Upheld by God’s Right Hand

My Soul Clings to You, Your Right Hand Upholds Me
(Psalm 63:8)

In Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, Dane Ortlund shares a tender moment with his two-year-old son Benjamin at a swimming pool:

When my two-year-old Benjamin begins to wade into the gentle slope of the zero-entry swimming pool near our home, he instinctively grabs hold of my hand. He holds on tight as the water gradually gets deeper. But a two-year-old’s grip is not very strong. Before long it is not him holding to me but me holding on to him. Left to his own strength, he will certainly slip out of my hand. But if I have determined that he will not fall out of my grasp, he is secure. He can’t get away from me if he tried.

This simple story beautifully illustrates the doctrine often referred to as the perseverance of the saints—the biblical truth that those whom God truly saves, He also sustains. It is not ultimately our grip on God that preserves us, but His mighty hold on us.

In Psalm 63:8, David captures this same double reality: “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” David’s clinging to God is made possible—and sustained—by God’s unwavering grip on him. The reason David can hold fast is because God first holds him fast. This is the deep assurance at the heart of the Christian faith, and it goes deeper than a ‘once saved, forever saved’ statement; it is a truth that permeates the whole of the Christian life.

 What Does it Mean to Cling to God?

What does the Psalmist mean to clinging to God? To cling is to hold fast, to embrace with deep love and trust. In Psalm 63, David speaks from a place of desperation and longing:

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 (v. 1).

He describes his soul’s longing for God like a parched desert traveller thirsting for water. And then he says, “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food” (v. 5), a metaphor for deep, nourishing delight. For David, clinging to God meant treasuring Him above life itself (v. 3).

This idea is echoed elsewhere in Scripture:

You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him.²
If you will be careful to do all this commandment… loving the LORD your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him.³

The Might of God’s Right Hand

Your arm is endowed with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.⁴

God’s right hand refers to His power, glory, and active intervention in the lives of believers and the world. It signifies God’s authority, strength, and the place of honour from which He works.

The Bible describes God’s redeeming Israel from slavery in Egypt as a demonstration of the power of His arm:

And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders.⁵

In Christ, God displays His mighty right hand in vanquishing our greatest foes: sin, the devil and the flesh.

He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.⁶

This is the power that raised us from spiritual death and breathed new life into us when we were dead in our trespasses and sins⁷. Consider the mighty power of God that opened our hearts to faith⁸, shone the light of the knowledge of His glory in our hearts so we could behold the beauty of Jesus⁹, and replaced our hearts of stone with new hearts of flesh, malleable to his hand of grace¹⁰.

How did we come to love God? We love because He first loved us¹¹. How did we come to faith in Christ? All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out¹². No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day¹³. In the very place where Jesus affirms the Father’s hand brought us to Him in faith, He adds the double assurance that anyone thus brought to Him by the Father will be raised on the last day.

Reflecting on God’s saving acts in the lives of His people, the Psalmist notes:

Shouts of joy and victory
resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”¹⁴

The same power that raised Christ from the dead works in us daily, conforming us into the image of its creator and making us more like Christ¹⁵. Even the desire to live a holy life springs from God’s work within us: It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure¹⁶. Our sanctification—just like our justification—is rooted in God’s initiative and sustained by His power.

Practical Applications

Christian, are you worried about your love for God? Do you fear your faith is too weak to endure the trials and temptations hurled at you by the world, the flesh, and the devil? Take heart: the God who saved you is the God who upholds you. The longing in your heart to please Him—even in its weakness—is evidence of His Spirit at work in you, renewing your nature after His image^15-16. He not only calls you to live a Christ-like life. He gives you both the desire and the power to live it^16-17.

Perhaps you’re saying, “I feel I’m not living up to God’s expectations.” God says, My right hand upholds you. Trust me, and stop focusing on your performance but instead on what Christ has already done on your behalf. I love you.  “I don’t feel worthy of Your love, considering my many failings.” My right hand upholds you. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick¹⁸. I did not choose you because you were worthy—but by choosing you, I make you worth¹⁹. “My faith is so fragile, I fear I won’t endure to the end.” Trust in Me; My right hand upholds you. I will never leave you nor forsake you²⁰.

Is there a particular weakness or temptation that seems insurmountable? Ask God for strength to overcome. His right hand has ample power to uphold you. Do you feel at your wits end? ‘When we’ve reached the end of our hoarded resources, our Father’s full giving is only begun.’²¹

And how about you, my non-Christian friend? Is the arm of the Lord too short to save you? Even now, He stands ready to receive you. There is no sin so great that he cannot forgive. He is mighty to save. The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives²².

Notes

1. Phil. 1:6.
2. Deut. 10:20.
3. Deut. 11:22.
4. Ps. 89:13.
5. Deut. 26:8.
6. Col. 2:13-15.
7. Eph. 2:2-4.
8. Acts 16:14.
9. 2 Cor. 4:6.
10. Ezek. 36:26; Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10.
11. 1 Jn. 4:19.
12. Jn 6:37.
13. Jn 6:44.
14. Ps. 118:15-16.
15. Col. 3:10.
16. Phil. 2:13.
17. Col. 1:29.
18. Mk. 2:17.
19. Thomas Watson.
20. Heb. 13:5 and Deuteronomy 31:6.
21. Annie Johnson Flint (1941).
22. Fanny Crosby (1875).