Embrace the Word for Monday, June 1, 2026
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Psalm 71 expresses a lifelong trust in the LORD. While Psalm 71 does not have a superscription, it seems most likely to be Davidic. Up to this point, most of the Psalms that have been without a superscription have a close connection to the immediately preceding Psalm. Thus, Psalm 70 and Psalm 71 would each be Davidic. The common themes found in Psalms 70 and 71 also support the notion that they are connected. Each Psalm make the plea “make haste to help me” (70:1,5; 71:12); request that his enemies be shamed (70:2; 71:13,24); pertain to enemies that “seek my hurt” (70:2; 71:13,24); and praise or proclaim that God is great or powerful (70:4; 71:18). Psalm 71 is the expression of an old man (71:9,18). The uniqueness between Psalm 70 and Psalm 71 primarily lies in their length, which reflects the timeframe of their focus. Psalm 70 is short for it emphasizes the need for the LORD’s help in what feels like an immediate and particular situation. Psalm 71 is a bit longer as it emphasizes the need for the LORD’s help over the span of a lifetime. Psalm 70 coupled with Psalm 71 suggests that Psalm 70 pertains to a specific episode of crisis in David’s life as an older man, while Psalm 71 spans a pattern of crises throughout his entire life. Psalm 71 opens with an emphasis upon the plea for the LORD’s help (71:1-13), and it closes with an emphasis upon the praise for the LORD’s help (71:14-24).
Psalm 71 begins with a plea for the LORD’s help: “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” (71:1-3). Because David has taken refuge in the LORD, he cries out to Him. David’s reliance upon the LORD was not theoretical and imaginary but concrete and practical. To take refuge in the LORD is to cry out to the LORD; crying out to the LORD is because refuge is taken in the LORD. The God whom David has taken refuge in is the God to whom David asks “Be to me a rock of refuge,” and in whom David confesses “you are my rock and my fortress.” David asks the LORD to not let him ever “be put to shame.” Interestingly, as the Psalm unfolds, David moves from asking that he not be put to shame (71:1), to asking that his enemies be put to shame (71:13), and ends by stating that his enemies have been put to shame (71:24). By the end of this Psalm, the situation is reversed: the enemies who have sought to put David to shame have been put to shame by the LORD. The basis for both taking refuge in the LORD and asking the LORD to be a refuge is driven by the fact that God is righteous. To appeal to “in your righteousness” is to recognize that the LORD’s character is faithful and therefore He will always keep His promises to “deliver,” “rescue,” “incline your ear,” “save,” and to be his “rock of refuge,” and his “rock” and “fortress.”
David’s plea continues as he focuses in on his plea for rescue: “Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man” (71:4). While he does not give specifics, David states that he is under assault from an enemy that is “wicked,” “unjust,” and “cruel.” But notice how David is filtering what he is experiencing through the awareness of his personalized standing with God: “O my God.” And this close relationship with the LORD has been a longtime experience: “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” (71:5-6). From his youthful encounters with bears while he tended his father’s sheep, to his battle against Goliath, and onto his being hunted by Saul and rebelled against by Absalom, David’s hope and trust has been the LORD. As a result, David’s life has consisted of dependance upon the LORD and praise to the LORD. It is this lifelong relationship with the LORD that shapes how David interprets his present challenges: “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” (71:7-8). David sees that his present struggles and his response to his present struggles serve as “a portent” or sign or even testimonial to others. David’s life testified that even those who know the LORD as a strong refuge will walk through suffering. Those who depend upon the LORD and praise the LORD suffer, but such a life is distinguished by its focus on the glory of God.
Having the LORD as David’s refuge does not negate the need to ask the LORD to not cast him off; it produces the request: “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent” (71:9). David has seen the LORD’s faithfulness since his youth, but now in old age, as he faces a new crisis, he seeks the LORD afresh. David describes a bit of his present situation: “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” (71:10-11). David’s enemies seem to be promoting the idea that the LORD is done with David. The plan they have hatched is chalked with lies, no doubt meant to weaken David’s reliance upon the LORD, but also to weaken David’s standing before the nation. As such, David takes this present crisis to the LORD: “O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!” (71:12). David is still acutely aware of the fact that his need of the moment is the very thing that has been his need all his life: the presence of the LORD. And David identifies specifically what needs the LORD to do: “May my accusers be put to shame and consumed; with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek my hurt” (71:13). The particulars of verses 12-13 are the very matters expressed by David in Psalm 70:1-2. Even though David is in the midst of a serious threat to his life and crisis within his reign as king, he has clarity before the LORD entrusting to the LORD the outcome of his situation.
As David entrusts himself and his situation to the LORD, the tone and focus of Psalm 71 shifts from plea to praise: “But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone” (71:14-16). The LORD has instilled into David fresh confidence in the face of his situation. David resolves that as the LORD does what only He can do—rescue him from his enemies—David will do what he must do—praise the LORD “more and more” as well as “all the day.” David’s hope rests in the reality of the LORD’s “mighty deeds,” which is simply the outcome of the LORD’s “righteousness.” Thus, David will highlight the mighty deeds of the LORD done in righteousness. David’s present reactions and actions have consistently been the story of his life: “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come” (71:17-18). The LORD has taught David that He is faithful, and in recognizing the LORD’s faithfulness since his youth to even now in old age, David grasps that he must continue to speak out about the character of the LORD so that the generation to come could hear of His faithfulness.
David even provides a quick statement of what he knows about the LORD and thus, what he wants to impart to the next generation: “Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again” (71:19-21). David knows and wants to make it known that there is no greater righteousness than the LORD’s, for in truth, there is no God like the LORD God (See Exodus 15:11). David has learned how to interpret his afflictions; specifically that God’s people are not exempt from them, but will in fact, be delivered from all of them. David even alludes to death and the precious assurance that the LORD will raise His people from the troubling enemy of death. Whatever the trouble and calamity, David is able to look through his present situation and see it in light of the promise “you will increase my greatness and comfort me again.”
With such certainties in view, an aging David can say: “I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed. And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long, for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt” (71:22-24). David may be getting old, but he still has vigor when it comes to praising the LORD. The LORD has kept David invigorated, for David still vividly knows that the LORD is his “faithfulness,” “my God, “Holy One of Israel,” the One who “redeemed” him, and the One who has been his “righteous help.” And what David vividly knows about the LORD, has stirred in him a vitality to express what he knows with his “harp,” and “lyre,” “lips,” and even his very “soul” to “praise,” and “sing,” and “shout,” and “sing praises,” and use his “tongue” to “talk of your righteous help” to which he has been a beneficiary of, all the days of his life.
As we reflect on Psalm 71, we can consider the effects of aging and the effectiveness of the work of God in our lives. We are embodied creatures: we are body and soul. Both our body and soul have been gravely impacted by the curse of the fall. We all die and death is a bodily reality—our bodies wear out and we die, or they get overrun by disease and we die, or they are overtaken by some danger in this world and we die. What the Gospel promises to do in regard to our body is a promise that is sure, but yet to come: we will receive new bodies in the eternal state. But while our bodies are still subject to the curse of the fall, the Gospel immediately goes to work on our soul: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (See 2 Corinthians 5:17). The Spirit of God instills new life into our hearts and souls. But what this means is that while our bodies are still subject to the fall, our souls are the prime object of present renewal. Thus, at times it will feel like we are going in opposite directions in the relationship between our body and soul: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (See 2 Corinthians 4:16). Our souls, that is our heart and mind, as well as our affections, desires, and will are undergoing a spiritual transformation, while our bodies are undergoing a material deterioration. In light of such a reality, the renewal of our minds and the focus of our hearts are crucial to aging: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (See 2 Corinthians 4:17-18). By the grace of God, and for the glory of God, may we, when facing “old age and gray hairs” and when “my strength is spent,” experience a renewal in our soul that is captivated by “an eternal weight of glory.”
That’s all for Embrace the Word for Monday, June 1, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Wednesday, June 3, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 72.