Psalm 71 Part 2
The way that this psalm is written suggests that the psalmist was under attack, he was not experiencing life without major problems. Something that I have learned over my lifetime is that you do not how great your trust in the Lord is until you experience severe situations that you cannot solve in your strength. It is good in these situations to declare your faith and trust is in the Lord. The psalmist is no different for he declares in Verse 3 “Be my strong habitation, to which I may resort continually, You have the commandments to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress”. Let us look at what he declares, He says that his God is his strong habitation, your habitation is the place where you live, so I ask myself the question ‘Where is my habitation’? The answer to this question exposes our basic understanding of what it takes to be a born-again believer! Being a Christian is not following a set of rules that if you keep them then you make God happy. But I describe my Christian life as living with Jesus, there is no part of my life that I do not take Jesus with me. The psalmist is saying the same thing only with different words, he calls God his strong habitation and his fortress. He knows that he is protected by the God with whom he lives. Verse 4 says: “Deliver me, O my God,out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man”. It should not surprise us that at times we are affected by the godless world in which we live, a good example of this is how we suffered from the restrictions placed on us during the COVID-19 pandemic. While these restrictions were not pleasant they did not stop us from living with Jesus because we knew that ultimately God was in control. The psalmist uses the words ‘Wicked’ and ‘unrighteous’ and ‘Cruel’ to describe the outworking of the god of this world and while they were a present threat it did not stop the psalmist from declaring his trust in his God. Verse 5 declares: “For You are my hope, O Lord God; you are my trust from my youth”. When circumstances seem bleak and you feel under attack, this is the time to declare your trust in the Lord. Because this is the truth of our long-term relationship with the Lord. He is our hope always and we can trust Him. David said in Psalm 27:13 “I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”. Also, Psalm 46:1 says: “God is our refuge and strength a very present help in time of trouble”. When we trust our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we are trusting someone who is always with us. It is so encouraging to be reminded that God protects us and is with us now! In our life, we have nothing to fear because as a child of God His presence and protection goes with us continually. It is so good to be reminded that the title of this Psalm is “God the rock of my salvation”.