Psalms 63 – My Soul Thirsteth for Thee
David's longing for God in a dry and weary wilderness.
Written while David was in the wilderness, this chapter (see the Psalms overview) opens with one of Scripture's most vivid pictures of longing: a soul thirsting for God like parched ground thirsts for water. From that image David moves to praise, blessing God with lifted hands and a satisfied heart.
Unto the end, a psalm for David.
Hear O God, my prayer, when I make supplication to thee: deliver my soul from the fear of the enemy.
Thou hast protected me from the assembly of the malignant; from the multitude of the workers of iniquity.
For they have whetted their tongues like a sword; they have bent their bow a bitter thing,
To shoot in secret the undefiled.
They will shoot at him on a sudden, and will not fear: they are resolute in wickedness. They have talked of hiding snares; they have said: Who shall see them?
They have searched after iniquities: they have failed in their search. Man shall come to a deep heart:
And God shall be exalted. The arrows of children are their wounds:
And their tongues against them are made weak. All that saw them were troubled;
And every man was afraid. And they declared the works of God, and understood his doings.
The just shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall hope in him: and all the upright in heart shall be praised.