Thoughts for the Day

Prayer for Lifelong Protection and Help

In you, O Lord, 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,
a strong fortress, to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.

I have been like a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all day long.
Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
do not forsake me when my strength is spent....

O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and grey hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might
to all the generations to come.
Your power and your righteousness, O God,
reach 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 honour,
and comfort me once again.

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 rescued.
All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help,
for those who tried to do me harm
have been put to shame, and disgraced.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Today's psalm, No. 71, seems very similar to some other psalms that seek God's help in times of trouble. Compare it to Psalm 31.1-3, for instance. The writer is rescued from some danger and speaks of God as a 'refuge', a 'fortress', and a 'rock', in many of these psalms. But in psalm 71 the imminent trouble that approaches is not attributed to David. The writer is anonymous and appears to be an old man. Because of his life-long belief in God, he pleads for his life against his enemies, and goes further asking for future blessings in that God "will increase his honour".

Often we turn to God with a desperate need and it blurts out of us, it's like meeting a life-long friend in the street and just pouring out our troubles without even greeting them. Many psalms do this, but in this instance the psalmist also takes time to declare his trust and his faith in Yahweh who has been with him from his birth to the present time, and who has always cared for him. It is Yahweh who made a covenant with His people, and who is the "Holy One of Israel" - an unusual phrase rarely used outside the book of Isaiah. So he continues to sing praises to God.

↠ As all of us get older and the aches and pains grow stronger, and the number of Doctor's appointments increase, does our praise for God increase?

The writer of Psalm 71 says his "lips will shout for joy" when he sings praises to God. Well, our voices may be somewhat scratchy after the silence of the covid years, but we can surely sing His praise in our hearts.

Heavenly Father,
You have been with us from
the moment we were conceived,
and accompanied us on our journey
to the present day.
You have been there at the good times,
as well as at the bad times.
As we remember these our hearts
sing for joy at Your constant presence in our life.
May we never forget what we owe to You,
but continue to praise You.
Amen.