Photo of the TBS Westminster Reference Bible

My three year old son is my buddy.  When I’m home it’s cars, Rescue Bots, wrestling, you name it.  He never wants to stop playing.  One of the many blessings in my life is that I am home for lunch every day.  My office is that close.  As usual, my son didn’t want me to stop playing when lunchtime was over the other day.  I told him I’d rather stay home and play but had to go back to work.

“But why?” he asked.  (Cue puppy-dog eyes).  I explained if I didn’t work we wouldn’t have a house, clothes, or food to eat.

“I work because I love you, your mom, and your sister, and I want you to have the things you need.”

“Well I don’t want food,” he said.  Clearly, explanations weren’t working.  Instead of going grim on the subject of starvation, I chuckled and gave him a hug.  Inside, I was touched by his affection.  I was also blown away.

Psalm 63:3 flashed through my mind–“My lips will glorify You because Your faithful love is better than life.”  As I meditated on this verse, I found myself at the cross.  Jesus loved His Father more than His life.  What a fierce and beautiful love.  The words of Psalm 63 give us a prophetic window into Jesus’s feelings as He hung there, dying.

In verse one, every fiber of His being thirsts for His Father as He fades away in the desert of this world. Even so, His heart gazes on the strength and glory of His Father; this is Jesus’s true dwelling–in Him, the sanctuary that is not part of this creation (Heb. 9:11).  This relationship, this love, is better than His own life. Though whipped, slashed, and ridiculed, this union satisfies more than rich food or anything else that pleases the flesh (Psalm 63:4-5).  The darkest night is a place of worship.  The shadow of death is the shadow of His Father’s wing.  There, the Father holds Him close (Psalm 63:6-8).  Though sinful man and the devil seek to destroy Him, the cross buries them in the depths of the earth.  Jesus’s death turns the predator into prey (Psalm 63:9-10). The sign nailed above Him declares He is King, and the King will rejoice in God.  Those who swear by Him and overcome will sit with Him on His throne.  But liars and their “gospels” will be silenced by fire (Psalm 63:11; Rev. 3:21, 21:8).

These are the things that went through my mind as I read Psalm 63.  I would encourage you to read it from the vantage point of the cross.  Perhaps the Lord will give you some sense of Christ’s inner thoughts as He died.  If He does, please comment and share with the rest of us  🙂