Finding Refuge in Psalm 71: Trusting God Through Life’s Seasons
A lot has been happening and not happening, here in Israel – personally and nationally. I was expecting to retire in June and just received a one-year renewal of my work contract. I admit I have mixed feelings about this, but I do believe God is in this. So, as I turn 70 in June, I’m looking at continuing my work. I also fell down again and got quite bruised, but thankfully, there was no major damage. I’ve been concerned for the needs of friends and have found the news in Israel and worldwide to be quite the roller-coaster ride.
Rediscovering Psalm 71
I don’t think I realized how burdened I’d been feeling until I turned to Psalm 71. How is it that I never paid attention to Psalm 71 before, though I know I’ve read it many times in the past? As I read through the psalm, I was reminded that my God has the whole world in His hands – this world and all I see is not in my hands; it is not mine to carry. To pray for, yes – to carry – no. But in some crazy way, I’ve been “carrying” so many burdens in my heart – my own, others, what I see happening in the world – trying to figure everything out – when none of it is mine to carry!
Following are just a few of my thoughts as I meditated on this special psalm. I hope they encourage you.
God’s righteousness and salvation: a lifelong journey of understanding
In Psalm 71:15, David says something amazing: “I will sing of your righteousness and your salvation though I do not know the sum of them.” The wording grabbed my attention, reminding me of Psalm 85:10 “Lovingkindness [chesed] and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” — All such seeming opposites.
Righteousness seeks to respond appropriately in accordance with the truth. Thus, while it can include rewarding those who do well, it also speaks of justice and judgment – doing what is right toward all who break God’s law, i.e., the consequences of our sin and righteous punishment.
But salvation includes lovingkindness and peace. But how can there be lovingkindness and peace when faced with the truth of who we are? God’s righteousness demands justice in dealing with all humanity. Justice must be administered, because, as Isaiah says, “all our righteousness is as dirty rags” (Isaiah 64:6). As I meditated on this, I realized anew that salvation brings peace because of God’s grace and His lovingkindness given to us freely. In David’s time, through sacrifices that looked ahead toward the Messiah, but now, through the sacrifice of Jesus (Yeshua).
Another thing that hit me was David’s recognition that he didn’t come close to absorbing, knowing, and comprehending the full scope of God’s justice and salvation. And that reminds me of Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:17-19:
17bI pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
I realized that David could not comprehend the full depth of God’s righteousness AND salvation and that I, we, as believers in Yeshua, will be spending the rest of eternity experiencing the length, width, height, and depth of God’s love. Does anyone fully comprehend it, when we really meditate upon all God has done for us? I know I don’t.
I was encouraged as I realized anew that both righteousness and salvation are poured out not just on me but on this entire world – all will experience God’s righteousness in different measures, including Israel, Gaza, and all the nations of the world. And His salvation is equally offered to all who are willing to receive it.
Leaving burdens with God: Learning to trust in every season
That simple song I learned as a child is truer than I realized. He DOES have the whole world in His hands! God is big enough to carry this whole situation here in Israel, and all the challenges I face in everyday life as I grow older. I can pray for Israel, Gaza, and other nations and peoples. I can pray for my own needs and concerns, but it is all HIS to carry.
It kind of makes me smile as I recall my adopted Grandpa Clark, who was an Anglican Priest. I think I was only 10 or 11 at the time, but maybe I was a bit older. We had been talking about some spiritual topics, and then he gave me a fierce look. I was startled, and I asked him what was wrong. He responded, “Stop being a yo-yo giver.”
I looked at him questioningly. I really didn’t understand, and he responded. “I’ve noticed, you pray and give things to the Lord, but afterward, you seem to pick up everything and start carrying it again. Stop doing that. Once you give something to the Lord, it is His.”
It is a lesson I am still learning. Even though, as Paul said, I must carry my own burden (Galatians 6:5), I am supposed to pray and bring all these burdens to my Lord, and leave them in His good hands to carry.
Finding strength in God’s promises
As I thought about my burdens, I was drawn back to Psalm 71:9. David cries out, “Do not cast me away in my old age.” But as I read on in the Psalm, like Job, he made amazing declarations of his trust in God and hope for resurrection (vs 20).
David couldn’t carry himself, but God could, and did. The Psalm ends on a wonderful note of hope: with praise, his enemy put to shame. I don’t know how you view the “enemy” of the Psalms. But I always view the enemy, ultimately, as the enemy of my soul. In fact, those are the very words of David in vs 13, “let the adversaries (or accusers) of my soul be ashamed and consumed.” I am convinced the day is coming when the enemy of our soul (the accuser of the brethren) will finally be put to shame. It is the God of Creation who is victorious.
That thought brings me back to verse 1, “In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be ashamed.” David wasn’t just praying to his God; he was praying to a personal God, Jehovah, the personal name of God.
As I finished reading this Psalm, I realized that like me, David was troubled by many things. Some external (what was happening around him), and some internal (like aging!). But David realized God was big enough to carry it all and bring him through to a victorious end. So, although David hadn’t reached the end of his own story yet, he committed to sing praises to God and to keep trusting Him.
I realized this is what I wanted in my life… like David, to be able to share the goodness of God with a future generation, and to keep trusting Him, knowing that He really is and will take good care of me.
A closing prayer
Lord Jesus, I can’t carry myself let alone anyone else, or the horrors I see in this world. Carry me. With David, I will sing of Your justice and of Your salvation. I rest my life in your good hands to guard – my present and my future – knowing that the best really is yet to come. Thank you for Psalm 71.
