Bible Commentary

Psalms 63:3-6

Matthew Henry on Psalms 63:3-6

Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · Matthew Henry · CC0 1.0 Universal

Even in affliction we need not want matter for praise. When this is the regular frame of a believer's mind, he values the loving-kindness of God more than life. God's loving-kindness is our spiritual life, and that is better than temporal life.

We must praise God with joyful lips; we must address ourselves to the duties of religion with cheerfulness, and speak forth the praises of God from a principle of holy joy. Praising lips must be joyful lips.

David was in continual danger; care and fear held his eyes waking, and gave him wearisome nights; but he comforted himself with thoughts of God. The mercies of God, when called to mind in the night watches, support the soul, making darkness cheerful.

How happy will be that last morning, when the believer, awaking up after the Divine likeness, shall be satisfied with all the fulness of God, and praise him with joyful lips, where there is no night, and where sorrow and sighing flee away!

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commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:1-8Sublime things. Chrysostom says, "That it was decreed and ordained by the primitive Fathers that no day should pass without the public singing of this psalm." I. THE GRANDEST CONVICTION THE CREATURE CAN HAVE. (Psalms 63…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:1-11EXPOSITION A PSALM of one absent from the sanctuary, and longing to return to it (Psalms 63:1, Psalms 63:2), pursued by enemies who seek his life (Psalms 63:9), but confident in God's protection (Psalms 63:7, Psalms 63:…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:1-11Soul thirst. We may imagine the psalmist in the wilderness. It is night. He stands at his tent door. The light of moon and stars falls on a sandy waste stretching into dimness and mystery. He is lonely and sad. The empt…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:3Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. The complete resignation of the psalmist, his sense of God's "loving kindness," and his desire to "praise," not to complain, are, under the cir…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:4Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy Name (comp. Psalms 104:33; Psalms 146:2). The purpose of man's creation, the end of his being, his main employment throughout eternity, is the praise o…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:5My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. The "marrow and fatness" of the sacrificial feasts caused a delight to worshippers, which was no doubt partly sensuous. The memory of them occurs to the psalmist, b…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:6When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. David had doubtless done this during the long and anxious night which followed his first day in the wilderness of Judea (2 Samuel 16:14).Joseph S. Exell and contributors