Your love is better than life

https://odb.org/2025/01/09/better-than-life-2

Psalm 63 NIV – 1 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. 3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.

There is a beautiful song written by Esther Mui, which she also performs accompanied by Patrick Lim on Psalm 63 – in fact, I am sure there are many others. We learnt and performed this song in church, and occasionally, a worship leader will sing this song to God for worship.

https://youtu.be/REx6twdA-Gk?si=amlZy_7JWaVWEZmd

The question that I used to ask about Psalm 63 is how it is that David could conclude that God’s love is better than life? During David’s time, the Israelites looked at the LORD as their sustenance of and for life. They held onto the Abrahamic Covenant of the promise that if they followed Him and adhered to His laws, He would bless and protect them. The concept of afterlife or eternal life was likely there in the background but not clearly spoken about until Jesus arrived on the scene.

Yet David proclaimed that God’s love was better than life. One possible explanation is that David experienced God’s love in such a personal way that he felt he owed his life and very existence to God. The LORD probably rescued him numerous times from Saul and later Absalom and preserved him in his many battles against the enemies of Israel. Why would God save him time and time again if not for His love for him? In Psalm 23, David declared that surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Proclaiming that God’s love is with him until his dying day and that he will spend eternity (forever) with God. Did David allude to eternal life, or is it just his way of speaking about his eventual death one day?

Be that as it may, what’s crucial to us is that we know Christ and His love for us, having sacrificed His life for us that we may be able to spend eternity with Him and Father God and the Holy Spirit one day. We rightfully should be able to proclaim that His love is better than life! In other words, His love is so powerful as experienced that we would rather be with Him than be here on earth if given a choice. Like Paul said, “to die is gain but to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21, paraphrased).

Can we say as Paul in Philippians 1:21? Can we say like David in Psalm 63:3 that God’s love is better than life? Would we rather die and be with God than live? Are we so confident of where we stand before Christ in the Bema judgment seat of Christ? Things to ponder and reflect upon this morning.