There is a subscript in the Hebrew Psalter that does not appear in most English translations. According to James Montgomery Boice, it reads, “This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.” This note seems fitting for Psalm 71, and there are several reasons to believe it marks the closing chapter of David’s recorded prayers. First, the next Psalm—Psalm 72—is attributed to David’s son Solomon. It is a prayer for God to guide him as he leads the nation, suggesting a transition from the reign of David to the reign of his son. Second, Psalm 71 reads like the testimony of an old man reflecting on a long life of both trouble and trust. In verse 9 David pleads, “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.” Later he adds, “Even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me.” These are the words of someone who has walked with God for decades and now leans on Him more than ever. If this is indeed David’s final recorded prayer, it is a beautiful ending—full of honesty, faith, and hope.
One of the central themes of this Psalm is the struggle of aging. David speaks of declining strength, fading memory, and growing limitations. He no longer hears as well, moves as swiftly, or thinks as sharply as he once did. He feels his frailty. Growing old, he admits, is not easy. He is not alone in that confession. That’s the way I feel now as I approach my 80th birthday. There are others. On June 28, 1789, the great evangelist John Wesley wrote in his journal, “This day I enter on my eighty-sixth year. I now find I grow old.” He went on to list his struggles: weak eyesight, decreasing strength, and a fading memory. Wesley confessed that his greatest fear was not physical decay, but that the frustrations of aging would harden his spirit or sour his attitude. But even then he anchored his hope in God, writing, “But thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God.” Like David, Wesley learned that advancing age is not a barrier to faith—but rather an invitation to deeper dependence on God.
John’s brother Charles Wesley may have captured the spirit of Psalm 71 in one of his hymns. Perhaps it reflected John’s later years as well, when his body weakened but his hope remained strong in Christ. Charles wrote:
In age and feebleness extreme,
Who shall a sinful worm redeem?
Jesus, my only hope thou art,
Strength of my failing flesh and heart;
Oh, could I catch a smile from thee,
And drop into eternity!
David may have felt exactly the same. Old age may limit the body, but it can strengthen the soul. The world may cast aside the elderly, but God never does. From youth to gray hairs, He remains faithful. Psalm 71 reminds us that no matter how old we grow, we are never too old to trust Him, praise Him, or be used by Him.