We don’t know who wrote this psalm but we know that he was a man suffering through trouble or trial along with the failing health associated with advanced age. (Psalm 71:9; 18)

Psalm 71:1 – 6 he reminds himself (and us) of God’s work of grace throughout his life.

Psalm 71:7 is interesting – ‘portent’ implies that others are watching with a critical eye his distress. Ps 71:10 – 11 give us the clue – “For my enemies speak concerning me; those who watch for my life consult together and say, “God has forsaken him …” We don’t know what is happening but perhaps this is a godly man who encounters some disappointing event. Oh, he is familiar with disappointment, but he seems painfully aware that unbelievers are watching and saying, “He lived his long life devoted to his God, but now this distress proves that his God has ‘forsaken him’ and is worthless!” Some may even ask, “why do the godly suffer yet the wicked prosper?” Can you imagine a more depressing thought? To be aware that the community is mocking you and your God? What does this old man do – he shifts the focus off himself onto his God; “but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.” (Ps 71:7-8) This is the biblical cure for the blues … turn from self and look to our Kinsman-Redeemer, our elder Brother who is able to sympathize with our weakness (Hebrews 4:14-15) and who rescues us from our enemies (Hebrews 4:13).

Ps 71:9-13 he rightfully request the Lord’s intervention then in Ps71:14-17 he, putting his previous depression firmly behind, remembers again the works of the Lord and directs his frail heart to love the Lord God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his mind. (Matthew 22:37-39)

Ps 71:18-19 This old man, in spite of a long life of labor and this recent disappointment, isn’t thinking about a comfortable retirement at the beach – he looks forward (and asks for the opportunity) to “proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come…” He has so much to tell and eagerly desires the opportunity to pass on what great thing he knows!

Ps 71:20 he says, “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.” Here he is is praising God’s soveriegn control over this present ‘frowning providence’ (you have made me see many troubled times), at the same time, he is expressing confidence that “he who began a good work … will bring it to completion.” (Phil 1:6) Indeed, “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

May we aspire to and old age filled with such hope, joy, and eager desire to make the most of our opportunities to tell what great things the Lord has done!

If so, listen to this …

A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing; nor fear, with they righteousness on, my person and offering to bring. The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do; my Savior’s obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view.

This morning in Bible Study we recalled the words in Hebrews 11:13-16 as quoted below:

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country , that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

Pastor Brandon preached from Titus 2:11-15 where the following words appear:

. . . looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Christians are indeed strangers in this world. We are waiting for a better country – a city built by God’s own hands. We are his possession and we should be greatly looking forward to the appearing of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Meditate on these passages with great anticipation and joy. Our future is sure in Christ. And just think, every single day we live these promises move closer to consummation. Indeed every second of life – we keep getting closer.

In our evangelistic zeal we are looking for programs that will attract people. We think we have put honey on the lip of the bitter cup of salvation. It is the story of the wedding of Cana all over again but with this difference. At the crucial moment when the wine failed, we took matters into our own hands and used those five stone jars to mix up a batch of Koo-Aid instead. It seemed like a good solution in terms of our American culture. Unfortunately, all too soon the guests discovered the fraud. Alas! What are we to do now? How can we possibly minister to those who thirst for the real thing? there is but one thing to do, as Mary the mother of Jesus, understood so very well. You remember how the story goes. After presenting the problem to Jesus, Mary turned to the servants and said to them, “Do whatever he tells you.” The servants did just that and the water was turned to wine, wine rich and mellow beyond anything they had ever tasted before.

With Reverence and Awe, Returning to the Basics of Reformed Worship, Hart and Muether, P & R Publishing, Phillipsburg, New Jersey, page 87

Tonight our church gathered for a time of prayer. There was adoration and praise, confession, thanksgiving, intercession, and supplication. What a glorious time it was to gather with my brothers and sisters in Christ to go to our Father God. The prayers were edifying as we in unison lifted up our voices and thoughts to God. When I think about it, it was really just a time of family prayer. While not downplaying at all the importance and significance of physical siblings, I find it really amazing what Jesus told the crowd in the 3rd chapter of Mark:

Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! “For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:31-35

Jesus’ brothers and mother were standing outside looking for Him. But instead of acknowledging them as His family, He in effect renamed who are his brothers and sisters. They are the ones who “do the will of God.” They are believers. When you think about it, these people are the ones we will share eternity with worshiping our Heavenly Father. While we hope and pray that our physical brothers and sisters my be in this group as well, our Christian brothers and sisters are our eternal and real family. I anticipate and relish the time spent with these spiritual siblings which also includes members of my physical family. Do you enjoy gathering with your brothers and sisters to pray, worship or fellowship? If not – why not? These are the folks with which we will be sharing eternity. If not – you probably will not enjoy heaven. If not and you profess to be a Christian, then perhaps you should go to your Heavenly Father and ask Him why you do not value your Christian family or the time spent with them.

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. James 5:7

Patience – we sow here and now but harvest comes we know not where! This is consistent with the image of the sower and reaper and with our own experience.

1) Parable of the sower (Luke 8:4-15). Here, the sower cast seeds with no particular thought to results. It is the free offer of the gospel with no ‘market research’ to see who might receive the gospel and no modification of the message to fit the ‘felt needs’ of the recipients. This attitude comes logically when we believe that God is the initiator in regards to conversion. The sower merely makes the offer. Also, the sower doesn’t necessarily reap in kind. That is, there seems a very real possiblity that the harvest will be dissimilar to the seed planted. In 2 Corinthinians 9:6-11 the Apostle Paul commends the Corinthian church in their giving. Notice that he doesn’t say that they will reap a harvest of cash!

2 Corinthians 9:10 “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.”

Luke 8:38 “I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

2) Experientially. Admittedly, there are some things that we do that will have a direct relationship to what we desire to happen. If we want to buy a home we must go and look for a home. If we want a driver’s license we must present ourselves to the authorities, pay a fee and pass some sort of test. But some other things seem to have no relation to what our desires seem to direct us. Many an older saint has wondered at a particularly distressing life event in the past and yet lived to see a positive outcome related to that seemingly random ‘evil’ experience. We can sympathize with the disciples’ view that the prospect of Jesus’ death must have seemed to be fruitless & counterproductive at that time yet on our side of the event we see clearly that its purpose was the great hope and salvation for many.

Consider also that our former lives of sin had an opposite effect from what we desired:

Romans 6:21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death.

We desire joy yet in our rebellion we reap death!

Conclusion: We are a church that has, by the grace of God, gotten much right! Experiential doctrine and a warm fellowship of mutual support and encouragement – and we are to be commended for that. But we cannot expect our pastor and/or missionaries to be faithful in that which we are not willing to do ourselves. If we are a prayerless people, can we expect our representatives in much harsher conditions to be prayerful? If we are an ungrateful people, can we expect our representatives to be grateful? If we are uninterested in evangelism here in a land of freedom and opportunity, can we expect our missionaries to be evangelistic in places where they face real persecution and hardship? If we are discouraged when our evangelistic efforts seem fruitless do we quit?

Do we see that our planting here may result in an unexpected harvest across the world? Is it possible that God may take our personal effort here to harvest fruit in Africa but not allow us to see the direct results of our effort? Is it possible that we may see no fruit here for the sake of building our faith? If we demand evidence that our efforts are producing results are we not elevating our works above God’s work? Or do we walk by faith, knowing that the works we do, we do only by the grace of God.

Daniel 11:32

We do not have a strong church today. Nor do we have many strong Christians. We can trace the cause to an acute lack of sounds spiritual knowledge. Why is the church weak? Why are individual Christians weak? It is because they have allowed their minds to become conformed to the ’spirit of the age,’ with its mechanistic, godless thinking. They have forgotten what God is like and what he promises to do for those who trust him. Ask an average Christian to talk about God. After getting past the expected answers you will find that his god is a little god of vacillating sentiments. He is a god who would like to save the world, but who cannot. He would like to restrain evil, but somehow he finds it beyond his power. So he has withdrawn into semiretirement, being willing to give good advice in a grandfatherly sort of way, but for the most part he has left his children to fend for themselves in a dangerous environment.

Such a god is not the God of the Bible. Those who know their God perceive the error in that kind of thinking and act accordingly. The God of the Bible is not weak; he is strong. He is all-mighty. Nothing happens without his permission or apart from his purposes — even evil. Nothing disturbs or puzzles him. His purposes are always accomplished. Therefore, those who know him rightly act with boldness, assured that God is with them to accomplish his own desirable purposes in their lives.

James Montgomery Boice, Foundations of the Christian Faith, InterVarsity Press

I highly recommend this book! A most readable Systematic Theology; a valuable reference as well as a great devotional read.