John Calvin Commentary Psalms 63

O God! thou art my God. The wilderness of Judah, spoken of in the title, can be no other than that of Ziph, where David wandered so long in a state of concealment. We may rely upon the truth of the record he gives us of his experience when under his trials; and it is apparent that he never allowed himself to be so far overcome by them as to stop lifting up his prayers to heaven, and even resting, with a firm and constant faith, upon the divine promises.

Since we are so prone, when assaulted by the slightest trials, to lose the comfort of any knowledge of God we may have previously possessed, it is necessary that we notice this. We must learn by his example to struggle to maintain our confidence under the worst troubles that can happen to us.

He does more than simply pray; he sets the Lord before him as his God, so that he might unhesitatingly throw all his cares upon Him, deserted by others as he was, and a poor outcast in the desolate and howling wilderness. His faith, shown in this conviction of God's favor and help, stirred him to constant and fervent prayer for the grace he expected.

In saying that his soul thirsted, and his flesh longed, he alludes to the destitution and poverty he endured in the wilderness, and intimates that even though deprived of the ordinary means of subsistence, he looked to God as his food and drink, directing all his desires toward Him.

When he represents his soul as thirsting, and his flesh as hungering, we are not to seek for any precise or subtle meaning in the distinction. He simply means that he desired God with both soul and body. For although the body, strictly speaking, is not in itself influenced by desire, we know that the feelings of the soul intimately and extensively affect it.

Thus in the sanctuary, etc. It is apparent, as already hinted, that God was always in his thoughts, even though he was wandering in the wilderness under such circumstances of destitution. The word thus is emphatic. Even when so situated, in a wild and hideous solitude, where the very horrors of the place were enough to have distracted his meditations, he made it his practice to contemplate the power and glory of God, just as if he had been in the sanctuary.

Previously, when it was in his power to attend the tabernacle, he was far from neglecting that part of the instituted worship of God. He was well aware that he needed such helps to devotion. But now, when shut out from any such privilege by the providence of God, he shows by the delight he found in spiritual views of God that his was not a mind engrossed with the symbols or mere outward ceremonial of religion.

He gives evidence of how much he had profited from the devotional exercises prescribed under that dispensation. It is noticeable that ignorant and superstitious persons seem full of zeal and fervor as long as they come in contact with the ceremonies of religion, while their seriousness evaporates immediately when these are withdrawn.

David, on the contrary, when these were removed, continued to retain them in his recollection and, through their assistance, to rise to fervent aspirations after God. From this, we may learn that when we are deprived at any time of the outward means of grace, we should direct the eye of our faith to God in the worst circumstances and not forget him whenever the symbols of holy things are removed from our sight.

The great truth, for example, of our spiritual regeneration, though only once represented to us in baptism, should remain fixed in our minds throughout our lives (Titus 3:5; Ephesians 5:26). The mystical union existing between Christ and his members should be a matter of reflection, not only when we sit at the Lord’s table, but at all other times.

Or suppose that the Lord’s Supper and other means of advancing our spiritual welfare were taken from us by an exercise of tyrannical power; it does not follow that our minds should cease to be occupied with the contemplation of God. The expression, So have I beheld thee to see, etc., indicates the earnestness with which he was intent upon the object, directing his whole meditation to this, so that he might see the power and glory of God, of which there was a reflection in the sanctuary.

Because your mercy is better than life, etc. I have no objections to reading the verse in this connected form, though I think that the first clause would be better separated and connected with the preceding verse. David would appear to be giving the reason for his earnest desire for God.

By life is to be understood, in general, everything that people use for their own maintenance and defense. When we think ourselves well provided otherwise, we feel no inclination to turn to the mercy of God. That being (so to speak) which we have of our own prevents us from recognizing that we live solely by the grace of God.

As we are too much inclined to trust in carnal aids and to forget God, the Psalmist here affirms that we should have more reliance upon the divine mercy in the midst of death than upon what we are inclined to call, or what may appear to be, life.

Another interpretation has been given of the words of this verse, but a very meager and weak one—that the mercy of God is better than life itself; or, in other words, that the divine favor is preferable to every other possession. But the opposition is evidently between that state of secure prosperity, in which people are so prone to rest complacently, and the mercy of God, which is the support of those who are ready to sink and perish, and which is the one effectual remedy for remedying (if one might use that expression) all defects.

The word that I have rendered life, being plural in Hebrew, has led Augustine to assign a meaning to the sentence which is philosophical and ingenious but without foundation, as the plural of the word is quite commonly used in its singular meaning. He considered that the term lives was here used in reference to the truth that different people pursue different ways of life: some seeking riches and others pleasure; some desiring the luxuries and some the honors of this world, while others are devoted to their sensual appetites.

He conceived that there was an opposition stated in the verse between these various kinds of life and eternal life, here by a common figure of speech called mercy, because it is of grace and not of merit. But it is much more natural to understand the Psalmist as meaning that it was of no consequence how large a share people possess of prosperity, and of the means which are generally thought to make life secure; the divine mercy is a better foundation of trust than any life we fashion for ourselves, and than all other supports taken together.

On this account, the Lord’s people, however severely they may suffer from poverty, or the violence of human wrongs, or the languor of desire, or hunger and thirst, or the many troubles and anxieties of life, may nevertheless be happy; for they are well, in the truest sense of the term, when God is their friend. Unbelievers, on the other hand, must be miserable, even when all the world smiles upon them; for God is their enemy, and a curse necessarily attaches to their lot.

In the words that follow, David expresses his resulting resolution to praise God. When we experience His goodness, we are led to open our lips in thanksgiving. His intention is indicated even more clearly in the following verse, where he says that he will bless God in his life. There is some difficulty, however, in determining the exact meaning of the words.

When it is said, So will I bless you, etc., the so may refer to the good reason which he had, as just stated, to praise God, from having felt how much better it is to live by life communicated from God than to live from ourselves and by our own strength. Or the sense may be, so, that is, even in this calamitous and afflicted condition; for he had already indicated that, amidst the solitude of the wilderness where he wandered, he would still direct his eye to God.

The word life, again, may refer to his life as having been preserved by divine intervention, or the sense of the passage may be that he would bless God through the course of his life. The first meaning offers the most instruction and agrees with the context: he would bless God because, by God's goodness, he had been kept alive and safe. The sentiment is similar to that which we find elsewhere:

I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord (Psalms 118:17);

and again:

The dead shall not praise the Lord, neither any that go down into silence, but we who live will bless the Lord, (Psalms 115:17, 18).

In the lifting up of hands, in the second clause of the verse, it alludes to praying and vowing; and he indicates that besides giving thanks to God, he would gain additional confidence in prayer and be diligent in practicing it. Any experience we may have of the divine goodness, while it moves us to gratitude, should at the same time strengthen our hopes for the future and lead us confidently to expect that God will perfect the grace which He has begun.

Some understand by the lifting up of his hands that he refers to praising the Lord. Others, that he speaks of drawing encouragement from divine assistance and boldly facing his enemies. But I prefer the interpretation already given.

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow, etc. In accordance with what was said in the previous verse, David expresses his assured conviction of obtaining a rich and abundant measure of every blessing that could call for thanksgiving and praise. At the time of composing this psalm, he may have already been enjoying ease and plenty; but there is reason to believe that he cherished this conviction, even when wandering in the wilderness in a state of poverty and destitution.

If we are to show strong faith, we must anticipate God's favor before it has actually been manifested, and when there is no current sign of its coming. From the example set before us here, we must learn to guard against despondency, in circumstances when we may see the wicked wallowing and rioting in the abundance of the things of this world, while we ourselves are left to pine from lacking them.

David, in the current pressure he faced, might have given way to despair, but he knew that God was able to fill the hungry soul, and that he would lack nothing as long as he possessed God's favor. It is God’s will to test our patience in this life with various kinds of afflictions. Let us bear the wrongs that may be done to us with meekness, until the time comes when all our desires will be abundantly satisfied.

It should be noted that David, when he speaks in figurative language of being filled with marrow and fatness, does not mean that intemperate and excessive indulgence to which ungodly people surrender themselves, and by which they brutify their minds. He looks forward to that moderate measure of enjoyment which would only spur him to greater alacrity in praising God.

I shall surely remember you, etc. It may also be read, when, or as often as, I remember you, I will pray in the night watches. But since the Hebrew particle used here is occasionally taken as an adverb of affirmation, as well as of time, I have adhered to the commonly received translation. In this case, his remembering God is to be understood as the same thing as meditating on Him, and the one clause just contains a repetition of the sentiment expressed in the other.

If the particle is taken in the different sense formerly mentioned, the words intimate that as often as the name of God recurred to his mind, he would dwell on it with pleasure and speak of His goodness. He particularly mentions the night watches, as, when retired from the sight of our fellow human beings, we not only revert to what may have given us anxiety, but feel our thoughts drawn out more freely to different subjects. We next have the reason assigned for the engagement or declaration he has just made, which is that he owed his preservation to God. The experience of divine goodness should dispose us to prayer as well as praise. As the Psalmist says in another place, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy (Psalms 5:7). The second part of the seventh verse is expressive of the lively hope with which he was animated. He was resolved to rejoice and triumph under the shadow of God’s wings, feeling the same peace and satisfaction in reliance on His protection as he would have felt if no danger had existed.