1 In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust:
let me never be put to confusion.
2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape:
incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort:
thou hast given commandment to save me;
for thou art my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
5 For thou art my hope, O Lord God:
thou art my trust from my youth.
6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb:
thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels:
my praise shall be continually of thee.
7 I am as a wonder unto many;
but thou art my strong refuge.
8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise
and with thy honour all the day.
9 Cast me not off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength faileth.
10 For mine enemies speak against me;
and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,
11 Saying, God hath forsaken him:
persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.
12 O God, be not far from me:
O my God, make haste for my help.
13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul;
let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually,
and will yet praise thee more and more.
15 My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness
and thy salvation all the day;
for I know not the numbers thereof.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God:I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.
17 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth:
and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded,
O God, forsake me not;
until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation,
and thy power to every one that is to come.
19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high,
who hast done great things:
O God, who is like unto thee!
20 Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles,
shalt quicken me again,
and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
21 Thou shalt increase my greatness,
and comfort me on every side.
22 I will also praise thee with the psaltery,
even thy truth, O my God:unto thee will I sing
with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee;
and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.
24 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long:
for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.
Comments by Joan Boney
Psalm 71 expresses the desire of my heart.
I love to be alone with God. I love to read the Bible and see what God would say to me. I love it when I have nothing at all scheduled for the day (most of my days have nothing scheduled) for what I want to do is read the Bible and see what God would say to me. If I have people scheduled (or secular projects) it is more difficult for me to do this.
I especially love reading Bible when I am not striving with anyone ... when everything is in a state of peace. It is hard to read Bible when you are concerned about another person for behind ever tree (every scripture) you end up seeing that disturbing person. Therefore you know you are not reading in a state of peace but are in danger of seeing things in scripture that are not actually there in the scripture.
Therefore it is so important to try to keep ourselves from strife ... and even when we correct with godly correction, we are in danger ...
But when we are at total peace of mind (having no axe to grind) and read Bible, there is nothing like it!
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Psalm 71 ...
1 In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust:
let me never be put to confusion.
2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape:
incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort:
strong habitation: place where I live ...Acts 17: In HIM we live and move and have our being ...
It is amazing how difficult it is to stay in peace where you can "resort" to God in peace. But this is my continual desire.
Thou hast given commandment to save me;
for Thou art my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, O my God,
As I read Psalm 71, it was like every prayer of my heart was expressed.
7 I am as a wonder unto many;
but thou art my strong refuge.
8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise
and with thy honour all the day.
I want to speak of God and HIS Works and HIS way ... I don't want to speak of the works of the people of this world. I want to speak of God's honor.
Psalm 137:4 How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land?
It is hard to sing of God among unbelievers who do not want to hear of God.
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14 But I will hope continually,
and will yet praise thee more and more.
15 My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness
and thy salvation all the day;
for I know not the numbers thereof.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God:I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.
I want to speak of God, of HIS works, of HIS honor. I can do that by these writings, without holding back, without limitation.
HE is worthy ... HIS works are worthy of our praise. We can speak that to each other. We can exhort the people of God and build them up and encourage them in the ways of God. That is what I want to do, and do in these writings. I can speak to you that which God is showing me, that which God puts in my heart today. The people of God are interested in what God says. The people of the world are not interested in what God says. They just want to exalt humans.
My prayer: "Deliver me" ...
Sometimes we have already been delivered. God has put in our hearts a plan for dealing with troublesome people and things. We need to cling to that plan given by God. We may already have HIS deliverance. We just have to enter into that deliverance.
For example: Feelings of guilt come on me when I think of my cousin who just lost her husband of 65 years. I know it must be terrible for her. But to call her, allows her to slobber without benefit and it pulls me down. So instead of calling her, I wrote 3 notes to her in the weeks after her husband died. The first mentioned how many people have been helped by going to assisted living. She wants to be around people constantly and she needs help with physical problems now so this would probably work for her. The second note urged her to turn to God and talk out her grief with God. The third note told her how I didn't want to return to my home after my accident when I was in the rehab hospital for a month. I knew I needed help and I was grateful to be there where they could help me. (She did not respond to anything I wrote.)
Now when guilt about not calling her comes to me, I feel instructed to think on that which God has already shown me about her and when I think of that I will escape her.
The first instruction given by dream is: You can't go through her house.
The second instruction giving by dream is: She will blame you when you are not at fault no matter how you try to reason truth with her.
What we see here is God has already given me the way of escape. I just have to focus on what I have been shown and cling to that way, doing what I've been shown by God.
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Psalm 71
17 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth:
and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded,
O God, forsake me not;
until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation,
and thy power to every one that is to come.
19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high,
who hast done great things:
O God, who is like unto thee!
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When I speak of that which God has done, I don't speak of my greatness or my righteousness.
What has God done?
- He gave me HIS word to show my my sin so I could be changed from what I was.
I didn't change by my works or by my effort. God just showed me my sin and instantly I was a "new creature" in HIM... changed!
- God took me into heaven twice in the night as I slept and merged me into the body of Jesus ... God and the Holy Spirit there as witnesses. I didn't do anything. God by HIS will put me where HE wanted me in the body of Christ.
- God gave me a dream showing me children in a dusty, dirty field (like a pineapple patch) on an island. There was pastor and his wife on that island but they wouldn't come out of their house. In dream, it was clear to me that God wanted me to take care of these "children" ... the church... thus these exhortations and warnings given daily to the church for both edification and comfort and for their protection.
- God sent His angel to speak to me in the night to show me the way to go ... "Hartford, Seattle, KWJS" ... radio coast to coast ... HE did this! It had nothing to do with me. It was all what HE wanted.
- 30+ years after the beginning, God gave me dream about the blog and within 3 days of this dream we were publishing these writings you now read ... Again this was all of God. It had nothing at all to do with me. God equipped me for the work HE wanted me to do and put me into the exact place to do that work which HE wanted. It has nothing at all to do with human worthiness. It has to do with the power of God to do what HE wants to do.
I don't speak of my own works. I speak of HIS works. His works are filled with power and righteousness.
Jesus said ... Jn. 5 ... 30 I can of mine own self do nothing:as I hear, I judge:and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
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Psalm 71 ...
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee;
My daily prayer, that which I awake each morning praying, is asking God to give me joy, to cause me to rejoice, in HIS Word.
I have no greater desire than this.
24 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long:
I can do that with the church, with you, as I write these things to you ... I cannot do this with the world for they do not want to know of the righteousness of God. They want to exalt other humans.
But I want to exalt God, HIS righteousness, HIS works, HIS way.
The blog allows me to do that among HIS people all over the world.
Each of us should be encouraged that God told Elijah (who felt very alone) that HE had reserved to HIMSELF 7000 who had not bowed their knees to Baal. (I Kings 19:18)
There are people of God scattered over this world who have not bowed their knees to another god. We are not alone. There are others.
And we have the great privilege of using the internet to communicate with the church all over the world.
Thus we go into all the world and preach the gospel daily to the church everywhere by this blog, encouraging them in the way of God and warning them also.
The church are the ones Jesus prays for. The church are not those groups calling themselves church while they explain away various scriptures and pursue their own lusts and encourage one another in their own desires. The church are those individuals to whom God has given HIS Spirit and revealed Himself.
The apostle John says ... 21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. (I Jn. 2)