From Chris Stroup
Psalm 71: The Lord is a refuge and delivers his people. If you’ve been reading through the Psalms with us, you’ll know that this theme has appeared again and again. In this psalm, the images of youth and old age are threaded throughout. The Lord’s consistency is a central theme: the psalmist trusted in the Lord from his youth (v 5-6, 17) and expresses his desire to proclaim the greatness of the Lord to the next generation (v 18). Verses 19-24 give us an indication of what the psalmist wants to proclaim to the next generation. What would you tell the next generation about the Lord?
Psalm 72: Upright judgment, prosperous land, defended poor, and crushed oppressors are characteristic of the psalmist’s vision of a God-ordered kingdom. The ruler of the God-ordered kingdom delivers the needy (v 12), has pity on the weak (v 13), redeems the lives of those suffering from oppression and violence (v 14). How is the psalmist’s vision of the God-ordered kingdom similar and different from our own?
Deuteronomy 8.1-20: “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth” (v 17). As Mark was talking about on Sunday, this is the distraction of affluence. According to Deuteronomy 8, affluence tempts us to forget the Lord and his commands (v 11) and to forget what he has done for his people. The way to combat this distraction is not through simply remaining in poverty but by remembering what the Lord has done and that it is the Lord who gives the power to get wealth (v 18).