Year 1, Week 42, Day 5 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 42, Day 5

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Psalms 71 and 94.

Today’s reading contains two Psalms. Neither Psalm has a specific author specifically attributed to it, but there are reasons to suggest that Psalm 71 is a Psalm of David. Psalm 71 continues the thoughts and themes of Psalm 70, which is explicitly attributed to David. Both Psalms say not only a similar feel, but also some of the same words: “Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me!” (Psalm 70:1); as compared with: “O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!” (Psalm 71:12). Psalm 71 states other similar words. David prays: “Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life!” (Psalm 70:2b); while Psalm 71 picks up on that prayer when it states: “May my accusers be put to shame and consumed” (Psalm 71:13a); and: “for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt” (Psalm 71:24b). Psalm 71 continues the prayer of deliverance from his enemies, which was expressed in Psalm 70, but it also adds more notes of confidence that the LORD will hear and answer. Thus, Psalm 71 expresses trust and praise: “But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more” (Psalm 71:14). The other Psalm from today’s reading is Psalm 94, which petitions the LORD to judge and execute justice on his enemies: “O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!” (Psalm 94:1-2). And while the Psalm expresses confidence that the LORD will inflict vengeance upon the wicked, He will also discipline His people: “Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law…For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage” (Psalm 94:12,14).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was that the words expressed in Psalm 71 are the words spoken by an aging man: “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent” (Psalm 71:9); and: “So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me” (Psalm 71:18). The Psalmist (presumably, David) is old and gray. This coincides with our readings of an aging David from the historical narratives of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. The Psalmist is reflecting on his days, all the way back to his youth: “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” (Psalm 71:5-6); and: “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds” (Psalm 71:17). These old man’s words are a retrospective reflection on his life. And what this old man is saying is that he is ever in need of the LORD’s presence in his life; but what he is also saying is that the LORD is ever faithful: "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. I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God” (Psalm 71:20-22). Now if this old man is David, there are ample illustrations detailing the levels of sin that David personally engaged in and the layers of suffering that David personally experienced as he was sinned against. The Psalmist is wonderfully showing us how to do the old and gray years: cultivate confidence in the LORD.

But the Psalmist shows more than an internal confidence in the LORD. The Psalmist shows how such confidence shows, particularly how it speaks: “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” (Psalm 71:15-16). The aging Psalmist has an optimistic vitality when it comes to talking about the LORD: “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” (Psalm 71:23-24). But the Psalmist’s speech is not merely talkative meaninglessness; the Psalmist has a burden and an agenda for his words: “until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come” (Psalm 71:18). The aging man is a man still on a mission: he is still around to pass on what he has learned about his need for as well as the faithfulness of God. While we are not as clear of the age of the writer in Psalm 94, we still find the precious mission of passing on what he learned about the faithfulness of God: “Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers? If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul” (Psalm 94:16-19). “Counselors” of any age can offer this help and hope, but when someone old and gray says it, there is a certain “lived experience” that adds great credence to the words.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe