Psalm 71:5 & 17-18

Psalm 71

5 

For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth…

17 

O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

18 

So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

Although he wasn’t perfect, in Acts 13 it says that David was a man after God’s heart. God was constantly pleased with David. In this Psalm, David reminds us that he started following God at a young age. He calls God his Lord from his youth. From the time he was young, he had been following the ways of the Lord.

So often we think, “I will get serious in my relationship with God one day…” When I’m older… when I get married… when I have kids… when my kids are grown… whatever the excuse may be. Working with youth, I hear all the time, when I get older I want to get better at memorizing Scripture, or reading the Bible daily, or sharing my faith, or spending more time in prayer… David- the man after God’s heart, started when he was young.

So often while praying, meditating on Scripture, or encouraging someone in the Lord, the Holy Spirit brings to my mind Scripture. 90% of the time, it is a verse I learned in my youth. Whether it was through AWANA, Sunday school, Children’s Church, CEF, or youth group, God uses the Scripture I learned in my youth even to this day.

Although the world says you should live it up while you’re young and make all the mistakes you can now before it “matters” (which is so not true!), you have a choice. You can live for God now, or waste your youth. Choose Him now as Lord of your youth.

**Maybe it is much too late for God to be Lord of your youth J. That’s okay! Make Him Lord of your today!! In this Psalm, David desires God to stay with him even to old age as he proclaims the power of God to the next generation. It is not too late and there is still work to be done as we bring the truth of Scripture to the generations that follow us.

1 Timothy 4:12- Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

Ecclesiastes 12:1- Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come…

Psalm 145:4- One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.