Psalm 70

Psalm Category: Individual Lament

Central Thought: As we face various kinds of opposition, we take heart in calling out to God, rejoicing to be one of His children.

The five verses of Psalm 70 are essentially a repetition of Psalm 40:13-17, where this short, urgent petition concludes a longer psalm of praise. In Psalm 70 this urgent prayer stands on its own, beginning and ending with the plea for God to make haste with His help. The Lord’s deliverance seemed to tarry for the moment, but the lessons David learned in the interim prove to be worth the wait, and show that there is a good purpose in God’s delay.

In spite of his ordeal, David sees the joy of salvation that all God’s people share (v. 4). He pauses long enough from his prayer to stir all those who love the Lord to continually say, “Let God be magnified!” God’s glory and the joy of God’s people form the larger context of his thoughts, and these great realities could not be clouded by the trouble at hand. God’s delay, it would seem, was just long enough to widen David’s thoughts and make him take inventory of greater facts, but not long enough to cause him to despair. As is often the case with our prayers, what at first seems to be a delay turns out to be a development.

The movement of this short psalm is from contrast to contrast. First, there is a contrast between what David’s enemies seek (“Let them be ashamed and confounded who seek my life…”) and what God’s people seek (“Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You…”). Next is the contrast between the exclamation of gleeful scorn by his enemies (“aha, aha!”) and the exclamation of joyful praise by God’s people (“Let God be magnified!”). There is also a great difference in their sources of joy: “my hurt” versus “Your salvation.” These stark comparisons between competitive rancor and God-centered joy highlight the reorientation of life that God’s grace brings, and remind us that believers have a continual and unshakable reason to rejoice.

The next contrast in verse 5 is even more fundamental: “But I am poor and needy…You are my help and my deliverer.” The comparison between what “I am” and what “You are” is a humbling thing that can only lead us to completely surrender ourselves at the throne of grace. To see our true condition, we must fix our eyes on the glory, majesty, and power of God. Only then will we understand how needy we are, and how much we need a mighty Savior.

Finally, there is the disparity between the joy of God’s people and the psalmist’s personal affliction. “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You,” begins verse 4. But in the next verse the psalmist sets himself apart by contrasting this corporate joy with his own desperate condition: “I am poor and needy.” There are other psalms that juxtapose the affliction of one and the joy of many, including such noted messianic psalms as Psalm 22 and 102. Also, the phrase “poor and needy” appears elsewhere in messianic contexts as a depiction of Christ’s condition (Ps. 40:17; 109:22).

As we listen to the poor, needy, and persecuted psalmist cry for help while at the same time calling on God’s people to rejoice in His salvation, we should realize that these two things—the suffering of one and the joy of many—are not coincidental. This psalm, and others like it, anticipates the suffering of Christ for the salvation and joy of all God’s people. Perhaps that is why this psalm is subtitled “To Bring to Remembrance.” This psalm puts us in mind of something much greater than David’s political struggles, something intended to be remembered and rejoiced over for ages to come, something that still gives believers reason to exclaim, “Let God be magnified!”

—C. J. Williams