A Good Daddy
Read: Psalm 63
Bible in a Year: Psalms 77–78; Romans 10
Bible in a Year: Psalms 77–78; Romans 10
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.—Psalm 63:6
When our son, Xavier, was younger, business trips often pulled my husband away from home. Though his father called often, there were rough nights when the calls alone didn’t comfort Xavier. To help soothe our son when he felt he needed his dad, I’d pull out our photo albums as he prepared for bedtime. I’d point out the images that showed them spending time together and ask, “Do you remember this?”
Memory after memory encouraged our son, who often said, “I have a good daddy.”
I understood Xavier’s need to be reminded of his father’s love when he couldn’t see him. Whenever I’m going through tough or lonely times, I too long to know I’m loved, especially by my heavenly Father.
David proclaimed his deep yearning for God as he hid from his enemies in the desert (Psalm 63:1). Remembering his personal encounters with God’s limitless power and satisfying love led him to praise (vv. 2-5). Through his most difficult nights, David could still rejoice in his dependable Father’s loving care (vv. 6-8).
During our dark times, when we feel as if God’s not there for us, we need reminders of who God is and how He’s demonstrated His love. Reflecting on our personal experiences with Him, as well as His actions recorded in Scripture, can affirm the countless ways our good Abba Father loves us. —Xochitl Dixon
Lord, thanks for demonstrating Your endless love to Your people, in our lives and through the words You preserved in Scripture.
Remembering God’s works, which reveal His character, reassures us of His love.
INSIGHT: Do you ever wonder whether your faith could endure during hard times? Psalm 63 describes a relationship with God that is deep enough to sustain times so difficult that—literally or metaphorically—we experience life as a “dry and parched land where there is no water” (v. 1).
A faith that is long-lasting is one in which experiencing God’s love is so precious it’s “better than life” (v. 3). Such an intimate relationship is sustained through ongoing communication “through the watches of the night” (v. 6)—a time which in the psalms points to vulnerable communication with God (see, for example, 4:4; 16:7; 119:55).
Through cultivating such a relationship with God, when hard times come we will have a rich history to remember and cherish (63:2, 6). In this way we can trust God enough to cling to Him (vv. 7-8), confident that He’ll deliver us once more (vv. 9-11). Monica Brands
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