Psalm 71:13-24

Prayer of an Aged Believer for God’s Assistance

WARNING AND THANKSGIVING. — V. 13. Let them be confounded and consumed, heaped with disgrace and delivered to utter ruin, that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered, completely enveloped, with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt, endeavoring to carry their wickedness into practice at every opportunity.

V. 14. But I, in spite of such wicked counsels, will hope continually and will yet praise Thee more and more,knowing that there will be further occasion for expressing his thanksgiving.

V. 15. My mouth shall show forth Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day, v. 2; for I know not the numbers thereof; the manifestations of God’s attributes are so innumerable that one cannot keep count, and therefore the material for the praise of God is inexhaustible.

V. 16. I will go in the strength of the Lord God, come forward with His mighty deeds, try to perform the impossible in enumerating them; I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only, joyfully confessing it everywhere and upon all occasions.

V. 17. O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth, namely, in His ways, as they agree with His holy will; and hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works, namely, of the guidance of God in his whole life.

V. 18. Now also, when I am old and gray-headed, showing the effects of old age in his appearance, O God, forsake me not, until I have showed Thy strength, the arm of the Lord, as the symbol of His almighty power and deeds, unto this generation and Thy power to every one that is to come, publishing the mighty works of Jehovah to all whom his voice may reach.

V. 19. Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, reaching even to the height of heaven, the highest point of creation, who hast done great things, which the psalmist feels constrained to proclaim even now. O God, who is like unto Thee? The God of Israel, the supreme God, is exalted in righteousness and might over all the universe.

V. 20. Thou, which hast showed me great and sore troubles, by having him see and experience affliction and tribulation, shalt quicken me again, rather, “revive us again,” for the poet now includes the entire congregation in his hymn of praise, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth, the abysses of earth standing for threatening ruin.

V. 21. Thou shalt increase my greatness, the prominence and authority of the psalmist’s office in the kingdom, and comfort me on every side, chiefly by justifying him before the enemies.

V. 22. I will also praise Thee with the psaltery, the lutelike instrument used to accompany singing, even Thy truth, O my God, the faithfulness with which the Lord keeps His promises; unto Thee will I sing with the harp, with the zither of David, O Thou Holy One of Israel. V. 23. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto Thee, composing and declaiming psalms in His honor; and my soul, which Thou hast redeemed, the deliverance from the troubles of this present life being the believer’s guarantee of his final redemption. V. 24. My tongue also shall talk of Thy righteousness all the day long, v. 15; for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.

That is the proper spirit of prayer, to anticipate the Lord’s favorable answer and to praise Him in advance for all His blessings.