Psalm 63:4 Now Available feat. Callan Brown and Yaz Williams

PsalmsCallan BrownYaz Williams

Feb 2

Written By Joel Limpic

Psalm 63:4 is now available on all streaming platforms!

THE VERSE

So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.

Unlikely songs can spring out of strange places. This particular song was penned by King David not in the flurry of a jubilant festival in Jerusalem but rather the arid wilderness of Judah. We don't know why he was there. Perhaps he was trying to escape Saul or Absalom. He wasn't on vacation or holidays; he was running for his life! Some might view these words written above as a poor attempt from David at escapism or avoiding the harsh realities he was surrounded by. Verse 1 of this chapter tells us otherwise:

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Far from being a cute love poem, this psalm is the cry of someone feeling the sun beating down on his brow, crying out with a parched throat while seeking relief. David knows that God is his water, oasis, and refuge. Where our circumstances can be wildly frenetic, God’s love is anything but that! In the prior verse (63:3), God's love is described as "steadfast." It's like a rock, unmoved and unchanging, relentlessly for us. It is from this place of being reminded of God’s love in the desert that David writes the words we sing today:

So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.

A couple of simple observations we learn from this desert song:

Blessing God doesn’t only happen when everything seems great.
David was far from Jerusalem, and far from the Tabernacle. The Hebrew word for “bless” is closely related to the Hebrew word for “knee.” There seems to be this natural tie of blessing God and humbling ourselves before Him in worship. He is forever the great Benefactor, and we are the beneficiaries. We must fight to remember that every good and perfect gift comes from our Father (James 1:17)! To bless God as long as we live means to bless Him in seasons of plenty and seasons of emptiness, seasons of faith and seasons of doubt. He is worthy of us blessing Him as long as we have breath! When do we bless God? As long as we live!
We lift our hands in response to God's name, not our mood.
Not only do we bend our knees as we bless, but we also lift our hands. Worship is a full-bodied response to God. Lifting your hands was a posture of prayer in the Bible (Psalm 134:2, Psalm 142:2, Lamentations 3:41, Nehemiah 8:6, 1 Timothy 2:8). We often associate someone raising their hands in worship as a sign of someone being caught up by emotion. In this psalm, it is simply a response to the name of God (i.e. His essence, His personhood). David doesn’t say, “In my deep-felt emotion, I will lift my hands…” or “As I’m caught up in the thrill of this moment, I will lift my hands…” The motive is far more simple: “In your name I will lift up my hands.” Based on who God is, we lift our hands to pray to Him and praise Him.

Are you in a desert and sorrowful place today? Get on your knees and raise your heads to bless Him. Are you in a season of provision and joy? Do the same thing as you did in the desert! From knees to hands, bless the Lord! Let your whole being praise Him no matter the season you’re in. Sing to Him not because everything is perfect around you but because His love for you is perfect and better than life! Oh, that God would give us the eyes to see Him for Who He is and respond with our hearts and bodies…

The Song + The Artist

This song was written by Callan Brown and then recorded in San Antonio, TX with his wife Yaz Williams. Callan shared a bit about what this verse means to him.:

I had Psalm 63:4 written down on a whiteboard in my office for months, and that’s really what led me to start working on this song. The words “as long as I live” paint this picture of enduring praise. It feels hopeful, yet a bit daunting, to continue to bless God, especially when you feel like He is far from you. And the only way to keep going, to keep enduring, lifting our hands in praise, is in the name of Jesus. It takes me away from the circumstances of my life and helps me to continually focus on Christ, giving him all blessing, honor, and glory.