Psalm 71 A Psalm for the Aged

1.  In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
9.  Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.
18.  Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.

We usually think of David as the young shepherd boy, but here he is speaking of his old age after many terrible things have happened in his life and lifetime. He has seen God deliver him from bears and lions and Goliath and false friends and evil men and many other dire circumstances, and now he is not the strong fearless man that he was. Also he has just experienced the worst thing that could happen to him, that someone close to him had conspired to kill him and take away his kingship, the very kingdom that God had promised would last forever. It had almost been usurped by a man who did not honour and trust God, by men who did not know or care about the promised King Eternal, the Messiah.

At the time he wrote this psalm he was back ruling the nation for God and holding a good testimony of righteousness before the surrounding nations, he was able to encourage and sustain the witness to his own people through the priests and the singers who ministered in the tabernacle, and he still had enough smarts to rule in fairness, but what about the future? What if his own mind gets grey like his hair and what about the morals of the one who succeeds him? No wonder that we see his concern in this psalm for the future of God’s plan for Israel and for His Messianic King. Thus his prayer "Please, God, that I never get confused about what is right and wrong."

For we all have heard of people who ‘lose it’ when they age, who used to be so correct and godly, but become so . - . - . It makes us want to memorize and repeat this prayer in the first verse of Psalm 71 that God will keep us from ever being confused about what is right and what is wrong. That we never forget that there is an eternal difference between good and evil. And that those around us who leave God out of their lives and what they do are wrong for there is a spiritual world as well as a material one, that there is a personal evil enemy of good and righteousness, the enemy of God who wants to usurp and spoil us. Many have believed his lies and have conspired with him to confuse us and our children, to spoil God’s good plans for the future and His kingdom.

O God, may I, we, live to show Your power to this generation and your strength to every one is that is to come. Let me never be confused. Amen!

Psalm 70

1 To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David: to bring to remembrance. Make haste, O God, to deliver me; Jehovah, hasten to my help.
2 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion that seek after my soul; let them be turned backward and confounded that take pleasure in mine adversity;
3 Let them turn back because of their shame that say, Aha! Aha!
4 Let all those that seek thee be glad and rejoice in thee, and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified!
5 But I am afflicted and needy: make haste unto me, O God. Thou art my help and my deliverer: O Jehovah, make no delay.

This short psalm shows David in deep desperate trouble praying earnestly for immediate help and that his enemies will be turned back. He is reminding everyone that God is faithful to all who trust Him while pleading with God that the answer will come immediately. But there is no clue in the psalm what the problem was, however the fact that he lived to sing the psalm proves that God did answer and David was thankful. The only clue we have about the circumstances that brought this cry for help is the introduction title to the psalm where we find the word ‘remembrance’. But what is David remembering that he wants all who read the psalm to profit from?

We remember that David was the anointed king of Israel and we have learned that he was just as human as we are. Because he took his job as king seriously he studied and learned the mind of God, for God had given it to Abraham and Moses and the prophets. We need only read his Psalm 119 in which he mentions the law of God in almost every one of the 176 verses to see his respect for the laws of God. He knew that obedience to God would bring blessing and that disobedience would bring curses. And right now he was in an extremely desperate state. Why, he does not tell us.

So let us imagine that he is remembering the rebellion of Absalom, one of the most despicable betrayals that ever happened to David. And immediately we remember the statement that he made when he sent the army out to fight with Absalom, he said, “O Absalom my son, I wish that it had been me that died instead of you.” What was going on in his mind to say such a thing? Again since he does not tell us, let us imagine what might have triggered him saying, ‘if only’.

He knew that Moses taught the people what God expected of them after they came our of Eqypt and that Moses repeated it in the book of Deuteronomy when the wilderness wanderings were just about over, He had read that the people had promised to worship and obey God, and he knew the special instructions about what they should do to gain control of their promised land. The blessings and the curses were emphasized very strongly, Moses made very sure that they knew about both cause and effect. One of these instructions was that they should make no deals with any of the peoples that God saw were beyond hope, else there would be terrible punishment for this disobedience. David also had seen how Saul lost the kingdom because he disobeyed what God asked him to do.

Had David disobeyed? Alas, yes, he had. It started with wanting a princess as a wife, which of course would be a prideful thing and would give a poor shepherd boy some status, and no doubt there were people who urged him to take the honor of being the King’s son in law. But it was not the son of Saul’s daughter who was chasing David out of his kingdom, for she did not have a son by David, it was his son by another princess.

And was not this other princess the daughter of the king of Geshur, the king of one of those nations whom God had said should be exterminated? Yes, and in remembrance it was a terrible disobedience. And the sons of that disobedience were as bad as the people whom David calls upon God to curse. If only David had obeyed, but since he did not there were consequences, very bad ones. If only . . .

He might also have been thinking of his disobedience in stealing Uriah’s wife and having him murdered. That also would have be a very disturbing remembrance, another reason that he was not at all worthy of God’s blessing. If only . . . But David believed in spite of all these memories and God did hear him and God did answer him.

It likely was a while after the terrible experience before the psalm was composed and sung, after David was back on his throne, after deliverance had been granted by God, after the conspirators had been eliminated and the kingdom was safe from being under the control of God’s enemies. And who knows how much worse it would have been if Absalom had become king, but fortunately God heard and answered the prayer of the psalm. He always has an answer.

As we remember the things that we have failed to do and to be, the promised blessings and forfeitures, and how much we have been forgiven, may we believe in God’s goodness like David did. We need not remain at the ‘if only’, for we can be victorious like David was and sing praises to our God even using his very words in this psalm. Let God be magnified!