Psalm 63 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Psalm 63 Short Summary:

David wrote Psalm 63 to express his longing for God. He craved God’s presence like food and drink. He found satisfaction in going to the sanctuary, the Tabernacle, and meditating on God when he was laying on his bed at night. He anticipated a future where God defeated his enemies for him and exulted him on the throne of Israel.

Psalm 63 Summary

AUTHOR:

• David wrote the 63rd Psalm.

NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES:

• No Known New Testament References.

THEMES:

• Hunger and thirst for God knowledge of God and God’s presence.

• Satisfaction found in worship and meditation on God.

DEFINITIONS:

• Shadow of your Wings (63:7) - When baby chicks sense a threat, they’ll run to their mother hen, and she’ll cover them with her wings to protect them. In the Bible, God is described as doing the same thing for His saints, He protects them by figuratively gathering them under His wings.

• Jackal (63:10) - Jackals are medium sized canines related to dogs and wolves. They are similar to coyotes, although generally slightly smaller. In the Bible they are commonly associated with abandoned and desolate places.

OUTLINE:

• *CONTEXT: David wrote this psalm while in the wilderness of Judah.

• MY SOUL THIRSTS FOR GOD (63:1-11):

  • David starts Psalm 63 expressing his need for God. He expressed it with language familiar to all people, the language of hunger and thirst.

  • “My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (63:1).

  • To satisfy this longing for God, David went to God’s sanctuary, the Tabernacle, where God was worshipped every day.

  • When David was lying on his bed, he meditated on God’s goodness and His “steadfast love,” and David’s soul was satisfied “as with fat and rich food” (63:5).

  • David reminisced about all the times God had helped him in the past, and it caused him to cling to God.

  • David trusted that God’s power would defeat his future enemies, and God would exult him as king.

APPLICATION:

• What do you meditate about while lying on your bed? (63:6).

• Do you ever give your mind time to meditate?

• Many of us grab our phones or computers every time we have a minute of downtime.

• The minutes before we fall asleep are spent on Tiktok or Facebook or reading the latest headlines.

• What if we took 10 minutes of that time every day to meditate on God, His nature, His goodness, His vastness, His providence, His patience, His ways, etc.

• I suspect just a short period of daily meditation on God would significantly increase our appreciation of Him in our day-to-day lives.

• If we want to enjoy the rich relationship with God that David had, we need to devote ourselves to thinking about God as often as David did.