Psalms 71:20

My Notes

What Does Psalms 71:20 Mean?

Psalm 71:20 is the prayer of an aging believer — someone who has been walking with God long enough to have accumulated a catalog of suffering and a corresponding catalog of resurrection. "Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles" — the Hebrew ra'oth rabboth vetsaroth (great and many evils and distresses) uses plurals: not one trouble but many. Not small ones but great and sore. The psalmist has experienced a lifetime of suffering.

The critical word is "shewed" (hir'itani) — literally, "caused me to see" or "made me experience." The psalmist doesn't blame random circumstances. He addresses God directly: You showed me these troubles. You made me see them. This is the same theological honesty of Psalm 22:15 ("thou hast brought me into the dust of death") — the suffering is attributed to God, not despite faith but within it.

The turn is in the verbs that follow: "shalt quicken me again" (teshuvev techayeni — literally, shall return and bring me to life) and "shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth" (tehom ha'arets — the deep places, the underground, the abyss). The psalmist uses resurrection language: life from death, ascent from the depths. And the word "again" (shuv) indicates this isn't the first time. God has done this before. He's brought the psalmist back from the deep before, and the confidence for the future is built on the pattern of the past. You've done it before. You'll do it again.

Reflection Questions

• 1.The psalmist attributes the troubles to God: 'Thou hast shewed me.' How do you hold the tension between God allowing suffering and God being good?
• 2.The word 'again' implies this isn't the first resurrection. What 'depths' has God already brought you back from that give you confidence for the current one?
• 3.The psalmist uses resurrection language — life from death, ascent from the abyss. Where are you currently in that cycle — in the depths, rising, or looking back?
• 4.Pattern recognition is the basis of the psalmist's confidence. What patterns of God's faithfulness in your own history can you name specifically right now?

Devotional

The psalmist looks back on a life of great and sore troubles — not one crisis but many, stacked across decades. And with startling honesty, he says to God: You showed me those. You're the one who brought me through them. Not around them. Through them. And in every single one, You brought me back to life.

The word "again" is the hinge of the whole verse. Quicken me again. Bring me up again. The psalmist has been to the depths before. This isn't their first trip to the bottom. They've been resurrected before — not from physical death but from the spiritual, emotional, relational depths that feel like death. The dark night. The devastating loss. The season where everything stopped working. They've been there. And they came back. Because God brought them back. And now, facing another descent, the confidence isn't in positive thinking. It's in pattern recognition. You've done this before, God. I've seen You do it. Do it again.

If you're old enough to have accumulated your own catalog of troubles — if you've been walking with God long enough to have a list of depths you've visited — this verse gives you the prayer for the next one. Not "spare me from the depths" but "bring me up again." The again is your evidence. Every previous resurrection is a data point for the current crisis. The God who brought you back from the last abyss hasn't lost the ability or the inclination. He'll do it again. He always does it again. That's the pattern, and the pattern is your confidence.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture