Continual Proclamation

July 14, 2024 Background Scripture: Psalm 71:12 - 21 Lesson Passage: Psalm 71:12 - 21 What causes one to offer continual proclamation of the Lord? The general tenor of Psalm 71 is that of a mature God-fearing person who is aware that a crisis could occur at any time. The psalmist recorded that God had been faithful to rescue him/her from troubles in the past. It is this experience of past deliverance that is repeated in the psalm as the psalmist's reason for always having hope. The relationship we developed with God in the past is our strength today. The psalmist vowed to praise God continually because of deliverance. And if that were all the psalm contained, it could be considered one of the Hallelujah Psalms of praise. But the constant plea for future deliverance suggests more than a psalm of praise. It is as though the psalmist perfectly captured the struggle, or tension, between our faith in God and the weakness of our flesh which is in rebellion against God. Once delivered, it is relatively easy to boast of God's powerful response to one's problems. The challenge is to have faith and seek God's continuous deliverance considering one's ongoing failures to live holy before God. This is the space where grace germinates. The grace of God is overwhelming to us. As undeserving as we are, God deals with us as His own precious children. We are constantly surrounded by sin and its consequences. And yet, God often treats us as though we have not sinned at all! We should be continuously grateful. We should praise God continually. A mature person of faith knows this from personal experience. However, human response to grace is often more sin. Therefore, the grace of God always abounds more than sin could ever overpower. We trust God with our difficulties because we know He can deliver us from our situations. We have faith to believe God will deliver us although we know we are undeserving. God's continuous deliverance, considering human frailties, evokes a continuous praise from grateful hearts. Children of God can hate sin and still be victimized by our failure to avoid it. The Lord is the good Shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep and rescues the one sheep who has strayed and lost his way. Grateful hearts that are constantly delivered by God will continuously proclaim the goodness of God to all that will hear. Furthermore, as we mature in life, we desire for our praise and proclamation of God's goodness to live on long after we are gone. Therefore, we seek to ensure this by expressing our praise for the deliverance of God to younger generations. When we come to know God in our youth, our testimonies are many in our old age. We want our testimonies to be sufficient to encourage others to seek God so that they may also proclaim His righteous deliverance throughout the remainder of their lives. Sin causes us to suffer many bitter troubles. God delivers us out of them all. We don't boast about our moral failures. We boast about God's faithfulness despite our moral lapses. There is none who can be compared to God. This is the message that an aging believer should desire to convey to younger generations. Younger generations can be overly eager to inherit material things from their elders. However, the moral and spiritual values developed over a lifetime of experiencing God's faithfulness is to be preferred to anything physical. That's the message the mature person of faith wants to convey. So, elderly believers seek to pass on their values and spiritual insights to the younger generations more than anything. This adds purpose to one's life. Those values have eternal significance whether one lives in wealth or in poverty. Those values will become the reason for continual proclamation of God's goodness and faithfulness for generations to come. Robert C. Hudson June 26, 2024