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Psalm 63:8 - "My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me."

Psalm 63:8 is a perfect summary of this entire Psalm. The first seven verses, in many ways, repeat the first half of verse eight: “my soul clings to you.”

• "earnestly I seek you" (v.1)
• "my soul thirsts for you" (v.1)
• "my flesh faints for you" (v.1)
• "I have looked upon you in the sanctuary" (v.2)
• "your steadfast love is better than life" (v.3)
• "my soul will be satisfied" (v.5)
• "I remember you upon my bed" (v.6)
• "I meditate on you in the watches of the night" (v.6)

The last five verses, in many ways, repeat the second half of verse eight: “your right hand upholds me.”

• "you have been my help" (v.7)
• "those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth" (v.9)
• "they shall be given over to the power of the sword" (v.10)
• "they shall be a portion for jackals" (v.10)
• "the mouths of liars will be stopped" (v.11)

This verse (and the whole Psalm) clearly articulates something that we do (“my soul clings to you”) and something that God does (“your right hand upholds me”). And we might be content to rejoice in those two realities and move on with our day. And that would be fine because those two realities are true. But if we take a moment more to meditate on this verse, we might ask these questions, “How do these two lines relate to each other? Are they purposefully put next to each other to teach us something more about how we relate to God?”

A Brief Meditation on Connecting Words

Let’s meditate on this a little more and see if we can determine how they rightly relate to each other.  Often, we know how two lines relate to each other by a connecting word between them. We see this in verse 3 of this Psalm. The two lines are (1) "your steadfast love is better than life" and (2) "my lips will praise you." But I left out one word, the connecting word that tells us how the two phrases relate to each other: because. "Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you." We could reverse the order of the two lines, and it would say the same thing: "My lips will praise you because your steadfast love is better than life." So, the connecting word in verse three ("because") tells us that the first line ("your steadfast love is better than life") is the ground of the second line ("my lips will praise you"). In other words, God's steadfast love is the reason or foundation or cause for the praise. God's steadfast love produces the praise. The praise praises God's steadfast love.

So, sometimes the relationship between two sentences or phrases or paragraphs or lines is obvious because of connecting words like that. But other times connecting words are not supplied. That does not mean, however, that the two grammatical units do not have a logical connection between them. It simply means that you have to think a little harder about it in order to figure out the connection. Here's a quick illustration. After working outside on a 95-degree day, I might come inside and say, "I need a drink of water. It's hot outside." Now, there's no connecting word between those two sentences, but I don't think my wife would think, "Hmm. That's odd. What do those two things have to do with each other?" It ought to be obvious in this instance that you could easily insert the word "because" between the two sentences to clarify the relationship between the two: "I need a drink of water because it is hot outside." The heat is the foundation/ground of my need for water. So, a logical connection between two grammatical units often exists even when no connecting word is present.

An Implied Connecting Word in Psalm 63:8?

Alright, back to Psalm 63:8. Let's think through this verse a bit more and test out some possible connections between these two lines.

Therefore - Let's test out this connecting word first: "My soul clings to you; therefore, your right hand upholds me." This could make sense as a logical connection between the two. We cling to God. And as we cling to God, He upholds us by His power. It would make sense that our clinging to God would logically result in Him upholding us.

If/Then - These lines could contain an if/then idea. Let's test it: "If my soul clings to you, then your right hand [will] uphold me." While similar to the previous, this relationship would emphasize a condition between the two phrases. If you want God to uphold you, then you must cling to Him. And positively, if you cling to God, then His right hand will uphold you.

In order that - Here's another option: "My soul clings to you in order that your right hand [might] uphold me." The emphasis on this connection would be that there is a distinct purpose to my clinging to God. My soul is desperately clinging to God for the purpose of demonstrating my complete dependence on Him to uphold me. My soul clings to nothing else because no one else and nothing else can uphold me. My soul desperately clings to God for the purpose of Him upholding me.

For/because - Let me give one final option: "My soul clings to you; for/because your right hand upholds me." This connection would emphasize that God's powerful right hand which is at work in my life to uphold me is the ground/cause/motivation of my clinging to Him. My soul clings to God because He upholds me, and He has constantly been there to uphold me. God initiates upholding me, and I cling to Him as a response to His faithfulness.

So, which is it? As you looked through those options, which seems most likely? While more than one of the options may be compelling when looking at verse 8 by itself, I think the rest of the Psalm gives us a clue that the logical connection between the two clauses is "for/because." In other words, the idea of verse 8 is that "my soul clings to you; because your right hand upholds me." Why do I say this? Because this same idea is stated in other places in this Psalm close by.

Example 1: Look at verse 7. It begins, "for you have been my help." That starts with our same connecting word ("for"). But where does it connect to? You have to go back up to verse 5 to find the particular phrase it connects to: "my soul will be satisfied...and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips...for you have been my help." Why will my soul be satisfied and my mouth praise? Because God has been my help! See the similarity? God being my help ("your right hand upholds me") is the cause of the satisfaction of my soul ("my soul clings to you").

Example 2: Look at verse 11. It ends, "for the mouths of liars will be stopped." This again starts with the connecting word "for." And what does it connect to? It connects most immediately to the previous line: "all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped." Why will all who swear by Him exult? Because He will stop the mouths of liars. God's judgment on the enemies of His people (the liars) is the cause of the exultation of those who trust in Him. This, again, is parallel to our reading of verse 8.

The Hope of Every Christian

The two short clauses in verse 8 contain the hope of every Christian. These ten words are filled with gospel hope. No one comes into this world clinging to God in Christian hope. Rather, we come into the world believing the lie that we are the captains of our fate, that we are in control. "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child" (Proverbs 22:15). "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one" (Psalm 14:1-3; cf. Psalm 53:1-3).

This is a bleak situation. Our soul does not by nature cling to God. And yet, despite that, God reached out to us to work out salvation on our behalf. While our souls were not clinging to Him (Romans 5:8), God stepped in to work salvation for us with His strong right hand. "Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done marvelous things! His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him" (Psalm 98:1). "The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: 'The right hand of the LORD does valiantly, the right hand of the LORD exalts, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly'" (Psalm 118:14-16). "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved" (Ephesians 2:4-5).

God's strong right hand has worked salvation. And when our eyes are opened to the glory of His salvation, our souls cling to Him. "My soul clings to you; [for] your right hand upholds me." The moment of our salvation is the moment when we first cling to God. But God continues to uphold us by His right hand. Each day Jesus upholds the universe (including us!) by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). That means that yesterday, even when you were not thinking about Him, God was sustaining you, giving you breath, keeping you safe, and blessing you with countless good gifts. His right hand was at work upholding you the entire day and throughout the night. Every day is a gift. Every day is a new chance to cling to Him and to watch Him work.

So, if you are discouraged, cling to Him in faith. If you are joyful, cling to Him in thanksgiving. If you are struggling, cling to Him in hope. He's always at work, upholding us with his powerful right hand. Our clinging to Him brings Him honor and praise and glory because it shows that He is our highest treasure. Our clinging to Him magnifies the glory of His name because it shows those around us that everything else that this life can offer us cannot truly satisfy the deepest longings of our heart. But He has satisfied the deepest longings of our hearts, and His every act towards His children is only of grace (Romans 8:32). So, cling to Him; for His right hand upholds you! Hallelujah!

It's no wonder the Psalm is filled throughout with praise.

• "my lips will praise you" (v.3)
• "I will bless you" (v.4)
• "in your name I will lift up my hands" (v.4)
• "my mouth will praise you with joyful lips" (v.5)
• "in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy" (v.7)
• "the king shall rejoice in God" (v.11)
• "all who swear by him shall exult" (v.11)