Five Things David Said He Will Do
Psalm 71:14-16 NKJV
14 But I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God;
I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.
I can read the psalms and easily skip over some of the declarations that David makes. Maybe I just take them for granted. Or it's a matter of reading the psalms with a certain mindset, thinking that David is just saying. But I believe David is doing more than just writing down good ideas, things that would be good to do. David is revealing how he lived his life.
In this psalm, David is expressing to God the problem he is having with his enemies. People are against him, and it's not something David imagined. He dealt with real enemies. So in the middle of this psalm, we see what David will do despite what the environment around him is like.
I will hope continually. That is such a strong statement when we realize that hope is a positive, favorable expectation. To hope continually is to place that hope in God. David believed God was good so to him, he always held onto hope.
I will praise You yet more and more. Tied to the hope that David had was praise. If hope is consistent, then praise is a natural result. Praise seemed to be a big part of David's life. And consistently being brought through adversity was also a big part of David's life, so I believe there is a connection.
My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness. The 'I will' is implied here, but David is expressing the rightness of God. And of God's salvation. Talking about God and His righteousness and salvation had to be something that helped David maintain a strong, hope-filled life of praise. He certainly had problems, but David knew his answers were in God.
I will go in the strength of the Lord God. Paul would later mirror this declaration when he said he could do all things through Christ, who strengthened him. David's insight into God and God's ability to strengthen him seemed to be way ahead of his time.
I will make mention of Your righteousness. Again, David is talking about the rightness of God. David did not exalt men, but he was quick to exalt God. David had much more confidence in God than he did the goodness of man. So he spoke about what was real to him. Some people are always talking about people and what they do or don't do. David spends more time talking about his God.
David's 'I wills' are something we can learn from. Years ago, I was impressed to look at David's life and learn to praise as David praised and talk as David talked. And trust me, I am still learning with quite a way to go. But I appreciate David; he gives me a good model to follow.