text; and what you and I, if we comply with the conditions, may have as our own blessed experience. There is one search about which it is true that it never fails to find. The certainty that the soul thirsting after God shall be satisfied with God results at once from His nearness to us, and His infinite willingness to give Himself, which He is only prevented from carrying into act by our obstinate refusal to open our hearts by desire. It takes all a man’s indifference to keep God out of his heart, ‘for in Him we live, and move, and have our being,’ and that divine love, which Christianity teaches us to see on the throne of the universe, is but infinite longing for self-communication. That is the definition of true love always, and they fearfully mistake its essence, and take the lower and spurious forms of it for the higher and nobler, who think of love as being what, alas! it often is, in our imperfect lives, a fierce desire to have for our very own the thing or person beloved. But that is a second-rate kind of love. God’s love is an infinite desire to give Himself. If only we open our hearts-and nothing opens them so wide as longing-He will pour in, as surely as the atmosphere streams in through every chink and cranny, as surely as if some great black rock that stands on the margin of the sea is blasted away, the waters will flood over the sands behind it. So unless we keep God out, by not wishing Him in, in He will come.
The certitude that we possess Him when we desire Him is as absolute. As swift as Marconi’s wireless message across the Atlantic and its answer; so immediate is the response from Heaven to the desire from earth. What a contrast that is to all our experiences! Is there anything else about which we can say ‘I am quite sure that if I want it I shall have it. I am quite sure that when I want it I have it’? Nothing! There may be wells to which a man has to go, as the Bedouin in the desert has to go, with empty water-skins, many a day’s journey, and it comes to be a fight between the physical endurance of the man and the weary distance between him and the spring. Many a man’s bones, and many a camel’s, lie on the track to the wells, who lay down gasping and black-lipped, and died before they reached them. We all know what it is to have longing desires which have cost us many an effort, and efforts and desires have both been in vain. Is it not blessed to be sure that there is One whom to long for is immediately to possess?
Then there is the other thought here, too, that when we have God we have enough. That is not true about anything else. God forbid that one should depreciate the wise adaptation of earthly goods to human needs which runs all through every life! but all that recognised, still we come back to this, that there is nothing here, nothing except God Himself, that will fill all the corners of a human heart. There is always something lacking in all other satisfactions. They address themselves to sides, and angles, and facets of our complex nature; they leave all the others unsatisfied. The table that is spread in the world, at which, if I might use so violent a figure, our various longings and capacities seat themselves as guests, always fails to provide for some of them, and whilst some, and those especially of the lower type, are feasting full, there sits by their side another guest, who finds nothing on the table to satisfy his hunger. But if my soul thirsts for God, my soul will be satisfied when I get Him. The prophet Isaiah modifies this figure in the great word of invitation which pealed out from him, where he says, ‘Ho! everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.’ But that figure is not enough for him, that metaphor, blessed as it is, does not exhaust the facts; and so he goes on, ‘yea, come, buy wine’-and that is not enough for him, that does not exhaust the facts, therefore he adds, ‘and milk.’ Water, wine, and milk; all forms of the draughts that slake the thirsts of humanity, are found in God Himself, and he who has Him needs seek nowhere besides.
Lastly-
III. The soul that is satisfied with God immediately renews its quest.
‘My soul followeth hard after Thee.’ The two things come together, longing and fruition, as I have said. Fruition begets longing, and there is swift and blessed alternation, or rather co-existence of the two. Joyful consciousness of possession and eager anticipation of larger bestowments are blended still more closely, if we adhere to the original meaning of the words of this last clause, than they are in our translation, for the psalm really reads, ‘My soul cleaveth after Thee.’ In the one word ‘cleaveth,’ is expressed adhesion, like that of the limpet to the rock, conscious union, blessed possession; and in the other word ‘after Thee’ is expressed the pressing onwards for more and yet more. But now contrast that with the issue of all other methods of satisfying human appetites, be they lower or be they higher. They result either in satiety or in a tyrannical, diseased appetite which increases faster than the power of satisfying it increases. The man who follows after other good than God, has at the end to say, ‘I am sick, tired of it, and it has lost all power to draw me,’ or he has to say, ‘I ravenously long for more of it, and I cannot get any more.’ ‘He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase.’ You have to increase the dose of the narcotic, and as you increase the dose, it loses its power, and the less you can do without it the less it does for you. But to drink into the one God slakes all thirsts, and because He is infinite, and our capacity for receiving Him may be indefinitely expanded; therefore, ‘Age cannot wither, nor custom stale His infinite variety’; but the more we have of God, the more we long for Him, and the more we long for Him the more we possess Him.
Brethren! these are the possibilities of the Christian life; being its possibilities they are our obligations. The Psalmist’s words may well be turned by us into self-examining interrogations and we may-God grant that we do!-all ask ourselves; ‘Do I thus thirst after God?’ ‘Have I learned that, notwithstanding all supplies, this world without Him is a waterless desert? Have I experienced that whilst I call He answers, and that the water flows in as soon as I open my heart? And do I know the happy birth of fresh longings out of every fruition, and how to go further and further into the blessed land, and into my elastic heart receive more and more of the ever blessed God?’ These texts of mine not only set forth the ideal for the Christian life here, but they carry in themselves the foreshadowing of the life hereafter. For surely such a merely physical accident as death cannot be supposed to break this golden sequence which runs through life. Surely this partial and progressive possession of an infinite good, by a nature capable of indefinitely increasing appropriation of, and approximation to it is the prophecy of its own eternal continuance. So long as the fountain springs, the thirsty lips will drink. God’s servants will live till God dies. The Christian life will go on, here and hereafter, till it has reached the limits of its own capacity of expansion, and has exhausted God. ‘The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.