I have always been struck by the phrase in Psalm 63:3: “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” That phrase—really the whole Psalm -- as many of you well know, has carried me through some of my darkest times in recent years. It communicates a depth of God’s love that I think is frequently overlooked. Steadfast love. Better than life. These are powerful words and much can be learned about the all-satisfying love of God by dwelling on those two simple phrases. There is more here, however, that communicates more of God’s intent for our hearts. David’s words have a very important directive that would do us all well to pay close attention to.
O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory. Because Your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips. Ps. 63:1-5
Whether coming into a new marriage or being married for ten, twenty, or sixty years, the anecdote is still the same: the object or our deepest satisfaction, desire, and sustenance is found in all that God is for us in Christ. David identifies GOD as the source of all of these things -- eleven times in verses 1-5 -- by displaying God as:
His Sovereign safety and security: “O God, you are my God.”
His Desire: “Earnestly I seek you;”
His Sustenance: “My soul thirsts for you.” “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food…”
His Rest: “My flesh faints for you….”
His Object of Beauty: “…beholding Your power and glory.”
His Life: “Because your steadfast love is better than life…”
His Object of Praise: “…my mouth will praise you…”
His Joy: “..with joyful lips.”
In these verses, emotional and physical fulfillment, sustenance, joy, praise, love, and life are all described. According to this Psalm, God intends for us to find all of these things in Him and Him alone. How easy it is for our idol-making hearts to seek them in vain, however, in our spouses. We see here a display of how we are to love our spouses, as the display of the amazing love of a sovereign God. Our love for one another is to reflect the glory and love of God, not replace it. A proper meditation and reflection on the affections for God, as found in this Psalm, will direct us to love our spouses in a way that leads them to Christ as the source of all of those things and not to ourselves.
