Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.
Though this psalm bears no title, the tradition of the Church ascribes it to David in his old age, likely during Absalom's uprising. He opens by casting himself entirely upon God's faithfulness, then mingles petition for deliverance with complaint against his enemies' arrogance, before resolving to praise God for mercies already received.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 71:1-24
By thee have I been holden up from the womb. Before he was able to understand the power which preserved him, he was sustained by it. God knows us before we know anything. The elect of old lay in the bosom of God before they were laid on their mothers' bosoms; and when their infantile weakness had no feet strong enough to carry it, the Lord upheld it.
David prays two things: that he be never ashamed of trusting God, and that his persecutors be confounded. He who has truly chosen the God of Jacob for his help, who is entirely satisfied with God's all-sufficiency and the truth of His promise, will freely do and suffer all for Him and may boldly say, In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 71:1-13