For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psalm 71:1-12

1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
    let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
    turn your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my rock of refuge,
    to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
    for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
    from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.

5 For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,
    my confidence since my youth.
6 From my birth I have relied on you;
    you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
    I will ever praise you.
7 I have become a sign to many;
    you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise,
    declaring your splendour all day long. 9 Do not cast me away when I am old;
    do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
10 For my enemies speak against me;
    those who wait to kill me conspire together.
11 They say, ‘God has forsaken him;
    pursue him and seize him,
    for no one will rescue him.’
12 Do not be far from me, my God;
    come quickly, God, to help me.

A. Find Out:

1. What does the psalmist ask the Lord to do? v.1,2
2. What further does he ask? v.3,4
3. What testimony is he able to give? v.5,6
4. What does he feel he has become, but what does he do? v.7,8
5. What further does he ask of the Lord? v.9,12
6. Why? v.10,11

B. Think:

1. What does the psalmist declare the Lord to be?
2. Yet what does he still ask?
3. What is in the gap between the two causing him to ask?

C. Comment:

This psalm is a mix between testimony declaration and prayer petition. First his TESTIMONY. This has two aspects: a) How he knows the Lord and b) what he has done. Let’s look at how he knows the Lord. He declares that the Lord IS his rock and fortress (v.3), his strong refuge (v.7b), and his hope and confidence (v.5). These are things that the Lord HAS become to him. Next, what he has done, his response to what he has found the Lord to be: he has taken refuge in the Lord (v.1), he has relied upon Him from birth (v.6) and he will praise the Lord (v.8)

Second, his PETITIONS. First he is concerned for his reputation and wants the Lord to protect that (v.1b). Therefore he wants the Lord to listen to his plea (v.2b) and to deliver and save him (v.2). He asks the Lord to be His refuge (v.3a) and to command protection for him (v.3b). Specifically he wants the Lord to save him from the evil men (v.4) who speak against him (v.10a) and want to kill him (v.10b), saying the Lord has deserted him (v.11), and so he needs Him to come close and save him from them (v.12). Note there is the testimony and the plea. He knows the Lord is his refuge but that doesn’t stop him asking the Lord to be that. Why do we do that? Because of the pressure of the enemy who seeks to drive a wedge of doubt into our testimony, and so prayer counters that and helps him remain firm.

D. Application:

1. Can I declare, the Lord IS my refuge?
2. Yet can I not be afraid to ask Him to protect me?

Passage: Psalm 71:13-24

13 May my accusers perish in shame;
    may those who want to harm me
    be covered with scorn and disgrace.

14 As for me, I shall always have hope;
    I will praise you more and more.

15 My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds,
    of your saving acts all day long –
    though I know not how to relate them all.
16 I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord;
    I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.
17 Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
    and to this day I declare your marvellous deeds.
18 Even when I am old and grey,
    do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
    your mighty acts to all who are to come.

19 Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens,
    you who have done great things.
    Who is like you, God?
20 Though you have made me see troubles,
    many and bitter,
    you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will again bring me up.
21 You will increase my honour
    and comfort me once more.

22 I will praise you with the harp
    for your faithfulness, my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,
    Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy
    when I sing praise to you –
    I whom you have delivered.
24 My tongue will tell of your righteous acts
    all day long,
for those who wanted to harm me
    have been put to shame and confusion.

A. Find Out: 

1. What does he want to happen to those against him? v.13
2. Yet what will he do? v.14-16
3. How has he been blessed in the past? v.17
4. What does he ask so he may do what? v.18
5. What does he declare about the Lord? v.19-21
6. Yet what will he do? v.22-24

B. Think:

1. How does the psalmist’s testimony of the past help the present?
2. What does it enable him to say about his circumstances?
3. What does it enable him to declare about the Lord?

C. Comment:

Half of these twelve verses are about praise, which is quite remarkable because as we saw in the first half of the psalm, the psalmist was very aware of his difficult circumstances with people against him. There he was aware of his need of the Lord to be his rock and refuge.

These verses are a declaration of praise and testimony in the face of those difficulties. Yes, he wants his enemies dealt with (v.13), but in the meantime he will praise the Lord more and more (v.14) for the great things God HAS done (v.16).

He is able to look back and know of God’s goodness since his childhood (v.17) and so he wants to be able to continue testifying to that to the next generation well on into old age (v.18). He knows the goodness of the Lord (v.19) and so he is assured that the Lord will come and deliver him out of the present troubles (v.20,21).

Even as he says this it releases a fresh wave of praise (v.22) and joy (v.23) in the knowledge of the Lord’s faithfulness (v.22) and ongoing righteous acts (v.24), and so even though it hasn’t happened in reality, he knows that his enemies have been dealt with (v.24) and are no longer a problem to him.

D. Application:

1. 1. Are we able to look back with thankfulness at the Lord’s goodness to us over the years and be thankful?
2. 2. Does the wonder of God’s dealings with us in the past strengthen us in the present?