Psalm 71: When I Am Old
The psalmist acknowledges that God has blessed him his whole life: “Thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels.” “Thou hast taught me from my youth.” He asks for the same support and deliverance in his advanced years: “Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not.”
Psalm 72: Give the King Thy Judgments
A royal psalm for Solomon. The psalmist asks God to help the king judge in righteousness, to “save the children of the needy” and “break in pieces the oppressor.” Although the prayer is for the king, the ultimate recipients of the blessings are the poor. “For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.”
Psalm 73: I Was Envious
Asaph says that he nearly slipped and fell (spiritually) because of the prosperity of the wicked. “I was envious at the foolish,” he says. “They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.” But his envy evaporated when his perspective expanded. “Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.”
Psalm 74: Plead Thine Own Cause
Asaph laments the destruction of the temple. He remembers God’s previous deliverances and His power over all things. He pleads, “Arise, O God, plead thine own cause.”
Psalm 75: Lift Not Up Your Horn
Asaph warns the wicked not to exalt themselves or boast. “Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.” He affirms that God is our ultimate judge, “for promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.” He speaks of God pouring out a cup of red wine, “but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.”
Book of Mormon connection:
- Jacob quotes the following Isaiah prophecy about the wicked in Jerusalem: “Thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling wrung out.” But then Isaiah adds that God will eventually redeem them: “I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again. But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee” (2 Nephi 8:17, 22-23).
Psalm 76: The Spirit of Princes
Asaph rejoices that God has defeated invading armies. “There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle.” He says that God ought to be feared. “He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.”
Psalm 77: My Song in the Night
Asaph says that when his spirit is overwhelmed, he remembers his “song in the night.” He sings about God’s deliverance, including leading the children of Israel out of Egypt “like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”
Book of Mormon connection:
- Asaph asks, “Will the Lord cast off for ever?” (see also Psalm 44:23; 74:1; Lamentations 3:31). The Title Page of the Book of Mormon states that one of its purposes is for the house of Israel to “know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever.”
Psalm 78: Marvellous Things Did He
Asaph reviews the history of Israel, including numerous miracles by God and numerous times Israel “forgat his works,” “believed not,” “provoked him,” and “turned back.” But God chose David, who fed them “according to the integrity of his heart” and guided them “by the skilfulness of his hands.”
Psalm 79: Jerusalem on Heaps
Asaph mourns that the enemy has defiled the holy temple and “laid Jerusalem on heaps.” He asks how long they must suffer and pleads, “O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.
Psalm 80: Turn Us Again
Asaph pleads with God to save His people. Three times, he offers a variation on this plea: “Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”
Today I will remember Asaph’s song in the night. I find comfort and confidence in remembering that God has delivered me and others in the past.
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