Following Hard After God (Psalm 63:8)

“My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.” — Psalm 63:8

 

Summary:

David joins two essential truths of the believer’s life: the soul earnestly pursues God, while God’s gracious power sustains the pursuit. Earthly success could not satisfy David, and his past experience of God only deepened his desire for more. To follow hard after God is therefore more than a weak inclination; it is an intense, persevering pursuit that accepts effort, sacrifice, difficulty, and delay. Yet believers do not advance by their own strength. God’s right hand keeps them from falling through sin, sinking under suffering, or declining from duty, so that amid mingled fears and hopes they remain faint, yet pursuing.

 

Outline:

• The believer both pursues and is upheld
  • The soul follows hard after God, while God’s right hand secretly sustains every step of the pursuit.
• God alone is the believer’s supreme good
  • Neither success, power, nor earthly pleasure can satisfy the soul that has learned to desire God himself.
• Experience of God increases holy desire
  • Spiritual knowledge gives a lasting relish, and every taste of grace awakens hunger for fuller communion with God.
• Following hard requires earnest perseverance
  • The believer presses on through distance, hardship, discouragement, apparent neglect, and every needed sacrifice.
• God’s power preserves the believer
  • His right hand guards against sin, supports under suffering, strengthens for duty, and keeps hope alive in every trial.