Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.
Psalm 71:8 is the prayer of a dependent saint for a sanctified mouth. The psalmist has already asked God to be his strong habitation, whereunto he may continually resort (v.3). He has confessed God as his hope from youth (v.5), and later he will plead not to be forsaken in old age until he has shewed God’s strength to this generation (v.18). Therefore, verse 8 is not a passing expression of worship. It is the speech of a man who wants his mouth governed by God’s praise through all the changing stages of life.
“Let.” The word makes the sentence a prayer. The psalmist does not assume that praise will flow rightly from him by nature, habit, age, or religious experience. He asks God to make it so. The mouth must be governed by grace. The same mouth may complain, fear, boast, flatter, murmur, accuse, or speak vanity unless God rules it. Therefore, he prays, “Let my mouth be filled.” He seeks not only deliverance from enemies, but a mouth made useful to God.
“My mouth.” The psalmist brings the member of speech before God. This is searching. He does not say only, Let my heart feel praise, though the heart must be involved. He asks that his mouth be filled. Praise should not remain hidden when God has given cause to speak. The mouth that has prayed for refuge, deliverance, and help should also speak God’s praise when help is found. Prayer and praise belong together.
This is especially fitting in Psalm 71, where the saint desires generational usefulness. He later asks to shew God’s strength unto this generation and His power to every one that is to come (v.18). Such shewing requires speech. The aged saint’s mouth must not be filled with bitterness, complaints, fear, memories of self, or tales of men, but with the praise and honour of God. A mouth spared through many years should be a mouth employed for God’s name.
“Be filled.” This is a strong request. He does not ask for occasional praise only, or a few religious words mixed into a mouth otherwise ruled by vanity. He asks that his mouth be filled. What fills the mouth often reveals what fills the heart. Jesus said, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34). If praise fills the mouth, then God’s goodness, faithfulness, and honour have filled the meditation of the heart.
The word “filled” also leaves little room for contrary speech. A mouth filled with God’s praise has less room for murmuring. A mouth filled with God’s honour has less room for self-exaltation. A mouth filled with thanksgiving has less room for envy and fear. The cure for much sinful speech is not silence only, but better fullness. Let the mouth be filled with what is right, and many evils will be displaced.
“With thy praise.” Praise belongs to God because all help, hope, preservation, and deliverance come from Him. The psalmist has found God to be his refuge, rock, fortress, hope, and trust. Therefore, God must be praised. Praise is the right answer to God’s works and character. It confesses that the good received was not chance, strength, prudence, or man’s favour, but the LORD’s mercy and power.
“Thy praise” also keeps worship properly directed. The psalmist does not want his mouth filled with praise of himself. He does not want to rehearse his own endurance, wisdom, experience, or faithfulness as the main matter. God has been faithful from youth to old age; God has upheld, delivered, taught, and sustained him. Therefore, the praise must be God’s praise.
“And with thy honour.” Praise and honour are joined. Praise speaks well of God; honour gives weight to His name, His works, His truth, and His dominion. The psalmist wants his mouth to ascribe worth to God. His words should not make God seem small, distant, uncertain, or weak. They should honour Him as the strong habitation, the rock, the fortress, the hope of youth, and the strength of old age.
This phrase is important because speech may mention God without honouring Him. Men may use God’s name lightly, speak of His works carelessly, complain under His hand, or talk of His truth without reverence. The psalmist desires better. He wants words that carry God’s honour. Such speech teaches others to think highly of Him, trust Him, fear Him, and praise Him.
“All the day.” The praise is not confined to one hour, one service, one deliverance, or one season of life. The psalmist asks for a mouth filled with praise and honour all the day. Morning needs praise. Labour needs praise. Trouble needs praise. Weakness needs praise. Waiting needs praise. Old age needs praise. God is worthy at every hour, and the saint needs a governed mouth at every hour.
“All the day” also corrects divided speech. A man should not praise God in worship and then fill the rest of the day with murmuring, foolishness, bitterness, or unbelief. The mouth should not be God’s for a moment and then vanity’s for the remaining hours. David prayed elsewhere, “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1). Psalm 71:8 asks for the same continual consecration.
This verse is especially useful for aged saints. Long life can fill the mouth with many things: regrets, complaints, comparisons, fears, criticisms, and memories of former days. But Psalm 71 shows a better old age. The aged believer should have a mouth full of God’s praise and honour. He has more years of mercy to remember, more deliverances to recount, more corrections to confess, more providences to admire, and more reasons to tell the next generation that God is faithful.
It is also useful for the young. The psalmist later remembers God from his youth (v.17). A praising mouth should not be postponed until old age. Youth should learn early to speak well of God. If the young fill their mouths with vanity, jesting, complaint, worldly boasting, and foolish speech, they are training the tongue for worse use later. Let the mouth be filled with God’s praise early, and it will be better prepared to honour Him in age.
This verse also rebukes barren speech among saints. How easily the mouth is filled with news, business, grievances, plans, opinions, and earthly interests, while God’s praise receives little room. The psalmist asks for the opposite. Let praise be the fullness, not the leftover. Let God’s honour govern the tongue, not appear only when all other speech is exhausted.
Jesus Christ perfectly honoured the Father with His mouth all His days. As a child, He was about His Father’s business. As a man, He spoke the words the Father gave Him. In weariness, temptation, contradiction, grief, and suffering, His mouth never sinned and never failed to honour God. Even at the cross, His words fulfilled Scripture, cared for others, confessed trust, and yielded His spirit into the Father’s hands. His mouth was perfectly filled with praise and honour, and by Him the believer learns the true use of speech before God.
Psalm 71:8 therefore teaches the prayer every saint should make for his tongue. Let my mouth be filled, not empty, not vain, not corrupt, not complaining, but filled with thy praise and thy honour all the day. Let youth begin it. Let old age abound in it. Let trouble not silence it. Let deliverance enlarge it. The God who is our strong habitation deserves a mouth filled with His praise until testimony is finished and the next generation has heard His honour.
Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.
Psalm 71:8 is the prayer of a dependent saint for a sanctified mouth. The psalmist has already asked God to be his strong habitation, whereunto he may continually resort (v.3). He has confessed God as his hope from youth (v.5), and later he will plead not to be forsaken in old age until he has shewed God’s strength to this generation (v.18). Therefore, verse 8 is not a passing expression of worship. It is the speech of a man who wants his mouth governed by God’s praise through all the changing stages of life.
“Let.” The word makes the sentence a prayer. The psalmist does not assume that praise will flow rightly from him by nature, habit, age, or religious experience. He asks God to make it so. The mouth must be governed by grace. The same mouth may complain, fear, boast, flatter, murmur, accuse, or speak vanity unless God rules it. Therefore, he prays, “Let my mouth be filled.” He seeks not only deliverance from enemies, but a mouth made useful to God.
“My mouth.” The psalmist brings the member of speech before God. This is searching. He does not say only, Let my heart feel praise, though the heart must be involved. He asks that his mouth be filled. Praise should not remain hidden when God has given cause to speak. The mouth that has prayed for refuge, deliverance, and help should also speak God’s praise when help is found. Prayer and praise belong together.
This is especially fitting in Psalm 71, where the saint desires generational usefulness. He later asks to shew God’s strength unto this generation and His power to every one that is to come (v.18). Such shewing requires speech. The aged saint’s mouth must not be filled with bitterness, complaints, fear, memories of self, or tales of men, but with the praise and honour of God. A mouth spared through many years should be a mouth employed for God’s name.
“Be filled.” This is a strong request. He does not ask for occasional praise only, or a few religious words mixed into a mouth otherwise ruled by vanity. He asks that his mouth be filled. What fills the mouth often reveals what fills the heart. Jesus said, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34). If praise fills the mouth, then God’s goodness, faithfulness, and honour have filled the meditation of the heart.
The word “filled” also leaves little room for contrary speech. A mouth filled with God’s praise has less room for murmuring. A mouth filled with God’s honour has less room for self-exaltation. A mouth filled with thanksgiving has less room for envy and fear. The cure for much sinful speech is not silence only, but better fullness. Let the mouth be filled with what is right, and many evils will be displaced.
“With thy praise.” Praise belongs to God because all help, hope, preservation, and deliverance come from Him. The psalmist has found God to be his refuge, rock, fortress, hope, and trust. Therefore, God must be praised. Praise is the right answer to God’s works and character. It confesses that the good received was not chance, strength, prudence, or man’s favour, but the LORD’s mercy and power.
“Thy praise” also keeps worship properly directed. The psalmist does not want his mouth filled with praise of himself. He does not want to rehearse his own endurance, wisdom, experience, or faithfulness as the main matter. God has been faithful from youth to old age; God has upheld, delivered, taught, and sustained him. Therefore, the praise must be God’s praise.
“And with thy honour.” Praise and honour are joined. Praise speaks well of God; honour gives weight to His name, His works, His truth, and His dominion. The psalmist wants his mouth to ascribe worth to God. His words should not make God seem small, distant, uncertain, or weak. They should honour Him as the strong habitation, the rock, the fortress, the hope of youth, and the strength of old age.
This phrase is important because speech may mention God without honouring Him. Men may use God’s name lightly, speak of His works carelessly, complain under His hand, or talk of His truth without reverence. The psalmist desires better. He wants words that carry God’s honour. Such speech teaches others to think highly of Him, trust Him, fear Him, and praise Him.
“All the day.” The praise is not confined to one hour, one service, one deliverance, or one season of life. The psalmist asks for a mouth filled with praise and honour all the day. Morning needs praise. Labour needs praise. Trouble needs praise. Weakness needs praise. Waiting needs praise. Old age needs praise. God is worthy at every hour, and the saint needs a governed mouth at every hour.
“All the day” also corrects divided speech. A man should not praise God in worship and then fill the rest of the day with murmuring, foolishness, bitterness, or unbelief. The mouth should not be God’s for a moment and then vanity’s for the remaining hours. David prayed elsewhere, “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1). Psalm 71:8 asks for the same continual consecration.
This verse is especially useful for aged saints. Long life can fill the mouth with many things: regrets, complaints, comparisons, fears, criticisms, and memories of former days. But Psalm 71 shows a better old age. The aged believer should have a mouth full of God’s praise and honour. He has more years of mercy to remember, more deliverances to recount, more corrections to confess, more providences to admire, and more reasons to tell the next generation that God is faithful.
It is also useful for the young. The psalmist later remembers God from his youth (v.17). A praising mouth should not be postponed until old age. Youth should learn early to speak well of God. If the young fill their mouths with vanity, jesting, complaint, worldly boasting, and foolish speech, they are training the tongue for worse use later. Let the mouth be filled with God’s praise early, and it will be better prepared to honour Him in age.
This verse also rebukes barren speech among saints. How easily the mouth is filled with news, business, grievances, plans, opinions, and earthly interests, while God’s praise receives little room. The psalmist asks for the opposite. Let praise be the fullness, not the leftover. Let God’s honour govern the tongue, not appear only when all other speech is exhausted.
Jesus Christ perfectly honoured the Father with His mouth all His days. As a child, He was about His Father’s business. As a man, He spoke the words the Father gave Him. In weariness, temptation, contradiction, grief, and suffering, His mouth never sinned and never failed to honour God. Even at the cross, His words fulfilled Scripture, cared for others, confessed trust, and yielded His spirit into the Father’s hands. His mouth was perfectly filled with praise and honour, and by Him the believer learns the true use of speech before God.
Psalm 71:8 therefore teaches the prayer every saint should make for his tongue. Let my mouth be filled, not empty, not vain, not corrupt, not complaining, but filled with thy praise and thy honour all the day. Let youth begin it. Let old age abound in it. Let trouble not silence it. Let deliverance enlarge it. The God who is our strong habitation deserves a mouth filled with His praise until testimony is finished and the next generation has heard His honour.