Declare and proclaim

DEVOTION

PSLAMS

DECLARE, PROCLAIM

Ps 71:9-18

9 Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone. 10 For my enemies speak against me; those who wait to kill me conspire together. 11 They say, "God has forsaken him; pursue him and seize him, for no one will rescue him." 12 Be not far from me, O God; come quickly, O my God, to help me. 13 May my accusers perish in shame; may those who want to harm me be covered with scorn and disgrace.

14 But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. 15 My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure. 16 I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone. 17 Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. 18 Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.

NIV

We might think as a person gets to those golden years of life, when our hair has lost its color or gray has overtaken it, that temptation no longer seeks us. How wrong that type of thinking would be, as we see the psalmist appears to be thinking of his older years, when he is old and his strength is gone. How true it is as we age the weaker physically we become, but we should be much stronger spiritually. Yet it seems David feels even in those physically weaker years, the enemy is even working harder at destroying him. This should give us reason to pause, in our older years. Although we may have read the Bible over and over again, and feel confident in the word for our salvation, we are still under attack on a daily basis from the evil one and we must be on guard against his schemes. Just because we are old and grey does not mean we are dead, and until death, or rather that moment we step into eternity, temptation is at our door knocking and hoping we will open it so it can come in. Temptations form may have changed, it may have morphed, appearing more sophisticated, but it is still temptation. May he who devises such worldly ideals be put to shame and be covered with scorn and disgrace. We know the end of the story and that is exactly what will happen to the Devil, the evil tempter. But as for us, we will always have hope. In fact, we will praise God more and more. We will not be stilled or silenced in our praise. We will declare your mighty acts all day long. Some may think they have not experienced any mighty acts in their lives, but they are wrong, for his salvation is the mightiest act ever. Without his redemption we are lost forever, there is no life, not an ounce of hope and all that is left is despair and depression. But we can rejoice, we can be glad, we can live with a smile on our face, a bounce in our step and a confident outlook in our future. We know our past, and it just that, a past, even those past sins, all are forgiven because of Jesus, so we do not have to listen to the accuser, he is nothing but a liar. Jesus, our defense stands before the judge and covers our guilt with his life, so the Judge declares us holy and righteous in his sight. There is no retirement from his service, even in our gray haired old age, we will declare God’s power to the next generation. We will declare it to all who are to come. Since we were but a youth, maybe not in linear time, but in our relationship with you, you have taught us. Since we were but a babe in Christ, your word has been a lamp onto our feet and we have been raised by you into adulthood, always showing us the way to live. So now in our older years we will continue to walk in your ways, and we will declare, teach the younger ones your ways. We will declare your praises until our last breathe.