Psalms 71:20

Thou who hast showed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

Divine help in times of trouble

This is a psalm of experience: it begins with trusting and ends with praise, which is the usual ending for such beginning.

I. The fact recognized, that troubles are often sent by God. If David were the author, then he might have remembered the troubles which arose--

1. From Saul’s jealousy. See the history, and learn, that advancement in social life is no security against trouble; and that the more we may do for another’s good, the greater, oftentimes, shall be the ingratitude we shall receive.

2. From the accusings of conscience. The conscience of a man who is not an habitual sinner! a great source of trouble.

3. From the rebellion of his son.

4. The being forsaken by his friend.

5. The jeers of the ungodly (Psalms 71:10).

6. But the greatest trouble of all was when he thought God had left him.

7. We, today, may know some of all those things.

II. These troubles are always sent for a good purpose. To admonish, to purify, etc.

III. Rightly received they shall issue in joy. (A. F. Barfield.)

From winter to spring

“What a lamentable change has taken place in my condition,” said the frozen brook. “Only a short time ago I ran along, a lively stream, glistening in the sunshine, dancing in the shade, and doing my work with joyous pleasure; but now, alas! I am cold and motionless--what a melancholy change has come over me, and oh, what if I should never recover from this torpor--never flow again.” A sturdy oak that had outlived a hundred winters, and now also stood bare and comparatively leafless, overhearing, tried to comfort it. “Don’t despair,” said the oak; “these changes are common, and affect you now so powerfully because you are so shallow. As long as streams have been exposed to climates of this nature, they have endured what you now suffer. But the glorious sun retains his power in the heavens; and depend upon it that by and by we shall both again feel his quickening influence--myself to put on a new dress of foliage, and you to flow with freedom and freshness.” The old oak was not mistaken. In due time the sun poured forth bright beams from the sky, the air became soft and balmy, and the little rivulet burst its icy bonds and coursed again through the meadows. The Christian has his wintry season, when cold and lifeless, as it were, and lamenting the absence of former spiritual enjoyments, he cries, “Quicken me in Thy way. Thou who hast showed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again.” (W. Bowden.)