Ps. 63.3 (better than life)

For your loyal-love / is better than life itself
my lips / have praised you. 

In order to catch the depth of these verses we should note a progression: “like a land parched and weary from lack of water – I have seen you -- …your loyal-love is better than life.” The movement is one of ‘near death’—seeing God—better than life. What I believe we are to see in this is that separation from God creates an experience that pushes the psalmist to the edge of life (death), whereas, likewise, the vision of God pushes the psalmist to edge of life (“better than life itself”).  That which creates both of these is the vision of God (either through its absence or its presence). Likewise, when God is absent, the mouth is parched, weary and thirsty for him. When God is seen, though, the “lips praise you.” That which was empty is now filled and overflowing in praise. We might say that the presence of God makes one intensely aware of the boundaries of life and that one is, by his presence, made to limn those boundaries. But we need to be more specific—it is God’s loyal-love that is better than life. This is important in the way that seeing God’s “glory and strength” were in the previous verse. God’s “loyal-love” is that which seeks the greatest benefit for the covenant partner, whether through the removal of that which threatens the relationship (like, the removal of sin; see Ps. 51) or that which provides nourishment and life and/or protection. There is, therefore, the sense of loyal-love as being that which engages forces that would threaten the relationship. Later in the psalm, the psalmist’s ‘life’ is again referred to in reference to the enemies that would threaten it (vs. 9). It is God’s “loyal-love”, that is “better than life”, that will protect him. This is why, here, he will “praise you (God)” (for the enactment of his loyal-love). I believe that what we see is this: just as “glory and strength” always carry the sense of God as being profoundly always-more, so too does God’s loyal-love (that which protects life) always carry with it this overflowing sense of ever-more. At the moment it is understood to be the foundation of life-itself (through its protective enactment), it is (like God’s glory) perceived to be more than life-itself (or, ‘better than life itself’). As we said above, one is made aware of the boundary between man and God in and by the presence of God. In his absence, death is perceived; in his presence, “better than life” is beheld. Perhaps we could also say this: that, in a sense, God’s “glory and strength” are like an aesthetic perception of God, whereas the perception of his ‘loyal-love’ is attained in his dramatic movement for his people. In both, God is known to be ‘ever-more’.