What is the meaning of Psalm 71:11? God has forsaken him • This is the taunt of the psalmist’s enemies, not the verdict of God. Throughout Scripture the Lord repeatedly promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5–6; Deuteronomy 31:6), and “Even if my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me” (Psalm 27:10). • Suffering can look like abandonment, yet the psalmist knows God’s faithfulness “from my youth” (Psalm 71:5–6). Enemies misread hardship as divine rejection, but Job’s story (Job 2:9–10) shows that adversity does not equal abandonment. • Jesus Himself endured the mockery, “He trusts in God; let God rescue Him” (Matthew 27:43), modeling how the righteous are sometimes thought forsaken while actually being upheld by the Father (John 16:32). pursue him and seize him • Believing the Lord has stepped away, adversaries feel emboldened to hunt the psalmist down, echoing, “The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to slay him” (Psalm 37:32). • David experienced this when Saul “pursued him every day, yet God did not deliver David into his hand” (1 Samuel 23:14). The Lord’s hidden presence still guarded His servant. • New-covenant believers face a similar dynamic: “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), yet God sets limits (1 Corinthians 10:13) and works deliverance in His time (2 Timothy 4:17–18). • Key takeaway: hostile pursuit does not mean God’s absence; it often becomes the stage for God’s protective intervention (Psalm 34:7). for there is no one to rescue him • The enemies conclude the psalmist is isolated, but “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). • Elijah felt alone—“I am the only one left” (1 Kings 19:14)—yet the Lord had preserved thousands and personally sustained him. Spiritual isolation is frequently more perception than reality. • Scripture counters the lie of helplessness: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all” (Psalm 34:19). Even a final enemy like death bows to the Rescuer who “has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us again” (2 Corinthians 1:10). • Believers today lean on the same promise voiced in Psalm 91:14–15—“Because he loves Me… I will rescue him and honor him.” summary Psalm 71:11 records the scorn of foes who interpret the psalmist’s trials as evidence that God has abandoned him. Their three-part accusation—God has forsaken, enemies may pursue, no rescuer remains—exposes a worldview where power triumphs when divine protection seems absent. Scripture answers each charge: God never forsakes His people, hostile pursuit is bounded by His sovereignty, and He always remains the unfailing Deliverer. The verse therefore highlights not God’s withdrawal but the false confidence of the wicked, underscoring the believer’s assurance that the Lord’s steadfast presence endures in every crisis. |
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