"Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you...My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips."
Psalm 63:3, 5
Satan demonstrated a cunning understanding of man's tendency to do anything to protect his own flesh when he said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life" (Job 2:4). Of course, Bible students know that Job was so much more than Satan gave him credit for and despite all of Satan's best efforts he could not entice Job to forfeit his faith in God.
Life is so precious, is it not? It is a gift from God and throughout its duration we experience much that we come to love and value. But is there something of even greater import than living a life of pleasant experiences and engaging pursuits? David certainly thought so. Even at the height of its pleasures this life cannot compare to the joy of dwelling with God. Another great servant of God said, "I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better" (Philippians 1:23).
Each of us knows that sometimes the events of this life are brutal and incredibly hard to bear. However, even when life progresses swimmingly without a hiccup anywhere in site, the honest heart knows that it will not last forever. Whether one's life is filled with good things, bad things, or a combination of both it is all so very fleeting! The wise Preacher said, "For the living know that they will die..." (Eccl. 9:5). Just because the vast majority of humanity strives manfully to avoid thinking about their inevitable demise, deep inside we all know that it's going to happen one day. So why value something that by its very nature is fleeting when there is something so much better that is eternal? God's steadfast love is not just better than life, it lasts longer. By longer I mean everlasting! When we come to recognize this there will be very real, practical results.
First, we will learn to hate our own lives. Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). Jesus is not telling us to disregard every command to love our family but to recognize that we must love them, and our own selves, less than we love He and His Father. It is important that we recognize this statement from Christ as an extension of one we tend to find much easier to stomach. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). Practically speaking, to truly believe that God's steadfast love is better than life means that one must necessarily love everything they love less than they love Him.
Second, we will not fear men to such an extent that our faith and trust in God crumble. Again, Jesus said, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). I do not believe that Jesus is saying we sin the moment we allow man to frighten us. After all, courage is demonstrated when one acts in the face of and despite fear. However, should man instill such fear in our hearts that we devalue God's lovingkindness and no longer make acceptance before Him our priority than we have stepped off track and sinned. So few truly believe that standing right in God's eyes is better than preserving one's life! Let us always remember that the crown comes after the faithful life, even if that faith necessitates a sudden and violent death (Revelation 2:10).
Finally, to truly believe that God's steadfast love is better than life is to set oneself to obey Him in all things. Whose will and desires take priority in our lives? We must make it God's! Too many pay little more than lip-service to Him. They "praise God" this and "praise God" that, yet live self-serving lives concerned far more with fulfilling their own desires than His. Peter came to learn that, "in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:35). If the doers of right (doers of His will) are acceptable to Him than the ones who fail to do it obviously are not. We must not be those who praise the Lord with our lips and then live selfish lives (Matthew 7:21).
Psalm 63 is a treasure trove of practical instruction on proper attitudes and proper living with God at the helm of our hearts. In this post we barely scratched the surface! Is God's steadfast love better to you than life itself? If so it will reflect in your words and your actions. Put the thoughts of this psalm into action!
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