READ: Ps. 71:1–24: … My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And Your salvation all the day … Now also when I am old and grayheaded … Your righteousness also, O God, is very high … O God, who is like You? … My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long …
The psalmist, possibly David (according to the Septuagint), is an elderly man. He speaks in a manner that we have come to know from David: he takes refuge in the LORD, who is for him a rock where he is safe. Thus there is a strong similarity between verses 1–3 and the opening of Psalm 31.
Later in the psalm the psalmist mentions his age: “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails.” Apparently there is reason for his enemies to think that God has by now forsaken him. Yet the psalmist places his hope in the Lord GOD, just as he has done from his youth onward. Indeed, he even points to the LORD’s work before he was born (6). His hope in the LORD, with its firm expectation of deliverance, continually prompts him to praise God (vv.6,8,14, 22–24).
In this the psalmist shows us the way to praise and glorify the LORD continually because of His work as Creator, His providential care, His sustaining power, and His righteousness (vv.15,19,24). God’s righteousness refers to His truth and justice. God’s punitive righteousness means that He does not leave sin unpunished. Jesus Christ satisfied this righteousness by paying for the sins of all who love Him through His death on the cross.
The saving righteousness mentioned in this psalm is especially the deliverance that God accomplishes against Satan and against His enemies. He comes to the defence of all who believe in Him and expect everything from Him. In doing so, the LORD also executes vengeance upon the enemies of the faith who commit injustice (v.4).
In all this He reveals both truth and justice, together with salvation and deliverance. We can never speak enough about this righteousness, which we have not deserved (see vv.14–16). “O God, who is like You?” (vv.19,24). It ought to bring us to the highest praise of Him, together with comfort and confidence, as this psalm teaches us.
Is righteousness opposed to grace and peace?
Sing: Ps. 71:3,9,13