HE IS YOUR GOD – THROUGHOUT YOUR LIFETIME!
SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 71
Introduction:
– It is wonderful to know that at every stage of life the Lord is with us to lead, carry and sustain us.
– There is no time when we are without Him or when He ever abandons us.
– It is also amazing to think that in every circumstance of life, He is with us and we do not need to feel alone.
– Even in the difficult and challenging seasons He is still with you to help and direct your paths.
– Right now, in the situations you are facing, He is with you.
– He always knows what is best for us and how to gently redirect our course in line with His purposes and plans.
– We can rest in His wisdom and we can be assured that He has our best interests at heart.
– The Lord wants to be our God throughout our lifetime, from the very start of life until the end.
– He will be your companion on the voyage of life and you can grow old with the knowledge that He is with you all the way.
1. HE IS OUR HOPE AND CONFIDENCE FROM THE BEGINNING
– From the very start of your life, from the time of conscious awareness, He wants to be your God.
– During the season of being a child, He wants to lift us up and place us on His knee to reassure us that He loves, cares and knows what we are facing and going through.
– Psalm 71:5 ‘For You have been my HOPE, oh Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.’
– Never underestimate the decision you make/made in your youth.
– I have been part of many funerals where it was mentioned that the deceased had made their decision to follow God in their youth or as a young person.
– God takes note of our decisions we make for Him as young people and He honours those choices and decisions.
– I believe it can go wider than just our lifetime.
– As you start each new day, it’s a new beginning and you can make the Lord your hope and confidence on a daily basis.
– From the beginning of life or from the beginning of each new day or new season, He can be your hope and confidence.
– Living a life of childlike faith and confidence in God, is a wonderful way to live our lives.
– Today, you are as young as you will ever be, so use today to put your hope and confidence in God afresh.
2. WALKING WITH GOD AND LEARNING EVERY STEP OF THE WAY
– Psalm 71:17 ‘Since my youth, oh Lord, You have TAUGHT me, and to this day I declare Your marvellous deeds.’
– Perhaps you have heard the statement: ‘It’s never too late to learn something new’, or ‘You can learn something new every day.’
– With God in our lives, we can know that He wants to teach us and show us the right way to go.
– What a privilege we have of being ‘taught by the Lord’.
– We should always remain open to His input and guidance in our lives.
– He is the One Who knows all things, understands all things and has the answer to all things and therefore He is our greatest ally.
– This verse indicates that we can be ‘learning’ from God.
– We don’t just know about God, but we KNOW Him personally, in a relationship.
– The result is that we can celebrate the wonderful things He has done and awesome way He has brought us through the storms and challenges of life.
– Make it a part of your day to rejoice and be thankful and to ‘declare His marvellous deeds.’
3. TELL THE NEXT GENERATION ABOUT GOD’S GOODNESS
– Psalm 71:18 ‘Even when I am old and grey, do not forsake me, oh God, till I declare Your power to the next generation.’
– You have a job to do and that is to remind the next generation about God’s power and His abiding presence.
– You are a TESTIMONY of God’s POWER, love, provision and healing to those who come behind you – your children and the next generation.
– They need to know about how you trusted God and how He came through for you.
– They need to see, with their own eyes, how you trusted God in your life so that it will be an example for them to follow and to pursue in the same way that you did.
– At the same time, we need to always remember that old age and grey hair doesn’t change the fact that God will never forsake you.
– It just makes you a living testimony to God’s lifelong faithfulness.
4. EVEN IN THE STORMS OF LIFE, HE REMAINS THE CONSTANT
– Psalm 71:20 ‘Though You have made me see troubles, MANY and bitter, You will RESTORE my life again. From the depths of the earth, You will again bring me up.’
– We certainly do have our fair share of troubles in life and we may even have hit ‘rock bottom’, but God brings us through each time.
– Our lives are not problem free, but we have the Lord to guide us through it all.
– Our lives can be a confession of HOPE in the face of troubles.
– We should constantly remind ourselves that God is the great Restorer.
– He can restore things that may seem unrestorable and He can bring back to life those things that we have written off or have buried far away.
– He will restore your life again and He will lift you up again. Rest Assured!
5. THE LORD WILL INCREASE YOUR HONOUR
– Psalm 71:21 ‘You will INCREASE my honour and comfort me once again.’
– With God in our lives the best is yet to come, even if we make a late start in our relationship with Him.
– The word ‘honour’ can also be interpreted as ‘greatness’.
– The suggestion is that in our lives we will see more and more GREAT THINGS as the years continue.
– We will live to see God’s saving acts and be a testimony to His faithfulness.
– It is God’s prerogative to raise one person up and bring someone else down.
– As you pursue God and give Him first place in your live, He will come alongside you and ‘increase your honour’ and He will ‘comfort you once again!’
– This gives our lives purpose and meaning in God and His workings in our lives.
6. REASON TO REJOICE
– Psalm 71:22 ‘I will PRAISE You for Your FAITHFULNESS, O my God.’
– There is the promise that we will have reason to praise the Lord for His faithfulness and to be able to celebrate His goodness in our lives.
– We will continue to PRAISE God amidst despair and through the good times, because we have our HOPE and TRUST in God.
– The Lord is not a ‘Fair Weather’ Friend, Who is with us in good times and absent to difficulties.
– He is with us throughout our lifetimes to lead, guide, comfort, honour us and lift us up so that we can see His goodness and be able to rejoice in it.
– This applies to every step in the course of life, but also as we look back over time.
– Let us go through life with God, and as the years pass by, we will discover that He has been our rock and firm foundation through it all.
– He is with you today, He is with you right now and He will be with you throughout your lifetime.
– Although this Psalm is referring to David and refuge from his enemies, it remains a beautiful scripture to apply in our lives and to our futures.
– Isaiah 46:4 ‘I will be your God throughout your lifetime – until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.’
By Pastor Andrew W. Roebert
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