What follows is a re-praying of Psalm 71. It isn’t so much a paraphrase as a prayer based on the psalm. Like the psalm, this prayer uses the single personal pronoun, but that doesn’t preclude it from being a communally articulated prayer. The refrain “Life is full of trouble —yet I trust in you, my God” is not a part of the psalm but added as a rhetorical device. I find that using refrains in longer prayers is helpful for engaging the whole community. So that you don’t need to project or reprint the whole psalm prayer, you could invite those gathered to respond, “yet I trust in you, my God,” every time they hear the leader pray, “Life is full of trouble.” You may want to practice it a few times before entering into this time of prayer.
Let us pray to the God who is near,
Life is full of trouble
—yet I trust in you, my God.
God, do not make me regret my decision
or feel shame that I have turned to you for safety and shelter.
Listen to my cries for help, and come and rescue me.
When nothing else seems reliable in this world,
be my safe place.
Protect me from the people of this world
with less than honorable intentions,
those who are devious and willing to step on me in order to promote themselves.
Life is full of trouble
—yet I trust in you, my God.
Since I was young you have been there for me.
You are the source of my hope.
You were there when I was born,
watching over me.
And so I praise you.
Because of this, others see you in me—you've been there for me.
So I continue to praise you day and night.
Now that I’m getting older, don’t forget me.
Don’t reject me now that I am not as strong.
For still there are those who speak against me,
those who conspire, wanting to see me suffer rather than flourish.
They look at me now and figure that you have left me,
so I am easy prey as there is no one to defend me.
Life is full of trouble
—yet I trust in you, my God.
God, don’t leave me alone.
Stay close to me so you can come quickly to help me when I need you.
Shame those who want to harm me.
Reveal their true selves, so that they may be disgraced.
Still, I will continue praising you
because you are my source of hope.
I’ll keep testifying to all the things you have done for me
—too many to name.
I’ll tell of your power and righteousness.
Not mine, not others’—yours alone!
Since I was a little kid, you have been teaching me,
and so I continue to praise you for all you have done.
So don’t leave me down the road when I am older.
Help me tell the next generation about your power and mighty deeds.
Your goodness is so big it reaches all the way to the heaven,
it cannot be contained.
Who else comes even close to you?
Life is full of trouble
—yet I trust in you, my God.
I know I’m not perfect.
My life isn’t perfect.
There are troubles.
Times of bitterness.
But just like you have in the past, I know that no matter what I face
you will get me through them.
Even if I feel like I’ve sunk as low as I can go,
and everything seems to close around me,
and I think I’m alone,
the truth is that I’m not out of your grasp.
You will raise me up.
You will comfort me,
take away my shame,
and restore my self worth.
Life is full of trouble
—yet I trust in you, my God.
With all my gifts I will praise you.
You have been faithful to me.
My God, you are holy and worthy of all praise.
My lips will shout for joy and sing praises
—for you have delivered me…me!
All day my tongue will testify to others about all you have done for me.
For those who wanted to hurt me,
who didn’t want me to flourish,
you have shamed them and caused them to be confused.
Life is full of trouble
—yet I trust in you, my God.
Amen.