Psalm 63 — James K. Boswell

Psalm 63: The Soul’s Desire, Delight, Diligence, and Deliverance

Will you please open your Bibles to Psalm number 63, the 63rd psalm. If you don't want to say psalm, you may, but that is still psalm. In Psalm number 63, there's that very lovely singing, I'm sure you're ready for this scripture.

I'm going to read an expression four times, and I know you're going to find it as we go along. Psalm 63, verse 1. O God, my God, early or endlessly will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.

To see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary, because Thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee. Thus will I bless Thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in Thy name.

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips. When I remember Thee upon my bed and meditate on Thee in the nightwatches, because Thou has been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.

Thy soul follows hard after Thee, Thy right hand upholdeth me, but those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword. They shall be a portion for foxes, for the king shall rejoice in God.

Everyone that swears by him shall glory, but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. The Lord will add His blessing to that short reading from His word to each of our hearts this morning. Now, the expression is, My soul, My soul.

Notice in verse number one you have the soul's desire. My soul thirsteth for Thee. In verse number five you have the soul's delight. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. In verse number eight you have the soul's diligence.

My soul follows hard after Thee. And then in verse number nine you have the soul's deliverance. Those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. Now, let us just think of this for a moment, shall we?

The Soul’s Desire for God

Verse number one. The soul's desire. Notice, please, the personal note of the very first sentence. O God, thou art my God. Early or earnestly will I seek Thee. Now, this is a healthy desire. It is a spiritual desire, and I believe that's why we're gathered in these days of conference, because we have a desire to come into personal intimacy with our beloved Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember the Lord said one day, What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? The soul is the most valuable possession that we really have.

Let us still before our hearts remember the Lord Jesus said one day, If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. He also said, Blessed is he who is hungry and thirsts after righteousness, for he shall be filled.

So here in verse number one we have the soul's desire. My soul thirsts not after any dogma, not after any theory, not after any particular religion, not after the philosophies of men. My soul thirsts for Thee.

Now, is that really the desire of your heart and my heart here this morning? My soul thirsts for Thee. It's good to have our minds informed. It's good to have instruction that I believe deep down in your heart and my heart that we must come into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

Notice please the very same verse and it says these words. My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee. Now this word longeth is a very interesting word. It's a word that means homesick, homesick.

Remember Paul said in Romans 1 verse 11, I long to see you. The word in the original is, I'm homesick for a sight of you. I'm homesick for a sight of you. Sometimes people say to me, are you ever seasick, crossing the Atlantic so often?

I say, no, I'm far too scoffed to be seasick. I never give anything away. Brother said, are you ever lovesick? I said, why, that's my business. He said, are you ever homesick? I said, yes, I had a touch of homesickness once.

I would never like to have another touch of homesickness. I think it's the most awful sickness anyone can ever have. But that's the very word used here, my flesh longeth for Thee. Where? In a dry and thirsty land where no water is.

And for the spiritual man or woman, there isn't anything whatever in this all-torturing world system. Nothing whatever. Go back to verse 5 of the previous psalm and see what it says there. My soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him.

Verse 11 of the same 62nd Psalm, God has spoken once, twice have I heard this, that power of the Lord is unto the Lord. Now isn't that just precious? To be able to look up and say, my soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Thee.

Why, all power is invested in Thee. And when you come across the Psalm 87, the very last phrase says, all my springs are in Thee, O Lord. Now is that true? My expectation is in this world, in whom all power is invested.

And to be able to say triumphantly, all my springs, all my resources, all my treasures are in Thee. Oh, to be able to say triumphantly, O Lord, Thou art enough, the mind and heart fulfilled. Oh, fix my eyes so wholly, Lord, on Thee, that with Thy beauty occupied I elsewhere none may see.

Do not regard this as the desire of your heart. I repeat, it is a healthy, it is a spiritual desire. Remember Israel of old, they desired a king. They wanted a king like all the other nations around them.

The Bible says, the Lord gave them their heart's desire, but sent them leanness of soul. It was not a healthy, it was not a spiritual desire. But He gave them their heart's desire, but sent them leanness of soul.

Now Paul, if this morning our hearts were desiring the Lord, and were delighting in the Lord, what does Psalm 37 verse 4 say? Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

That is a verse I've made whole of my faith. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Are you here with great desires in your heart this morning? Are you delighting in the Lord?

Then depend upon him to fulfill those desires during these days of wonderful conference. The little widows don't believe me too. Verse number 2. To see thy power and thy glory, first I see thee in the sanctuary.

Yes, beloved, if you're desiring him, he's going to lead you into intimacy with himself. He's going to lead you into the sanctuary, and it's there. He's going to reveal his glory and manifest his power to you in a way you'll never know in any convention or any public gathering.

I'm sure you see the importance, the value, of having a time and a place set apart daily where you'll meet with God face to face and with an open Bible. It's there he reveals his glory to your waiting spirit.

It's there he manifests his power to you in such a way that you might say you'll never know in any other kind of a manner. You'll not get alone with God. And if this conference means anything to you, I trust it's going to mean this, that you're going to learn the secret and the value of a quiet time.

The Quiet Time and Intimacy with God

Having a time and a place set apart daily where you'll meet with him. That great man of God, the late Dr. Malcolm Beck, said to me many years ago, he said, James, that's my Sunday name, by the way, but he said, James, God forbid that we as Christian workers should be caught up in the vampire of this world's mad rush.

He said, he, Christ said, they'll honor him, I will honor. And Dr. Beck said that was never truer than where the quiet time is concerned. He said, if we honor him in privacy, he'll honor us in public.

He said, alone with God, we greet God for men. Then we go out in public and greet men for God. He's alone with God. Victories are won. And then we go out in public to gather in the spoils. We prevail with God in private.

We prevail with men in public. And only in the measure in which we're prevailing with God in private, shall we be able to prevail with men in public. Or to learn the secret of this quiet place. I was in Arizona sometime in Tucson.

And I was giving some talks at the university there. And then the varsity group asked if I would talk to them on the value of the quiet time. I said, I'd be happy to do it. Now, I'll never forget this day.

And I saw that classroom filled with young men, full-blooded, full of vitality and vigor. Now, I looked around that crowd. I said, we're going to talk about the quiet time. But instead of using the term quiet time, I'll abbreviate it and just say QT.

QT. So every time I came down to the expression QT, to my utter amazement, some of my male students began to smile. And having in mind the light I've got, I knew exactly what they were smiling about. I said, look fellows, I'm not talking about QT.

I'm talking about QT. I said, now QT may keep you from QT, but she must not. You must not let any QT or anything come in between you and that time you've set apart, that tristing place along with God.

Let it go farther. It's fair. And will you know from experience that in that quiet place when the Lord reveals his glory to you, and then he says he's proud of you, and those transactions are so intimate and so vital, you just cannot come out and describe these to other people.

There's something secret between you and the Lord. But they know by your conscience and by your character that you've been alone with God. You can be alone with him. What does the old hymn say? Take time to behold him.

Speak oft with thy Lord, thy friends in thy conduct. They shall know you've been alone and with God. They'll see it. I must tell you, Lord, that may I express this morning the value of this quiet time.

I referred yesterday morning to the late Harold St. John. Someone asked him the question one day, why is it Mr. St. John, you're always so arraigently happy. The dear, fitly man of God, as you remember him, his lovely white snowy hair, lovely ruddy complexion.

He said, if there's a reason, it is this. Every morning before I leave my room, I wrap my soul in his steadfast love. He meant he wrapped, he enveloped his soul in the steadfast love of the Lord. Another great man of God, the late Alfred Mays, has asked a similar question in Victoria, in Canada.

Mr. Mays, why is it you're always so triumphantly happy? The answer's almost the same. He said, there's never a morning before I leave my room that I soak my soul in his steadfast love. Do you get that?

I soak my soul in his steadfast love. Mr. St. John was never in bed after 4 o 'clock in the morning. Very seldom was he ever out of bed after 10 o 'clock at night. You just can burn the candle at both ends.

If you're going to get up early to spend time alone with God, you must get to bed, quote A .P. Goode, All good children on their way to heaven should be in bed before 11. But if you're in the word of God you dwell, you may stay up to 12.

You see? That man's part of my own. You see? My wife would say, preach or practice what you preach. Now we go to the Father, shall we? Down to verse number three. Because thy loving kindness is better than life.

Falling Afresh in Love with Christ

Now please get this expression, will you? Well, the Revised Standard Version has, for loving kindness lies steadfast love. And now, these two men, the one wrapped his soul in steadfast love, the other bathed his soul.

What do I mean by that? It meant by the reading of the word of God and quiet meditation upon the Holy Scripture. They just quietly waited until the love of God came over the soul by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And the one just wrapped his soul in steadfast love, while the other bathed his soul, soaked his soul. And as they went off into the daily calling, one was recognized as ragedly happy and the other triumphantly happy.

That will be the same in your life, my friends, and in my life. Now I don't know about you that I know about myself. I believe the greatest revival is needed today as a revival for each and every believer to fall in love afresh with Jesus Christ.

I repeat that. For each and every believer to fall in love afresh with Jesus Christ. The late Henry Drummond said, it's the expulsion of a new affection for Jesus Christ. You know, no amount of Christian activity and no amount of Christian movement will compensate for your neglect of this quiet time.

You must learn the secret, my friend, of spending time alone with God. Can I give you a very simple illustration here? The Apostle Paul wrote the seven churches and Christ wrote the seven churches. The first church, the Christ, Paul wrote to the saints at Thessalonica.

And remember how he wrote. Remembering your faith, remembering your work of faith. And then he put it properly. Remembering without cheating your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope.

The work of faith to turn to God for my own, the labor of love to serve the living and true God, your patience of hope, and to wait for his son from heaven. So when you go across to what you see, to Philippians chapter 2, the first church the Lord wrote to the saints at Ephesus.

And what does he say? I know thy works. I know thy labors. I know thy patience. But please notice those three great virtues which are so necessary for effective God-glorifying service of missing. It's works, but it's not a work of faith.

It's labor, but it's not a labor of love. It's patience, but it's not the patience of hope. I just said to someone, do you know some church that really loves the Lord Jesus? Oh yes, you go down to Ephesus, see how they're living there.

See how they work for him. They labor for him. They're so patient. So tolerant. Even those who hold on sound doctrine. They're so patient. Yes, I know, as you say, that Christ has been there. And he put the stethoscope upon their heart.

And he said, I know thy works. I know thy labors. I know thy patience. But I have sung for against you. You've left your first love. You've left your first love. And brethren, it's not more manpower. It's not more ministry.

It's not more money. It's not more new message. It's not more new music we need among us today. It's for the individual believer to fall in love afresh with the Lord Jesus Christ. For your heart and my heart to move up toward him.

And not in all the value of that glorious person. Our heart will move up to him in love. And not in wonder, praise and love. We'll adore this one. Our ministry will become effective and convincing and powerful.

Because the love of God is shared abroad in our heart by the Holy Spirit. I'm not going to ask you, do you love the Lord Jesus? I think this is just a good way when you hear people saying, I love the Lord.

I love Jesus. And yet there's no power in the line. No victory in the line. There's a contradiction in terms, my friend. I want you to come close with me now to verse 5. Verse 5. Oh dear, that time. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness.

Spiritual Satisfaction and Strength in Christ

My mouth shall praise it with joyful lips. Now please notice the expression marrow and fatness. Now marrow speaks of spiritual enrichment and fatness speaks of spiritual strength. Now I'm not talking about this kind of fatness.

That's just a nuisance. So you see, I don't believe in the fall-in-the-way doctrine. And the Bible tells me in Psalm 92 verse 14 I've got to be fat and flourishing. That's what it says. And the fat belongs to the Lord.

So I'm still quite spiritual, you see. I mean spiritual. But a different, you know. So may I just help you right here. And it says, My soul shall be satisfied. Now here the soul is residing in verse 1.

Leading through the quiet time in the perfect intimacy of Christ. And you just can't know Him without loving Him. The whole deal must move out to Him. I very seldom talk of my love for the Lord Jesus.

It's so cold and erratic and spasmodic at the very best. I always love to talk of His love for me. That much so loyal to truth and fear and war. More of no change. It's a wonderful love. But may I say humbly and sincerely I love the Lord.

I love Him. And notice now verse number 5. My soul shall be satisfied. You'll find all your delight and all your satisfaction in the Lord. My soul shall be satisfied as of marrow. The doctor friend of ours in New York with whom we've paid when we go into the area.

He told me one day this word marrow. I got out in the medical world. They find marrow is now essential for enriching the blood. And also there are people suffering from nervous exhaustion. They're giving them the stock made from the marrow.

And it's proving it more beneficial than any other thing they've ever found for nervous exhaustion. I'm not giving you a prescription. At least I'm not charging $5 for it. But you can try it out and you'll find it's true.

The stock made from the marrow. I remember my little mother back in Scotland used to send me down to the village butcher to get a marrow bone to make soup with. My heart likes to have a plate of that soup now.

There it is. The stock made from that marrow is so nutritious and so beneficial to the whole being. That's the word used here. Spiritual enrichment. And now here the Fatness speaks of spiritual strength.

And when you're desiring Him and now you're delighting in Him I want to give you an old fashioned illustration in the book of Ruth. That lovely story. We find Ruth is down the land of North with her sister-in-law Arthur.

Ruth’s Devotion and the Believer’s Union with Christ

And now in Nehomai which means pleasantness or joy she's down there. Nehomai has been stripped in death. Stripped of her husband, stripped of her two sons. And there we find the heart of Nehomai goes up to her daughters-in-law and a stranger moves toward her and she says, God has visited his people and given them bread.

I'm going back to my own land. They go saying, we're going back with you. And they set out together when they come to Crossroads to a frontier between Bethlehem, Judah and Moab a crucial test comes. And there she puts them to the test.

Do they really love her? Are they utterly devoted? Are they showing wholehearted allegiance? Arthur kissed her mother-in-law and went back. Arthur means high in feet, swiftness of foot. She's like a mere professor who professes salvation through some evangelistic campaign but there's no heart regeneration.

No heart experience. And she goes back and you'll never hear of her again. She goes back to God. Goes back to her own people. Goes back to her own land. What about Ruth? Ruth, friendliness and beauty.

We find her utterly devoted to me, oh my. And treat me not to leave you to return from falling after thee. Where thou goest, I will go. Where thou dwellest, I will dwell. Thy people shall be my people.

Thy God shall be my God. Where thou diest, I will die there where I be buried. What a wonderful text for a baptismal service. Where thou diest, I will die. I'm there where I be buried. What happens? We find her going right over Nauvoo into the border, into the land of Bethlehem, Judah.

Nehomai is a picture of Christ in humiliation. Christ tasted death for all of us. He was stripped in death. Yet the sweetness, beloved, of Nehomai's character shone right up. Won the heart of young Ruth.

And we find Ruth utterly devoted to her redeemer. Suddenly, oh my, close to the redeemer, the deliverer of young Ruth. And she goes right across into the new land. And what happens? She's introduced to a man called Boaz.

And Boaz means a strong man. A mighty man of wealth. Had she gone back to Moab, she would never have met Boaz. But because she was willing to go all the way with Nehomai, we find Boaz a picture of Christ in resurrection.

Nehomai a picture of Christ in humiliation. Boaz a picture of Christ in resurrection. The strong man. The mighty man of wealth. And we see young Ruth coming all with weakness. She finds in her Boaz her abundance of strength.

She comes in all her poverty. She finds in him her abundance of wealth. All because she's willing to go all the way. Turn her back upon the land of her nativity. Her own people, her gods and her idols.

And to the clean-cut separation as she comes onto resurrection ground. And she's occupied with Boaz now. Boaz. What is the picture we have here, beloved, Christ? Philippians 3 .10 comes in again this morning.

What do I read? I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering by death being made conformable. If I'm going to know him and the power of his resurrection, I start at the bottom of that verse and work backwards.

What does it say? By death being made conformable. He died. His death is my death. When he died, I died. I don't try to die. I've already died. Brother Gilbert said to me at Flint's after a meeting one night, going up in his own quiet way, Fatherly Wayne said, Brother, it's good to hear a dead man preach.

And I want you to get that deep down in your soul this morning, friend. I have died. Do you realize that? What does it lead us to? The fellowship of his suffering. What does it lead us to? The power of his resurrection.

What does it lead us to? To the fullness of his throne life. I may know him now in the fullness of all that risen life, the fullness of his throne life, when he was Christ in life now. When am I going to get this?

When am I willing to go all the way like Ruth, linked on to our great deliverer, our redeemer, our adorable Lord Jesus? Then we shall know him in all the power of his resurrection life. We shall know the abundance of wealth, and instead of going around like spiritual paupers, we shall become spiritual multimillionaires.

Instead of going around like spiritual weaklings, we shall become spiritual giants. But remember, you must be willing to go all the way. Are you this morning? Are you? Has Ruth not gone all the way? She'll miss all this, my friend.

She'll miss it all, like Arthur misses. We'll never read of Arthur again. And you remember, as a result of that union with Boaz, as a result of that union, there is fruit. There is fruit. And given to the great, delightful Ruth, and Boaz is a delightful little baby.

I'm sorry, girls, but it's a boy. And his name is Obed. Obed waiting and watching, working and waiting for the Lord. What happens from Boaz and Obed that came Jesse, and from Jesse that came David? Get the picture.

Christ in humiliation. Christ in glorious resurrection. Christ the coming Lord. Christ the coming King. And right in between, we are waiting and we're working a view of the coming again of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ.

May I pause here one moment with you, my friend? Do you notice there is no, no fruit as a result of the union between Melon and Ruth? None whatsoever. What's the lesson? The old life will never produce anything for God.

We must know Him in all the fullness of this whole life, this resurrection life, if there's going to be fruit, lustrous and joyous to God's praise and to God's glory. Just sit down to verse number eight.

Diligence in Following Hard After God

Do it gently, sir. My soul follows hard after thee. Now, here's a thought. Diligent. Diligent. Now, we must be diligent. That's very, very important to recognize this. If you're desiring Him, you're delighting in Him, you'll become diligent.

Diligent. Now, this word is an interesting word. It's a businessman's word. The man must be diligent in his business. If not, his business goes into liquidation. He goes into bankruptcy. God never encourages laziness, whether physically or spiritually.

We must be diligent. Diligent. And it's the athlete's word. The athlete must be diligent in his training, or he's a flop in competition. Then we come to the student. The student must be diligent in his studies, or he slumps off in the exam.

I wish I had time to go into these one by one, but I just go back all them hurriedly as I could. The businessman must be diligent in his business, and correctly so. But listen to what does God say. Not slothful in business, servant in spirit, serving the Lord.

Now, in other words, not slothful in, the definite article comes in here, the business. Now, it's right for a man or woman to be diligent in their daily calling, correctly so, but not at the expense of the business.

If we are regarding our physical and natural, that we might be a success, how much more concerning the spiritual. The athlete, my friend, must be diligent in his training, or he flops out in competition.

What does the Bible say? The body may exercise propitious for a little while, but those who exercise themselves unto Godliness will do it a life eternal. What about the student? The student must be diligent in his study, or he flops out in the exam.

What does the Bible say? Study to show thyself approved unto God. Now, what's religious? Not to be ashamed. Rightly dividing are the word of truth. I may deal with that a little later one day. May I give you five good words, all springing from this word, follow hard after.

The word means glued to. Glued to. It's an interesting word. The same word is used in Genesis chapter one, when it says, a man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave, the same word, unto his wife.

The word here is the word affection. Affection. And my friend, have we got that driving affection for the Lord Jesus? Have we? Are we forsaking all else? All else? And are our hearts occupied, cleaving to, glued to, our adorable Lord?

Same word is used in Ruth chapter one, unto his queen, unto her mother-in-law. There you have devotion. There you have devotion. Then you come to the book of Job. It says, I, the spiritual advisers, will closely join together.

The word join together means oneness. It means oneness. The sermon says in Psalm 119, I am stuck to thy testimony. There you have faithfulness. Faithfulness. Beloved, I want you to think these words through.

You have affection. You have devotion. You have oneness. And you have, and I love this with all my heart, faithfulness. And one last word. In the book of Jeremiah, chapter 42, it says, the famine follows close after.

Close after. The word means earnestness. Now when our soul is desiring, our soul is delighting, our soul becomes diligent. And what's the result? Affection. Devotion. Oneness. Faithfulness. Earnestness.

The Soul’s Deliverance and Security in Christ

And when that soul is in that happy condition, what do you find? The soul is delivered. The soul is delivered because your life is paid with Christ in God. That soul is safe. That soul is secure. May I quote one of the words of these words?

The soul of Jesus has leaned for repose. I will not. I will not desert repose. That soul of all hell shall endeavor to change. I will never, no never, no never forsake. The Lord bless you.