Better than life!
You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you;
Psalm 63:1-8
I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.
Psalm 63 is a favorite, one I read, reread often. But today, this one line catches my attention in a different way, “because your love is better than life.”
I’ve been thinking about the redemptive work of Christ this week; it was the focus of discussion in our women’s Bible study this week.
Today when I read that line, “because your love is better than life,” I picture Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking God to take the cup of suffering away, asking if there was any other way to bring about His redemptive plan. I see Jesus saying, — your love, Father, is better than life –. In Jesus’ words – “yet not what I will but what you will.”
He laid down His life because the Father’s love was better, Jesus’ own love for us was better than life itself.
And Jesus did that for me!
He left His Father’s throne above,
Charles Wesley
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me.
I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. (Psalm 13:5)
