You Are Not the Only One

Psalm Chapter 71 (KJV): Dear God, I am old, please protect me!

(Unless otherwise cited the scriptures in this devotional are from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. It is not chosen for is veracity, but only because it is a public domain version of scripture.)

Context

The psalmist begins with a statement that shows his confidence in God.  Additionally, he does not stop there, he continues the psalm and ends it with words about his faith in God.

Confidence in my protector.

1 In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. (See the first verses of Psalm 31 and notice the similarities in the opening of this psalm with psalm.) ² Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me. ³ Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.  The Lord is always a shield, or covering over us. He is our protector, our provider, and our hiding place.  David believes that with the core of his being. I do too. He has brought me back from the jaws of death for a purpose and a reason.  We can always hide in him while he works out his will in our lives. ⁴ Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. 

Although the psalmist is once again asking God to protect him from all of his hateful enemies, he still displays absolute confidence in God to deliver him by opening this psalm with statements about that trust. See Psalms  Pss 7, 11, 16, 18, 46, 57. As Christians, we go before the throne of God, in faith, believing that he will deliver us from whatever we are praying about because he has done so before. He may use people to make that happen, but he is the one who heard and answered our prayers. There are times when we may mistake his answer as an act of kindness from a human source.  Rest assured that he pricked their hearts to be kind to us. Be confident that what God has in store for you can never be taken from you.

He’s been my protector from my youth.

⁵ For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth.  I could tell stories of how God protected me when I was a child, a teenager, and while I was in school.  When I look back at the humerous times when I could have been killed, or picked up some sort of disease, or even ended up in a scenario that would have made my life a completely differenct one from what it ended being, I know that it was God. I know that some of my life experiences should have scarred me for life, or I could have ended up in emotionally damaged, but that did not happen because of the hand of God. ⁶ By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.  Case explaines verse 6 like this

Thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels” (see notes on Psalm 22:9). The Syriac version is, “thou art my hope from my mother’s bowels”; the Arabic version, “thou art my helper”; and the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, “thou art my protector”. The word is only used here (and in Psalm 90:10); and is there rendered “cut off”. The Lord was, as it were, his “cutter off”; that cut the navel string, and loosed him from his mother, and safely brought him into the world, and preserved him ever since. Wherefore he adds,” (Case 2019, Ps. 71:6).

Yes, Lord, I know that I should not be here, but here I sit alive and well. Abandoned by humans, but never by God. I remember my friend Wynette who experienced the pain of abandonment in such a profound way that she had to work through the emotional pain that it caused her many years later. God provided me with an amazing grandmother who loved me unconditionally and taught me how to love unconditionally. He has always allowed me to be able to praise him even during the storms of life.

I may be old, but he is still my protector.

⁹ Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth. ¹⁰ For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together, ¹¹ Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him. ¹² O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help. ¹³ Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.

Now that I am older and I am dealing with some significant life challenges, unexpectedly even, I can confidently state that God has never cast me off. When I have a need, he always provides for me. Some may say God has forsaken me, but he has never failed me yet.

I will tell others about the things you have done in my life.

¹⁴ But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more. ¹⁵ My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.¹⁶ I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. ¹⁷ O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. ¹⁸ Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.

David is telling anyone who will listen to  him who and what God is and continues to be to him. Sometimes we post scriptures, but are they for us to receive “likes” in social media or are they to glorify God. I am mindful of this section of this psalm all the time. I ask the Lord to help me to do not “me” but what he wants me to do. To glorify him with my words, my actions, and the things I do must mention who he is in my life and not who I am in this life. Have you ever looked back into the expanse of time and wondered how you are still alive? I have! When that happens I know that it is not because I am all that, but it is because he is who he is in my life. It is his righteousness that save me, not my own.

I know that you will raise me up again.

¹⁹ Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee! ²⁰ Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. ²¹ Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.

Even though David has suffered, on and off throughout, he knows that God has and will always deliver him from his enemies. God has never abandoned him. I have a dear friend. We have been friends for 46 years. We may not talk to each other for months, and sometimes, for a couple of years, but when we call each other it is as if we have never has a break in our conversations.  We have been through “hell and high water” together. She is my soul sister indeed. She is blond, bright, and beautiful. There is not a single thing that could ever separate us or break of bonds of friendship. That is how David feels about his relationship with God. Do you feel that way too?

I will praise you.

²² I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel. ²³ My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. ²⁴ My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.

When David walks through life he brags about God. He praises him not just in the temple but tells others what an awesome God he is. David practiced the three Ps in this Psalm and in His Life.

In every circumstance David’s confidence in God was resilient.  Can he rely on us to be as resilient in our confidence in him?

Prayer: Father I thank you that I can rely on you with confidence. I declare with my lips that no matter what the circumstance, no matter how the battle rages on I will trust in you.