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January 30, 2022
Summer Chill in the Psalms - Psalm 71
Rev’d Lynda Johnson
Today we’re looking at Psalm 71 and it has some7mes been referred to as the Psalm for old people.
But I would much rather think of it as a psalm for all who in any stage of life, acknowledge that today they are older
than they were yesterday, and tomorrow they will be older than they are today, and, God willing, they will actually be
very old one day.
I call that kind of acknowledgement ….. maturity.
There are some, who when they are younger, despise the elderly and deem them as stupid.
But wherever we are in life, there is the obvious and ul7mate poten7al of us becoming old, vulnerable and frail.
And the journey we make and take to get there should bring with it experience, humility, understanding and wisdom.
For those whose life is centred on God and his salva7on through Christ, that experience, humility, understanding and
wisdom has great poten7al for influence and impact.
Whatever stage of life you are at - this Psalm is for you.
Our focus to try and give some clarity today is “Sa7sfac7on”.
What does it mean for us as Chris7ans, to find real sa7sfac7on in our rela7onship with God.
To be content in Him.
To trust Him.
To know that He is enough ….. whatever!
To pray, and to trust Him, throughout the seasons of life.
Because this psalm recognises exactly that.
It recognises that there are different seasons in life and that our acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty,
and our sa7sfac7on in that sovereignty can last through all those seasons of life.
From when we’re young, right through to when we’re old.
There’s a story of a great Anglican leader and minister of the 19th century.
His name was Charles Simeon.
One of the
many ways God used Charles Simeon was as part of the team of four people who began the Church Missionary
Society.
Anyway, in 1836, Charles Simeon re7red aYer 54 years of ministry at Holy Trinity, Cambridge.
That’s a long 7me.
And a friend of his, who discovered that Charles was s7ll ge
g up at 4am to spend 7me alone with God, said to him
— ‘Mr.
Simeon, do you not think that, now you are re7red, that you might take things more easily?’
And the old man replied … ’What?
Shall I not now run with all my might when the winning–post is in sight!’
Interes7ngly, Psalm 71 doesn’t explicitly say that it was wriaen by King David, as many of the other Psalms do say.
But
it uses a lot of similar language and phrases which are common to David’s psalms, and Psalm 70 is designated as
coming from David, and this Psalm is saying very similar things.
So I’m going to talk about this as if it’s a Psalm of
David, because I believe it most likely is.
One of the many hints is v. 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.
So it’s preay obvious that he’s at least middle aged, perhaps even has a hint of grey, because in v. 9 he says Do not
cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
And in v.18 ‘even when I am old and grey,
don’t forsake me.
So it seems the reality of this is very much in his mind.
But throughout it, we see that he’s s7ll
- living life with convic7on:
- he’s s7ll rich in his experience of God (5, 6, 17),
- he’s s7ll challenged and pressured (4, 13),
- he’s deeply reliant on prayer (1-9, 12-13),
- he liYs up his voice in praise (8, 14, 22-24),
- and he’s trus7ng the future to God (19-21).
Page 1 of 4
This is a brilliant tes7mony to God’s faithfulness and it’s an incredible example for those who are young, those who
are re7red, and, for all of us….
this is a personal tes7mony of someone whose life, I think, is a challenging example.
It begs the ques7on, what kind of an example is my life?
What about your life?
What kind of any example is your prayer and living, whatever stage you’re at?
A lot of people spend their life trumpe7ng their own accomplishments?
Others speak about how hard their life has
been.
This Psalm, which is most definitely a prayer, is filled with hope, because this experience, this tes7mony, can assure
us, that even when our hair goes grey (or whether it just isn’t there anymore), believers have a refuge in God, and
they have purpose because of that refuge.
If this is David, and as I’ve said, I think it is, his experience tells us that even rich and powerful people face their life’s
greatest struggles in what is supposed to be their best years.
It’s possible that this Psalm could have been wriaen in response to a threat that David was facing from his fourth son,
Adonijah.
Like his half-brother Absalom before him, Adonijah tried to manipulate and manoeuvre the hearts of the people so
that David’s throne would become his.
And Adonijah thought this wouldn’t be hard, because his father was ge
g older.
So what would you do if you found out that your children were trying to get rid of you?
You might call the police or other members of your family that you trusted and complain about what your family was
doing.
But David didn’t do that.
He had bodyguards to protect him.
But that wasn’t where he turned either.
David turned to the Lord.
Look at v1.
In the midst of his trouble David says:
“1 In you, O LORD, I take 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 birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
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