Things have not been going well for the psalmist. “In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me” (Psalm 71:1-2) – this is the prayer of someone who recognizes that without God’s intervention, everything is lost.

We may suppose that the psalmist is well along in years. We read a reminiscence about younger days: “you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb” (71:4-5). But it seems that was a long time ago: “do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent” (71:9). Again, “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” (71:16).

What exactly has gone wrong? We are not given specific details; but there is some kind of conspiracy going on: “my enemies speak concerning me, and those who watch for my life consult together” (71:10). These enemies think “there is no one to deliver” the psalmist (71:11). And in response the psalmist prays: “Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed; let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace” (71:13).

Yet in the end, it’s not just the actions of my enemies: God is sovereign over their conspiracy, and God is sovereign over my deliverance from it. “You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again” (71:20). This affirmation is hard for us; we are used to saying that God is in charge of the blessings, but we hesitate to say that God is in charge of the hard times too. But the psalmist is convinced that it is all in God’s hands: God is the one who made me see all those calamities. But God is also the one who will in the end revive me: and so “I will 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” (71:22).

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You are the Sovereign One, O Lord! In the midst of the conspiracies of our enemies, you are never caught by surprise. And so we trust in you, confident that you will deliver us. And we will sing your praises, forever and ever.