Psalm 63: 1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips will praise You.
4 So I will bless You as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
6 When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches,
7 For You have been my help,
And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to You;
Your right hand upholds me.
David suffered sleeplessness. It is reasonable to understand that David is meditating on his bed in the night watches because he is simply unable to sleep. According to the first verse David is longing for fellowship with God, and apparently feeling His absence. According to verse nine David is being pursued by an enemy. David doesn't lament the particular anxieties or struggles that were inhibiting his sleep, but instead he tells us how he used that sleeplessness to affirm his own faith in his own heart and mind.
There are several lessons we can learn from this Psalm, particularly from David's practice in verse six. Consider the following theologically practical lessons:
1) The sleepless must meditate on the Lord, not on the cause of sleeplessness. In Philippians 4:6-7 the apostle Paul reminds us that our anxieties are to be abandoned through the means of thankful supplication. He promises a remedy that must be understood in order to be enjoyed. Paul says "the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." It is this promise that should inform our night watch meditations. "Surpasses" is a key to understanding the promise. What he promises is that God's peace is better than comprehension, not that God's peace is better than we are able to comprehend. God is not opposed to planning, thinking, or comprehending, but he is opposed to anxiety filled planning, thinking and comprehension. The Spirit-inspired Paul promises us that the peace we experience when we cast our anxiety upon the Lord is better than comprehending our circumstances. So it is with David. He would rather meditate upon the Lord in the night watches, than work to carefully comprehend his circumstances.
2) The sleepless will be prepared to meditate on the Lord when they have sought Him earnestly, that is, they have sought him first thing. "O God, You are My God, I will seek You earnestly." The Lord demands first place in our lives. He deserves first place in our lives. The great challenge is disciplining ourselves to acknowledge His position. It does require discipline, but not the coldhearted, self-righteous, look-what-I-did type. It requires joyful discipline. There is no sense in which David dragged himself to seek the Lord earnestly. He sought the Lord because first, because he wanted the Lord most.
3) The sleepless will profit from sleeplessness when they long for the Lord more than sleep (or anything else for that matter). "My soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water."
4) The sleepless remember the Lord's protection. "You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wing's I sing for joy." D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones is regularly quoted as telling us to "speak to ourselves more and listen to ourselves less." Here in Psalm 63, David does just that. He reminds himself of past help that can be translated into present confidence. Notice, the move from past tense to present, from "You have" to "I sing." This pattern is seen throughout the Psalms and the scriptures as a whole.
5) The sleepless affirm dependence on the Lord. "My soul clings to You, your right hand upholds me" - It is "my soul" clinging; my soul that is weeping and in the dust (Psalm 119:25,28). This is personal. There is something about the darkness of night and the removal of distractions that opens our minds to the One with whom we must deal. In the sleepless night watches, there is nothing to grasp but the Lord Jesus.
