Sing Aloud to God Our Strength

The psalmist calls to make music to God, including singing, shouting, playing the harp, lute, trumpet and timbrel. He recalls the promises of God established since God led the Israelites out of Egypt. There is also a clear reminder that God desire full loyalty from His children and warn them against worshipping any other Gods.

And the psalmist recounts the stubbornness of the people who walk in their own ways and some went towards other foreign false gods. However there is always an opportunity for them to return and then God will again deliver them from their enemies


Psalm 81
To the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath.[a]A Psalm of Asaph.

 1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
         Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob.
 2 Raise a song and strike the timbrel,
         The pleasant harp with the lute.
        
 3 Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon,
         At the full moon, on our solemn feast day.
 4 For this is a statute for Israel,
         A law of the God of Jacob.
 5 This He established in Joseph as a testimony,
         When He went throughout the land of Egypt,
         Where I heard a language I did not understand.
        
 6 “I removed his shoulder from the burden;
         His hands were freed from the baskets.
 7 You called in trouble, and I delivered you;
         I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
         I tested you at the waters of Meribah.  Selah 
        
 8 “Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you!
         O Israel, if you will listen to Me!
 9 There shall be no foreign god among you;
         Nor shall you worship any foreign god.
 10 I am the LORD your God,
         Who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
         Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
        
 11 “But My people would not heed My voice,
         And Israel would have none of Me.
 12 So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart,
         To walk in their own counsels.
        
 13 “Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
         That Israel would walk in My ways!
 14 I would soon subdue their enemies,
         And turn My hand against their adversaries.
 15 The haters of the LORD would pretend submission to Him,
         But their fate would endure forever.
 16 He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat;
         And with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.”

God the Rock of Salvation

The psalm starts off in a very similar way as other psalms and it looks like a psalm by David. There is the appeal to God to save the writer from the enemies. There is also a description of who God is to the writer, namely rock, fortress, refuge. The writer has trusted God in his youth and asks God not to forsake him.
He calls on God not to be far from him. He promises to continue to praise God. The writer talks of spreading the knowledge of God, telling others of God's salvation and righteousness. The writer seeks to praise God with all his soul with any instruments he can like the harp, lute and singing.


Psalm 71
God the Rock of Salvation

 1 In You, O LORD, I put my trust;
         Let me never be put to shame.
 2 Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape;
         Incline Your ear to me, and save me.
 3 Be my strong refuge,
         To which I may resort continually;
         You have given the commandment to save me,
         For You are my rock and my fortress.
        
 4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
         Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
 5 For You are my hope, O Lord GOD;
         You are my trust from my youth.
 6 By You I have been upheld from birth;
         You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.
         My praise shall be continually of You.
        
 7 I have become as a wonder to many,
         But You are my strong refuge.
 8 Let my mouth be filled with Your praise
         And with Your glory all the day.
        
 9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
         Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
 10 For my enemies speak against me;
         And those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together,
 11 Saying, “God has forsaken him;
         Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.”
        
 12 O God, do not be far from me;
         O my God, make haste to help me!
 13 Let them be confounded and consumed
         Who are adversaries of my life;
         Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor
         Who seek my hurt.
        
 14 But I will hope continually,
         And will praise You yet more and more.
 15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
         And Your salvation all the day,
         For I do not know their limits.
 16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD;
         I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.
        
 17 O God, You have taught me from my youth;
         And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
 18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded,
         O God, do not forsake me,
         Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
         Your power to everyone who is to come.
        
 19 Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high,
         You who have done great things;
         O God, who is like You?
 20 You, who have shown me great and severe troubles,
         Shall revive me again,
         And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
 21 You shall increase my greatness,
         And comfort me on every side.
        
 22 Also with the lute I will praise You—
         And Your faithfulness, O my God!
         To You I will sing with the harp,
         O Holy One of Israel.
 23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You,
         And my soul, which You have redeemed.
 24 My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long;
         For they are confounded,
         For they are brought to shame
         Who seek my hurt.