Tune My Heart:Psalm 71-Supplication through the Scriptures

July 08, 2022

Tune My Heart

Psalm 71

I can whine

-or-

I can worship!

Nancy Leigh DeMoss

At night, when I tuck my younger ones into bed, we read a portion or a chapter from the Bible. Currently we are reading through Exodus. We just read about God’s great deliverance of the people of Israel out of the hand of Pharaoh. The Israelites have been brought through the Red Sea. Moses has sung his song of God’s great power. Now they are on their way to Mount Sinai. And we begin to see the hearts of the people. “And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness,” (Exodus 16:2). The people are hungry, so they grumble. But God graciously hears their grumblings and provides bread from heaven. Then shortly after God provides manna, the people get to Rephidim, but there is no water there. The people again quarrel with Moses and grumble against the Lord (Exodus 17:2-3). And the Lord has Moses bring water from the rock for the people to drink. Even though the people of Israel had seen the great fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham and their deliverance from the cruel hand of Pharaoh, their mouths were filled with grumbling and quarreling. And Moses was clear. Their grumbling was against God (Exodus 16:9).

In Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ book Choosing Gratitude she says, “I have learned that in every circumstance that comes my way, I can choose to respond in one of two ways: I can whine-or-I can worship!” Scripture tells us that we speak out of the abundance of what is in our hearts. The Israelites grumbled and complained. They were met with difficulties along the way, and instead of choosing to look to the Lord and trust Him, they grumbled. They chose whining over worship.

In Psalm 71, the psalmist also faces hardships, but he chooses to worship instead of whine and complain. In verses 15-24, nine times the psalmist says that he will use his lips to either tell about God’s greatness, remind others of His righteousness, proclaim God’s wondrous deeds and His might, praise Him for his faithfulness, and more. Despite having seen “many troubles and calamities,” he continues to worship and praise the Lord confidently knowing the Lord will revive him again, and He will comfort him (71:20-21).

We, too, are commanded to not grumble but rather to give thanks in all things (Philippians 2:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). We have multiple opportunities before us each day. What will we choose: to whine or to worship?

Let’s pray through Psalm 71:15-24 for hearts and lips that choose to worship our Lord in whatever circumstances we face today. Here are a couple of stanzas from Come Thou Fount to encourage and remind us of our need for the Lord’s help to tune our hearts to sing of His grace.

Come Thou fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace

Streams of mercy never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above

Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it

Mount of Thy redeeming love

My Mouth Will Tell

71:15-16 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

Let’s pray:

▫️Our mouths would tell of the Lord’s righteous acts. We would study His Word to know Him more and know of His deeds of salvation and would tell others, especially our children and grandchildren.

▫️In the tough moments of today, we would remind our souls that the number of His great deeds is past our knowledge. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans‬ ‭11:33‬) We would submit our situation to His great wisdom.

▫️We would remember the righteousness of the Lord. All His ways are right and just. The situations we meet today have come from His good hand.

I Proclaim

71:17-21 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

Let’s pray:

▫️The Lord would remove any complaining or whining from our mouths and instead use our mouths to proclaim His wondrous deeds. He would set us as a good example to our families, friends, and associates.

▫️Whatever our natural disposition has been since our youth, the Lord would transform our hearts and our lips to tell of His power and His righteousness in all His works.

▫️The Lord would revive us and comfort us when we have seen many troubles and calamities and we would give no occasion for the enemy to blaspheme our Lord by our complaining against the Lord (2 Samuel 12:14).

I Praise

71:22-24 I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed. And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long, for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt.

Let’s pray:

▫️Today, the Lord would help us to choose to worship and praise Him and His faithfulness to us.

▫️We would become more aware of times we complain, turn from grumbling and complaining, and instead our lips would shout for joy because the Lord, the giver of every good and perfect gift, has redeemed us and given us His righteous help.

May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Photo credit to davidbeale

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