God's Pupil, God's Preacher; an Autobiography
Psalm 71:17-18
O God, you have taught me from my youth: and till now have I declared your wondrous works.…


I. Think of DAVID AS A PUPIL, God was his Teacher. "O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth." This shows that David had a teachable spirit; and if you had asked him where it came from, he would have said that God gave him a teachable spirit. God is not only the Teacher of our spirit, but He gives us a teachable spirit, Have we all received that precious gift? A teachable spirit, although it is despised by many, is a happy spirit; it is a growing spirit; it is a restful spirit; it is a heavenly spirit; and whoever has it, must ascribe the possession of it to the Spirit of God, who leads us into all truth, and makes us willing to be led therein. Oh, that we may have such a spirit, that we shall count it an honour to say, "O God, Thou hast taught me"! In David's acknowledgment we learn that God took him very early into His school. "Thou hast taught me from my youth." What a mercy it is to begin to know God before we begin to know anything else! Happy shalt thou be if thy first intelligible thoughts shall be of thy Maker, thy Benefactor, thy Friend. There are many aged men who can say with David, "O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth." They find themselves learners yet, for they are "Unstable, weak, and apt to slide."

II. But now I want you to notice DAVID AS A PUPIL-TEACHER. While he was a pupil, he was also teaching. He says, "Hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works." Observe, then, that David taught people what he saw. He saw God's works all around him. Ah! me, that is a great sight. We do not see God as we should, and we shall never teach aright for God, until we have a kind of instinctive feeling of the presence of God, till we are conscious that God is in us, and round about us, and at work for us. God's work that David saw was very much work in himself, and work for himself, and work in other men's hearts. Being taken into the school of God, he was made to observe things; he had object lessons put before him, and he learned to read God's work; and as he saw it, he wondered. "Hitherto," said he, "have I declared Thy wondrous works." He who is a stranger to wonder is a stranger to God, for God is wonderful everyway, and everywhere, and everyhow. We find that David took opportunity to declare God's wondrous work; sometimes with his pen, writing his psalms; sometimes with his voice, singing those psalms; sometimes talking to a few, sometimes speaking to many. Now, dear friends, what I want you all to do is, if you have seen God's work, and have been struck with it, you should declare it, tell it to others.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

WEB: God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works.




The Christian's Duty and Dependence
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