With snow on the roof, “when I am old and grayheaded” (Ps 71:18), it doesn’t mean the hearth fire is out!
It isn’t just that we face crises in our time, for which we seek the Lord’s timely help. Time itself is running away with us, and our days are numbered. The two large psalms before us are also linked with this theme. We might call Psalm 71, “A Prayer For Old Age,” and Psalm 72, “A Prayer From Old Age.” What is the prime mark of old age? Recollection! Memories of the past flood the present, like the warming light through the window on a cold winter’s day. It’s especially true of the believer who remembers God’s past faithfulness, enlivening worship and strengthening our trust. Psalm 71 is unique in this, a patchwork quilt of remembered truths from other psalms. Here is a sample of the first half: vv 1-3 (31:1-3); v 4 (140:1); vv 5-6 (22:9-10); v 7 (61:3); v 8 (35:28); v 9 (92:14); v 10 (109:2); v 11 (3:2); vv 12-13 (35:22-25). And yet the truths are woven together so seamlessly! The psalm oscillates between recollections of help in the past and requests for help in the present. “You are my trust from my youth. By You I have been upheld from birth” (vv 5-6). But the most encouraging theme is the vigor and joy of an old saint. His present testimony is bright, and his heart sings round the clock. “I have become as a wonder to many,…Let my mouth be filled with Your praise and with Your glory all the day” (vv 7-8). He wants to finish well, and prays, “Do not cast me off in the time of old age” (v 9). In fact, he wants to grow stronger in the inner man even as his “strength fails.” There is still work to be done. “I will…praise You yet more and more…I will go in the strength of the Lord God” (vv 14, 16). Old age has its challenges, but the “God [who] taught me from my youth…to this day I declare Your wondrous works” (v 17).