Your love is better than life
Psalms 63:3-4 - Make a conscious effort to thank and praise God at least once every day this week, and lift up your voice and hands to Him!
“Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.”
Psalms 63:3-4 NIV
Today’s Psalm is titled “A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah”. David Guzik’s commentary on Enduring Word notes that:
Most commentators believe it to belong either to David’s wilderness years before he came to the throne of Israel, or to his brief exile from the throne in the rebellion of Absalom. The wilderness years when hunted by King Saul are preferred, but not held with absolute certainty.
Charles Spurgeon added a note of interest: “Chrysostom tells us that among the primitive Christians it was decreed and ordained that no day should pass without the public singing of this psalm.”
It is high praise indeed for Psalm 63 that the early Christians sang this publicly each day! Thank you, Charles Spurgeon, for bringing this fact to light!
David found God’s love — חֶסֶד (ḥeseḏ, also translated as goodness, kindness, faithfulness) — to be more meaningful than life itself! David had experienced God’s love in ways that most of us will never experience. Once again from Guzik’s commentary:
People regard life as natural; David regarded God’s great love as natural.
People enjoy life; David enjoyed God’s great love.
People value life; David valued God’s great love.
People will sacrifice to live; David would sacrifice for God’s great love.
People want to give life to others; David wanted to give God’s great love.
People despair without the sense of life; David despaired without the sense of God’s great love.
We often hear of examples of people who love someone or something more than life itself, upholding love as being better than life. David is doing something different here; he’s singing that God’s love for him was far more precious than his own life.
Charles Spurgeon had this to say in his beautiful style:
iii. “To dwell with God is better than life at its best; life at ease, in a palace, in health, in honour, in wealth, in pleasure; yea, a thousand lives are not equal to the eternal life which abides in Jehovah’s smile.” (Spurgeon)
David knew just how to thank God for His love — he would praise God verbally in prayer and song. That’s why we should all put aside our fears of being poor vocalists and instead raise our voices always in praise of Him. Spurgeon again has just the words to say to show why we should praise His Name each and every day:
ii. “May I ask a question of every professed Christian? Have you spoken with God this morning? Do you allow a day to pass without converse with God? Can it be right for us to treat the Lord with mute indifference?” (Spurgeon)
The majority of Psalm 63 deals with praise and devotion directed to God in gratitude for our blessings. Spurgeon went on to say that we shouldn’t just give God our thanks and praise when we are feeling particularly blessed:
“Even when our heart is rather desiring than enjoying we should still continue to magnify the Most High, for his love is truly precious; even if we do not personally, for the time being, happen to be rejoicing in it. We ought not to make our praises of God to depend upon our own personal and present reception of benefits; this would be mere selfishness: even publicans and sinners have a good word for those whose hands are enriching them with gifts; it is the true believer only who will bless the Lord when he takes away his gifts or hides his face.” (Spurgeon)
David knew that all of God’s people honor and even bless Him through their thanks and praise. He says at the beginning of verse 4 that he will praise God “as long as I live,” knowing that each day could be his last and that he should never stop thanking God for His blessings.
I’m one of those “weirdos” who lifts up his hands in praise to God. This would have been totally inappropriate in my childhood in the Catholic church, and even during our years in a Lutheran church it was frowned upon.
Now, I don’t care what other people think if I raise my hands to the Lord during worship (we attend a church where it is acceptable). When I consider what God has done for me during my 68 and counting years of life, He truly deserves more praise than I can offer!
Lifting one’s hands in prayer was common for the ancient Jews, and even more appropriate while singing Psalms. At the time, it was considered a gesture of receiving gifts and blessings from God with gratitude, and also displayed a sense of surrender to Him.
Here’s a little homework for Heaven On Wheels readers this week: Make a conscious effort to thank and praise God at least once every day this week, and lift up your voice and hands to Him!
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, thank You for the many examples in the Bible which remind me that You always keep your promises to Your people and always show Your love to us. May I live my life in praise and glory of You, AMEN.
I have a friend who has been a missionary in Korea for 65 years. He is now in his 90s. When he prays, he reclines completely on the floor.
🙌🙌🙌