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Psalms 68:1-6

Psalms 68:7-14

Psalms 68:15-23

Psalms 68:24-35

Psalms 69:1-12

Psalms 69:13-19

Psalms 69:20-36

Psalms 70:1-5

Psalms 71:1-11

Psalms 71:12-24

Psalms 72:1-11

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God helps those who help others

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The prosperity of the wicked

Psalms 74:1-23

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Psalms 71:1–11
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It was a stormy night in Birmingham, England, and Hudson Taylor was to speak at a meeting at the Severn Street schoolroom. His hostess assured him that nobody would attend on such a stormy night, but Taylor insisted on going. “I must go even if there is no one but the doorke … More

Faithfulness

In this passage it seems that the psalmist was old and saw life as a testimony of all God had done for him. He finds himself approaching the last lap of his journey in the service of God, he had run a good race, he had kept the faith, and he pleads with God for strength to finish well.

  1. He expresses God’s faithfulness (vv. 1-3) - He rests everything on the character of God and on the compassion of God. Let a person invest his faith and trust in the living God and he will find that, when all else fails, God is still in business.
  2. He shares the experience of God’s faithfulness (vv. 4-6) - This godly old believer had been trusting God for a long time. He remembered many occasions when God had saved him from trials in life. As an old man, he was determined to keep trusting Him.

The psalmist now gives detail of the threatening circumstances that he finds himself in old age.

  1. The problem he was finding (v. 7) - All eyes were on him.
  2. The praise he was formulating (v. 8) - He was determined to give thanks in his circumstances, even if he did not like them.
  3. The pressure he was feeling (v. 9) - He pleads that God will no longer burden him.
  4. The persecution he was facing (vv. 10,11) - As he grows old it seems that the walk gets more lonely and the battles become more intense.

Application

Remembering how God has blessed me during my lifetime will help me see the consistency of His grace, trust Him for the future and share with others the benefits of being faithful.

Psalms 71:1-11 (English Standard Version)

In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame! In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me! Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you. I have been as a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day. Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent. For my enemies speak concerning me; those who watch for my life consult together and say, "God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him."

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