Psalms 63:3

3 Because your ¹steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

Psalms 63:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 63:3

Because thy lovingkindness [is] better than life
For life without the love of God is nothing else than death: a man that has no share in the love of God is dead while he lives; all the enjoyments of life, health, riches, honour, friends are nothing without the love of God; the meanest temporal blessings with it are preferable to the greatest without it, ( Proverbs 15:17 ) ; it lasts longer than life, and therefore must be better than that; death cannot separate from it; it continues to all eternity. And that the saints prefer it to this natural life appears by their readiness to lay it down for the sake of Christ and his Gospel, in which the lovingkindness of God is so richly manifested unto them; to which may be added, that it is the love of God which gives to his people spiritual life, and which issues in eternal life, and therefore must be better than a temporal one. The Targum is,

``for better is thy kindness, which thou wilt do for the righteous in the world to come, than the life which thou givest the wicked in this world;''

my lips shall praise thee;
that is, for thy lovingkindness, and because it is better than life, and any enjoyment of it.

Psalms 63:3 In-Context

1 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.

2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.

3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,

Cross References

• 1. [Psalms 69:16]