Psalms 71:1 - Meaning and Application

David asks for two things here in general, that he himself would not be put to shame, and that his enemies and oppressors would be put to shame. He prays that he will never be ashamed of trusting God, or disappointed after believing God’s promises. Every true believer can come boldly to God with that request, because God never fails the hope he himself has stirred up.

Notice how David keeps saying, in different ways, that he trusts God, and he says it with joy and gratitude. He brings this confession back to God and uses it as a reason to ask for help. We honor God, and please him, when we tell him honestly that we rely on him fully. “In you, O Lord, I put my trust” (Psalm 71:1). Whatever others do, David chooses the God of Jacob for his help. Those who are fully satisfied with God’s power and with the truth of his promise can truly say this, because they are willing to do, suffer, lose, and risk all for him. Anyone who wants to deal with God must deal with him by trust. If we hold back from him, that is a sign we do not trust him.

David also says, “You are my rock and my fortress” (Psalm 71:3), and again, “You are my refuge, my strong refuge” (Psalm 71:7). He means, “I run to you, and I know I will be safe with you. If you protect me, no one can harm me.” He also says, “You are my hope and my trust” (Psalm 71:5). In other words, God has already shown himself to be the right object of hope and trust, and David has found that hoping in him has never failed.

David’s confidence is also strengthened by what he has already experienced. “You have been my trust from my youth” (Psalm 71:5). From the time he could tell his right hand from his left, he leaned on God and saw plenty of reason to do so. “By you I have been held up from the womb” (Psalm 71:6). Ever since he had life, he had also been a living proof of God’s care.

That should move us to early devotion to God and steady service to him. He who was our help from birth should be our hope from youth. If we received so much mercy from God before we could do anything for him, we should waste no time once we are able to serve him. David brings this up to support his faith in his present trouble. God had not only given him life, bringing him from his mother’s body into the world, but had also taken him early into his own family and covenant care, like a child under his wings (Psalm 116:16). So David reasons that God will protect him now, since he has been held up all along. He also reasons that he should give himself fully to God, so that his praise will always be about him.

On that confidence, David makes his requests. He asks not to be put to shame (Psalm 71:1), meaning that his hope in God will not end in disappointment. We may pray in faith for the same thing, that trust in God will never become our shame. Hope in God’s glory is hope that does not shame us. He also asks to be delivered from his enemies (Psalm 71:2). “Deliver me in your righteousness,” he says, asking God, as the righteous Judge, to defend the injured and deal with the wicked. God can always make a way of escape with the trial (1 Corinthians 10:13). David asks God to listen to his prayers and save him from his trouble (Psalm 71:4), from those who are ready to tear him apart.

He gives three reasons for this deliverance. First, God has already given him reason to expect it: “You have given commandment to save me” (Psalm 71:3). That is, God has promised it, and his promises are so sure that Scripture often speaks of them like commands. God speaks, and it is done. Second, David’s enemies are wicked, unjust, and cruel people, so it will honor God to stand against them (Psalm 71:4). God is holy, just, and good, and this fits his character. Third, many eyes are watching him (Psalm 71:7). He is “as a wonder to many,” meaning people are watching to see how such unusual trouble and such unusual trust in God will turn out. Or, he says, he is treated like a monster and avoided by everyone, so if the Lord is not his refuge, he is ruined. People may leave him, but God will not.

David also asks for lasting rest and safety in God. “Be my strong dwelling place,” he says, and “be to me a rock of refuge” (Psalm 71:3). Those who live close to God, who keep coming to him in faith and prayer, and who keep their eyes on him, may count on finding a strong home in him. That refuge will not collapse on its own, and no enemy can break through it. They are also welcome to keep coming to him at all times, without being blamed for coming too often.

He asks, too, for a life filled with praise. “Let my mouth be filled with your praise” (Psalm 71:8), he says, “so that I will not be ashamed of my hope, and my enemies will be ashamed of their pride.” People who love God also love to praise him. They want to do it all day, not only morning and evening, and not only at set times, but in everything they say. They mean to praise him while they live, and they hope to praise him forever in a better world.

Finally, David asks not to be neglected in old age. “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails” (Psalm 71:9). He feels the weakness that comes with age: his strength is failing.

In old age, strength of body and mind begins to fail. Eyes grow dim, the voice weakens, the limbs lose power, and life goes on with less strength. This is the burden and sorrow spoken of in (Psalm 90:10).

In that weakness, David asks for God’s steady presence. “Lord, do not cast me off; do not leave me,” he says in effect. To be rejected or abandoned by God is a terrible thing at any time, but especially when age has taken away human strength. God himself is the strength of the heart, so if he withdraws, a person is undone.

Yet David’s prayer also shows hope. He has reason to believe that God will not desert him, even when he grows old and weak. Faithful servants of God may comfort themselves with this, that the Lord does not usually cast off old servants. So David again prays, “O God, do not be far from me; do not let me feel your withdrawing, because then I am miserable. My God, who is bound to me in covenant, hurry to help me, or I will perish before help comes” (Psalm 71:12).

David also asks that his enemies be put to shame in their plans against him. They were not merely troubling him. They were lying in wait for his life, and their opposition was aimed at his soul, his very life (Psalm 71:10, Psalm 71:13). They joined together in careful planning, and their words were bold and cruel: “God has forsaken him; pursue him and seize him.”

Their reasoning was completely false. Because David was in deep trouble and had been in it for a long time, they concluded that God had abandoned him. But many people are not forsaken by God, even when they think they are, or when others think so. Their conclusion was also harsh. If God had truly forsaken him, they thought they could now strike him without fear. That is like adding pain to someone already wounded by God, as in (Psalm 69:26). It was the same kind of taunt used against Hezekiah when Sennacherib tried to frighten him by claiming that the Lord was against him (Isaiah 36:10).

David’s own prayer is just. From a spirit of prophecy, not from angry feelings, he asks, “Let them be confounded and consumed who are enemies of my life” (Psalm 71:13). If they will not be shamed by repentance and so be saved, then let them be shamed with lasting disgrace and so be destroyed. God will bring shame on those who try to shame his glory and the honor of his people.