Psalm 71:22-24 “I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God. I sing praises to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel. My lips shall shout for joy! My soul, which you have redeemed, sings praises to you! My tongue will also talk about your righteousness all day long, for they are disappointed, and they are confounded, who want to harm me.”

Have you ever heard of churches that only do music a Cappella? Or with just a piano? I’ve never been able to figure that out when we have such clear indications from Scripture that instruments should accompany lips! How can we not want to use everything we can to praise God? How can we not want to talk about Him all the time? After all, He has redeemed us, He watches over us, and He has promised us a wonderful future!

For additional worship: How Can I Keep from Singing (Chris Tomlin)

Psalm 71:17-21 “God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works. Yes, even when I am old and grey-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to everyone who is to come. God, your righteousness also reaches to the heavens. You have done great things. God, who is like you? You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, you will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth. Increase my honor and comfort me again.”

To paraphrase: God, you’ve been with me since I was young – continue to protect me so that I can praise you to my children and grandchildren! Notice the acknowledgement that trouble comes to everyone, but there is an expectation that God will continue to bring his people through. The takeaway: faith is meant to be passed on!

For additional worship: I Love to Tell the Story (Oak Ridge Boys)

Psalm 71:7-16 “I am a marvel to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth shall be filled with your praise, with your honor all day long. Don’t reject me in my old age. Don’t forsake me when my strength fails. For my enemies talk about me. Those who watch for my soul conspire together, saying, ‘God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for no one will rescue him.’ God, don’t be far from me. My God, hurry to help me. Let my accusers be disappointed and consumed. Let them be covered with disgrace and scorn who want to harm me. But I will always hope, and will add to all of your praise. My mouth will tell about your righteousness, and of your salvation all day, though I don’t know its full measure. I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord GOD. I will make mention of your righteousness, even of yours alone.”

Is there a new takeaway from this section that we haven’t mentioned before? Yes! “My mouth will tell about your righteousness, and of your salvation all day, though I don’t know its full measure.” Even though we humbly request, there is also hope and expectancy with our prayers. God will do what is best for His kingdom, but we expect Him to defend us against unjust accusations, and we believe that He will continue to watch over us in our weakness. That’s why we continue to praise, even though we don’t yet know the outcome of our prayers!

For additional worship: Blessed Assurance (Reawaken Hymns)

Psalm 71:1-6 “In you, LORD, I take refuge. Never let me be disappointed. Deliver me in your righteousness, and rescue me. Turn your ear to me, and save me. Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may always go. Give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For you are my hope, Lord GOD, my confidence from my youth. I have relied on you from the womb. You are he who took me out of my mother’s womb. I will always praise you.”

God is our rock and fortress, but we shouldn’t presume that He has to help us. He is our hope, and we should reach out to him with humility.

1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.”

For additional worship: O God of Mercy, Hear Our Plea (Sovereign Grace Music)

Psalm 70:1-5 “For the Chief Musician. By David. A reminder. Hurry, God, to deliver me. Come quickly to help me, LORD. Let them be disappointed and confounded who seek my soul. Let those who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. Let them be turned because of their shame who say, ‘Aha! Aha!’ Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation continually say, ‘Let God be exalted!’ But I am poor and needy. Come to me quickly, God. You are my help and my deliverer. LORD, don’t delay.”

“A reminder” is literally “to bring to remembrance.” It is believed that this prayer would accompany a memorial offering, serving as a “reminder” to God that we need help! Think of it as knocking on the door more than once. And that may be a good reminder for us from this Psalm. It covers many of the ideas we’ve seen before, regarding salvation from our enemies and them being put to shame. But it also encourages us to be persistent in prayer.

Luke 18:1-5 “He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray and not give up, saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God and didn’t respect man. A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’ He wouldn’t for a while; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’ ”

For additional worship: Pray (Sanctus Real)

Psalm 69:30-36 “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. It will please the LORD better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs. The humble have seen it, and are glad. You who seek after God, let your heart live. For the LORD hears the needy, and doesn’t despise his captive people. Let heaven and earth praise him; the seas, and everything that moves therein! For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there, and own it. The children also of his servants shall inherit it. Those who love his name shall dwell therein.”

We can trust in God. What he has said He will do, He will do! He deserves and desires our praise, and it pleases Him even greater than a sacrifice. Why? Because presumably praise comes from the heart, while we can give a sacrifice for any number of reasons.

Hebrews 13:15 “Through him [Jesus], then, let’s offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name.”

For additional worship: We Bring The Sacrifice Of Praise (The Maranatha Singers)

Psalm 69:17-29 “Don’t hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily! Draw near to my soul and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies. You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you. Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me poison for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see. Let their backs be continually bent. Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them. Let their habitation be desolate. Let no one dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt. Charge them with crime upon crime. Don’t let them come into your righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous. But I am in pain and distress. Let your salvation, God, protect me.”

Instead of David, imagine that this is from Jesus’ perspective.

Matthew 27:46 “About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?’ That is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ ”

Matthew 27:48 “Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him a drink.”

Jesus would certainly have had reason to pray this. To call down retribution on His enemies. To feel the way that we sometimes feel in this life. But what did He do?

Luke 23:34 “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.’ “

In truth, Jesus died so that we wouldn’t be blotted out from the book of life! Unfortunately, most are, because they don’t believe.

For additional worship: Last Words (Andrew Peterson)

Psalm 69:13-16 “But as for me, my prayer is to you, LORD, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me. Answer me, LORD, for your loving kindness is good. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.”

When is an acceptable time to pray to God? Anytime we feel downtrodden, overcome by sin, persecuted, or overwhelmed. In fact, these very verses of Scripture can be our pattern and guide.

For additional worship: When All Thy Mercies (Hymns of Grace)

Psalm 69:5-12 “God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren’t hidden from you. Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord GOD of Armies. Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel. Because for your sake, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s children. For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.”

David bemoans his own sin. David bemoans the reproach he’s brought upon God. David bemoans the fact that his own faithfulness and repentance become something that others use to mock and humiliate him.

The lesson? Embrace repentance. Zealously return to God, even though others might not understand it. They may even make fun of you for it! But God is the only one we should want to impress. If we’ve rebelled against Him, we need to return.

For additional worship: Holiness (Take My Life)

Psalm 69:1-4 “For the Chief Musician. To the tune of Lilies.’ By David. Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck! I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail looking for my God. Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.”

Have you ever been in deep distress and despair? In this Psalm David understands that he’s not perfect; he has certainly done some things wrong! However, there are others whom he has not wronged that pile on, give him grief, demand restitution and seek his downfall. David reveals here what we need to do in these times of deep anguish – we need to cry out to God and seek His help and encouragement!

For additional worship: I Must Tell Jesus (The Isaacs)