Let My Mouth Be Filled with Your Praise

Psalm 71 is the prayer of a person who has trusted in God all the days of his life, asking that even in old age He will not forsake him. Its first part is a declaration of trust and a plea for refuge: "In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust." David asks God to deliver him from the hand of the wicked, to be his rock and fortress, and to drive back his pursuers. But beyond the plea, a deep and rooted confidence rises here — a trust that did not begin today, but has accompanied him from the womb, from his youth until now. Out of that confidence the song is born: a mouth filled with God's praise all the day long.

The verse that carries the song's name, and is the heart of this part, is a declaration of praise:

"Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day"

David asks that his mouth be filled with God's praise throughout the whole day. This is not the praise of a single moment, but a continual praise that becomes a way of life. Trust in God does not stay in the heart — it bursts out into the mouth, the voice, the unceasing song.

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