November 10, 2021 – Psalms 71-75

The psalmist found himself wrongly accused and treated. The wicked had set upon him, and he must look to God for help: “Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man” (71:4). Charles Spurgeon quipped, “He who addresses such a prayer as this to heaven, does more injury to his enemies than if he had turned a battery of Armstrongs upon them” (an Armstrong being a heavy gun used in warfare). A verse comes immediately to my mind: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19).

Not only does God rescue the psalmist from his enemies, but the psalmist finds himself, as should we, thanking the Lord for blessings, so many that he cannot number them: “But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge” (71:14,15). Yes, we are tossed about and, at times, discouraged. But, oh my, still, we can sing:

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your blessings, see what God hath done;

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. --Johnson Oatman (1897)