Recap from Sunday: Intimacy between two people doesn't happen automatically. You begin as a rookie getting your basics down - like learning how to communicate. And once those basics get established, you begin to enjoy the power and beauty of a relationship. It's like a musician to his music. He wants to be intimate with the music he is playing, but until he gets his technique down he won't be able to fully enjoy the power and beauty of the piece he wants to play. Same thing with our relationship with God. In Psalm 71 we look at an older fellow says that from his youth he has relentlessly worked at three things. Notice where he uses the word, "continually."
1. He has continually taken refuge [rested] in God during times of distress (v.3) This has to do with how he has processed his suffering and disappointments. 2. He has continually praised God as an act of personal discipline (v.7) This practice has to do with daily prayer. 3. He has continually put his hope in God for his future. This is the most foundational of all. He does rigorous self-examination regarding the fundamental trusts of his heart. He is careful to know what he actually rests in and lives for, and he continually re-focuses his soul's deepest hopes on God.
He recounts that he has never let anything turn him aside from these disciplines. Why? Because of duty sake? No. For beauty.