“My soul clings to (after) You; Your right hand upholds me.” (Psalm 63:8)

We get glimpses in several of the Psalms of the kind of deep spiritual relationship that David had with the Lord. Psalm 63 is one of those. He writes in its first verses that because God is HIS God, he will seek Him earnestly (literally “early”), and that in a desert land, his greatest need is not for food or water, but “You”! (:1b)  Verse 8 continues to reveal the nature of the relationship that David — and every true believer — has with the Lord:

He writes: “My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.” Here David describes a mutual embrace between him and his God:

— He is holding on to God: “My soul clings to You”

— But GOD is also holding on to HIM: “Your right hand upholds me.”

Thus as in any healthy loving relationship, it is not merely that one is clinging to the other in an unrequited way; but that both are committed to each other, and holding each other.  David’s soul clings to God, and God’s hand upholds him.  This is the picture of every Christian’s relationship with the Lord as well.

Of course, we know which of these embraces is most vital. Our hold on God may sometimes be tenuous and weak; but His upholding of us never wavers. I have seen a child clinging to his father’s arms while they were climbing in a steep place, as if his life depended upon his little grasp; but that child’s safety was not based on his preschool ability to cling to his father, but on his father’s strong arms which secured him.  This is a great picture of the Christian’s mutual embrace with the Lord. The security of our relationship with God does not depend upon our own weak ability to cling to God — or there would be no real “security” for us at all!  Rather our security is based on HIS commitment to hold us eternally: “No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:29)

If you are a  Christian today, then love God and hold to Him with all you have. But you can also thank Him that it is not that you are desperately and single-handedly trying to hold on to Him which secures you, but that HE is also steadfastly holding YOU!  That is the confidence of our mutual embrace: “Your right hand upholds me.”