Psalm 71

When trouble comes, where do you run? When the water is rising, where do you turn? When the days are tough and the burden is heavy and the tears are flowing, where do you go?

There are lots of choices. We can go to our friends. But our friends aren’t always home. They don’t always return the phone call right away. They don’t always get it. They can’t always help. We can go to books. We read for the solutions. But the books were written a long ways away by people who don’t know us, and sometimes it’s hard to apply the answer. We can go to the church, we can go to the pastor, but as much as the church would like to help, as much as the pastor would like to solve the problem, that doesn’t always happen.

Where can we go? Where can we turn? Where are we guaranteed to find the help we need? The answer for our trouble today is the same answer it was yesterday, and the day before that, and every day for our entire lives. He’s always been the source of help, and He always will be. Sure, He can use friends, and He can use books, and He can use churches and pastors. But He, and only He is going to be faithful 24/7.

Which is where the psalmist goes in verse 1:

Out of all the options that the writer has, He’s chosen the Lord for protection. You and I know that this is a good choice for him. We’re watching from the outside, and we know that the Lord will be faithful.

But that’s easy to say when you’re watching from the outside. When you’re in the middle of the mess, when the storm is swirling around you, when you’re income is at stake, when the health reports are discouraging, when the minutes in the house are too quiet, when loneliness hangs around your neck, we’re not always so sure.

Which is why the writer, even though he’s chosen the Lord for his refuge, still needs to ask.

The Lord has already promised, in Isaiah 54:4

But we still need to ask, don’t we? He’s promised that He’ll always be with us, that He’ll never leave us or forsake us. But we still need to ask Him to be with us, to be with the ones we love. We still need to ask.

And in our fear, we ask. Verse 3:

We need this Rock, because things are just changing too often and too fast. Too many shocks in too short a period of time takes it’s toll on us. We get numb. We start to not be able to feel. We’re not sure what’s coming around the corner. The phone rings and we wonder what’s next.

So we pray. Lord, be our rock of refuge. Be the one thing in the world that never changes. Be the one Person that never moves. Be the rock of refuge, to which I can always go.

But if we want Him to be the Rock of refuge to whom we can go, then we have to go to Him. It’s one thing to want Him to be there, it’s another thing to go to Him for the protection we need. We can pray this prayer right now, and mean it. And then, when we’re thrown into the middle of the mess, we go to our friends, and we lay up late at night with our thoughts spinning, and we check out the self-help section of the library, and, oh, hey, yeah, I better pray about it. Again, talk with friends, read books, do research, but go to the Rock of refuge.

And we will, because we know this Rock of refuge. Verse 5:

Testimonies about finding the Lord, being saved from a life of sin, those testimonies are powerful. They give glory to God for making such a drastic change in a person’s life. But testimonies about a lifetime of knowing God are just as powerful. Verse 6:

From the first breath of air, we have depended on Him. From the first shaky step from mom to dad, you’ve been depending on Him. That first day of kindergarten, He was holding your hand, right along with your mom. The first time you called up a girl for a date, the first time a guy called you, He was there. When you proposed, and when you took the vows, He’s been there. If God could be photographed, He’d be in every picture in the scrapbook, always there always providing, always protecting.

Maybe saying that we’ve relied on Him since birth is a bit misleading. Maybe, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that we haven’t always relied on Him. We’ve walked away. We’ve tried to do things on our own terms, with our own methods. We’ve forgotten Him too many times. We’d like to say we’ve relied on Him since birth, but we really can’t say that.

But it doesn’t make any difference. He has been reliable, even if we have not relied. He has not forgotten us even if we have forgotten Him. This we can say with every certainty, He has been there, constantly, always, guiding correcting and soothing.

Now, some can’t see God in the picture. They look at us, going through these troubles, and they’re amazed at our strength. To those watching, we look so wise and so faithful, they wish they could be like us. But they’re not seeing it right. Verse 7:

This word "portent" means a wonder, an example, an amazing model to follow. But we know better. We may be getting through the terror and the grief, we may be making wise decisions, we may be acting strong, but that’s not really us, is it? We know we’re not that strong, and we know we’re not that wise. That’s God. That’s our Lord. That’s our strong refuge who’s always been there. So of course, verse 8:

That’s been our experience, our whole life long. But now we’re coming into a new time, and we’re going through experiences we’ve never had before, and we need that reliable God, who’s always been there, to stick around. Verse 9:

God has been reliable from the day of our birth, through our youth and middle age years. But for some reason, it’s easier to trust God when we have a little more of our own strength. We can trust God easier because we don’t have to trust Him as much.

Now, we’re feeling a little weak. Our bodies don’t move as fast as they used to. We don’t make split second decisions anymore. We feel more at risk, more threatened, and there’s less that we can do about the threats. So, while we have relied on the Lord since birth, and it’s been great, we REALLY need Him around when we grow weak.

But then we remember who we’re talking to. We’re talking to our God, who hasn’t stuck around because we’re so strong, who isn’t going anywhere now that we’re feeling weak. He wasn’t there because of our abilities to begin with, so He’s certainly not leaving when we lose some of our abilities. In fact, it’s as we become weaker that His strength becomes more evident. When we think we’re strong, then we don’t allow His strength to show. But as we realize that we’re weak, and we always have been weak, then we know what God means in 2 Corinthians 12:9:

We know this. We hang on to this. We talk about this. Verse 15:

This is how I hear you talk. You talk about the goodness of God. You talk about what He does for you every day, the strength, the comfort He gives you. You don’t totally understand it all, you don’t know the full measure of the goodness of God, but what you do know you talk about. You’re thankful for.

And you want to keep talking about His goodness. Verse 18:

You have known His goodness, through the tough times, through the times of joy, and it has filled you with such wonder and gratitude, you want to tell people who maybe don’t know this goodness. Especially, you want to tell younger people who haven’t had as much experience with God’s goodness. You want to tell people who may still be relying on their own strength rather than the Lord’s. You want to tell them, even if they’re not listening.

But then, you remember what that was like, don’t you? You didn’t always hear that so well, either. You needed someone from the generation to tell you, too. And now, this is your desire, to tell of God’s goodness to those who need to hear it. You want to tell them verse 19:

This isn’t just some naïve, wishful thinking, hoping that maybe God is real. You’ve been through real life, real grief, real struggle, real sorrow. But you know where this is all going. Verse 20:

God has been there at our first breath. He was there with our first step. He was there in the tears. He was there in the belly laughs. He was there with the first gray hair. He was there with the last black hair, or blonde. And He will be there with the last breath.

But it’s not the last breath. Because He will restore our lives again, because of Jesus. We live in the shadow, with the effect, in the power of the resurrection, which means the last breath is not the last breath. It’s just the beginning. Since Jesus died, and then walked back out of the tomb, our praise for God’s presence and goodness and faithfulness will continue our entire lives here, and for eternity.

This is why we run to God in times of trouble. Because we know. We’ve known, and we will always know. There’s no other source of goodness that has been with us as long. Everything else has dropped away, let us down, failed us. That’s why, verse 24:

All day long, because we never get sick of it. All day long, because we never run out of examples. All day long, because the Lord is there all day long. Because the Lord is there every day, all of our days. He’s there.