The Imagery of Embrace: Thoughts on Psalm 63:8
"My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me" (Ps. 63:8 NASB).
Here are two different parties and two different actions. The soul clings and the right hand upholds. The believer is dependent on the one who alone sustains. This verse is not merely a statement of longing, but rather paints a picture of something, namely, the soul clinging and the right hand upholding. What is this a picture of? What else can it be but an embrace.
It is in fact an intense embrace. The little child runs to his father and wraps his arms around his neck; The father's strong hands uphold the child that so desperately clings to Him. Notice the parallelism in this verse: when the soul clings, the right hand upholds. There is no seperation of these two vitally necessary components of this embrace. Both aspects are required.
Life is not what you can bring, but where you choose to cling.
For no soul deserves the joy of this Divine Embrace...
Related Posts
Thank you for the image.
This is striking imagery;
Thanks for your post. Psalm 63 is one of my absolute favorite psalms. It was what helped me see a little of what Piper talks about with pursuing God with intensity. But I never took the time to meditate on the implications of that verse. Thanks for making that psalm even sweeter to me.
Post a Comment