February 6 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Psalm 71:12-24:

¹²O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.
¹³Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
¹⁴But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.
¹⁵My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.
¹⁶I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.
¹⁷O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
¹⁸Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.
¹⁹Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!
²⁰Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
²¹Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.
²²I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.
²³My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.
²⁴My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.

Devotional

The psalmist has hitherto declared the wondrous works of God. Now he pleads that God will not forsake him in his old age, so that he will have opportunity to declare God's power to his generation and to all who are to come. The psalmist knew that the Lord is great and greatly to be praised and that His greatness is unsearchable. He declared that one generation should praise God and His works to another and should declare His mighty acts (Psalm 145:3-4). He prayed for God's favor, that he might witness of God's greatness to the coming generation.

In our present evil day it is urgent that those who know God have the zeal of the psalmist to pass on to the rising generation knowledge of the greatness of God and of His wonderful works to the children of men. In a day when paganism, barbarism, and all sorts of unbelief and unrighteousness are abounding, a fervent witness must be made to the young concerning the one living and true God and the great salvation that He has provided for His people. Every effort must be made to share with the next generation knowledge of the faith once-for-all delivered to the saints.

Welcome to "Think on These Things," a twelve-week daily devotional prepared by the late Dr. John H. Skilton, an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and for many years Chairman of the New Testament Department at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

We are indebted to P & R Publishing and Skilton House Ministries for permission to use this copyrighted material on the OPC Web site. (P & R held the copyright from 1975 to 2005, at which time they reassigned the copyright to Skilton House.)