Psalm 71- Part 1 - In You, O Lord, I Take Refuge

Psalm 71 KJV  Commentary by Dennis Edwards

Psalm71:1 In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.

At the Tower of Babel God put the people to confusion. That’s what Babel means, "confusion." It is where God confounded their languages. Instead of submitting to God and spreading out around the world, as God had said, in small agricultural communities, the first peoples after the flood, started building cities, compounds, to make a name for themselves, Genesis 11:4.

Nimrod was the mighty leader. His name signifies “rebellion,” as he led a rebellion against the Lord in his empire building, his building of cities. It seems he had four: Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, (Genesis 10:10). In Isaiah 14:21, a chapter about Lucifer’s fall, we read, “Prepare slaughter for his (Lucifer’s) children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.”

God is against the godless cities of man where corruption and iniquity breed like flies.

Zephaniah 3:1-4 we find, “Woe to her that is filthy (rebellious) and polluted (unclean), to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary; they have done violence to the law.”

As a result, God says He will cut off the nations: their towers will be desolate; He will make their streets waste, that none pass by: their cities will be destroyed, so that there will be no man, that there will be none inhabitant, Zephaniah 3:6. Finally, the Lord says, “For all the earth shall be destroyed with the fire of My jealousy,” Zephaniah 3:8b.

The final destruction of Babylon the Whore, the commercial city system of the world today, will come by fire in one hour. “She shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her…. Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come,” Revelation 18:8&10.

“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buys their merchandise any more…For thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth,” Revelation 18:23b-24.

People living in cities are more dependent on themselves, than on God. They forget God and become their own gods. They lose the fear of the Lord. They fight wars, where they sacrifice their sons, in order to maintain control of their cities.

Psalm 71:2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

In our own righteousness we can not escape. But because we have believed on Jesus, He has given us the power to become the sons of God, joint heir with Him in His kingdom. The Lord says, “But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at My word,” Isaiah 66:2b. We that believe on the name of the Son of God have been endowed with His righteousness. We have been reconciled with God and have put on the righteousness which is in Christ.

Psalm 71:3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: You have given commandment to save me; for You are my rock and my fortress.

Jesus is the Rock. He is the chief cornerstone which the builders, the religious leaders of the Jewish nation, the scribes and the Pharisees, rejected. He has become the head of the corner. Jesus went on to say, “Therefore, say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall upon this stone, (Jesus Himself, the chief cornerstone,) shall be broken….,” Matthew 21:43-44a.

What Jesus means by broken is that they shall have a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart that God does not despise. Therefore, whosoever falls upon Jesus will have the right attitude of heart, will have a broken and contrite heart, because they know they cannot save themselves by their own righteousness. They are totally dependent upon the righteous that is imputed to them through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, through believing and receiving the gift of eternal life which we receive by faith in Christ.

The rest of the verse in Matthew 21:44b says, “but on whomsoever it, (the stone), shall fall, it shall grind him to powder.” Sounds like a grinding stone. If we don’t fall upon our knees in humble submission to the Son of God confessing our sins, we are standing in our own pride. But God resists the proud, while giving grace unto the humble. It is either one or the other. We either fall at Jesus’ feet in humble submission, confessing our inability to be righteous, and depending totally on the complete mercy of God for our salvation; or we justify ourselves and believe that we in our own righteousness can approach unto God.

Daniel 2 has a description of a stone cut out without hands descending and smiting an image. The image represents the various empires of the world down through history. The stone smites the image on its feet of iron and clay, the kingdoms of the last days.. The image is broken into pieces and becomes like the chaff of the summer threshing floor. The wind carries the pieces away and no place was found for them. The pieces represent the kingdoms of man. But the stone that smote the image becomes a great mountain, and fills the whole earth,” Daniel 2:34-35.

That mountain represents God’s millennial kingdom, that occurs after the judgments on the present world systems. In Isaiah 2:2-4 we read.

 “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore,” 

We will either be part of one kingdom or the other. If we fall upon Jesus, we become citizens of God’s heavenly kingdom, joint-heirs with Christ. If we reject Christ’s gift of eternal life, and want to do it our way, instead of God’s, then we have a fearful looking to of judgment. “He that believes not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him,” John 3:36b.

Psalm 71:4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

Ultimately, we want to be delivered from the antichrist personalities we encounter in life. Antichrist governments and religious peoples have persecuted God’s people from time memorial. Cain killed his brother Abel, because his brother’s simple child-like faith exposed Cain's own hypocrisy. King Saul persecuted David. The Scribes and Pharisees persecuted and conspired to kill Jesus. The early Christians were persecuted by Jewish religious authorities. They were persecuted by Roman secular authorities. Jesus had said, "If they have persecute me, they will also persecute you," John 15:20b.

During the period of the great tribulation, that three-and-a-half-year period before the return of Christ, the Antichrist forces will surmount a great persecution against the true believers who refuse to take the Mark of the Beast, the 666. "And except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake, (the believer's sake) those days shall be shortened," Matthew 24:22. 

Nevertheless, though some shall fall, and be killed, many shall be supernaturally protected and have their needs supplied till Christ returns in the clouds to catch them up to Himself. "And He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other," Matthew 24:31. "And the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall they ever be with the Lord," 1 Thessalonians 4:16b-17. Hallelujah!

Psalm 71:5 For You are my hope, O Lord God: You are my trust from my youth.

David was killing bears and lions in his teenage years. Jesus, when he was twelve years old, was talking and asking questions to the religious scholars in Jerusalem, “and all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers,” Luke 2:47. If we look back into our own lives, we may remember God’s call or presence on our life even in childhood.

Psalm 71:6 By thee have I been held up from the womb: You are He that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.

The idea of God’s presence being with His children from before birth is found elsewhere in the Scripture. In Psalm 139:13-14, we see an example. “For You have possessed my reins: You have covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knows right well.”

Psalm 71:7 I am as a wonder unto many; but You are my strong refuge.

We that follow God are often “a wonder unto many,” because we do not follow the fashions of this world. We are not conformed to this world, but have been transformed by the renewing of our minds, through reading, studying, and following God’s word. We are in the world, but not of the world. Jesus had said, "If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you," John 15:19.

Psalm 71:8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.

Praise is one of the weapons of the spirit that we have in our arsenal. Apostle Paul admonishes us, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers,” Ephesians 4:29. Psalm 144:14b says, "that there be no complaining in our streets." David prayed elsewhere, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer,” Psalm 19:14.

Psalm 71:9 Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength fails.

Many people have the fear of being abandoned by God and loved ones when they get old. They know they will need the help of others to have a happy and healthy end of life. Many old folks suffer from loneliness as a result of living on their own. Some are swept away to live in nursing homes under the care of strangers. Facing the end of life alone can be a daunting experience. I think most people would agree with the sentiment of the verse. We don’t want God to cast us off. We don’t want our friends and family to cast us off. We pray for a happy and healthy end of life in the care of family and friends.

Psalm 71:10-11 For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together, Saying, God has forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.

Living on our own, not being in community with others, can cause us to experience fears. Fears of being robbed, or being killed. God’s word says, “One can chase a thousand, but two can put ten thousand to flight,” Deuteronomy 32:30. Ecclesiastes 5:9-12 brings the point home better.

“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

Psalm 71:12 O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.

We covered the theme of God responding to prayer recently. God does respond, but sometimes not as urgently as we would like. However He responds, whether it is yes, no, or wait; we need to trust Him, that He knows what’s best. He says, “No good thing will I withhold to them that walk uprightly,” Psalm 84:11. In Proverbs 3:5, He advises us to, “Trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not to our own understanding.” If things don’t come out the way we wanted them to, we should still trust that God knows what He is doing. "All things work together for good to them that love God," Romans 8:28a.

End of Part 1.