Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you. Psalms 71:4-6
In verse 6 the psalmist continues to appeal to his God. He continues to give reasons why God should rescue him. Here, he is telling God that they have a history together.
For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
The relationship that they have had is not a recent creation. It has roots into the past, 'from my youth'. The writer stresses how he has been looking to his God ('my hope', 'my trust') for quite a while. In fact, he traces this relationship back to before his birth. The covenant has included him from when he was in his mother's womb. That's how God's covenant works. Children of those in covenant with God also have a covenant relationship with Him. The psalmist is telling God that he has been faithful to this covenant relationship. And the proof? 'My praise is continually of you.' This is another of those responses of a living faith. The writer of this psalm appeals to God by saying, 'We have been friends for a long time. I've depended on you in the past and praised you for what You have done. I'm depending on You now. Please, rescue me.'
This is what we are to tell our own children, those born into a covenant relationship with God. 'Depend on your God. He has promised to care for you, to be whatever it means to be God to you in whatever the situation you face. Depend on Him and learn how to depend more deeply on Him. He will do you good and then you can praise Him for that.' We are to tell ourselves the same thing. We and our children express a living faith by depending on our God. And one way that shows is by praying like the psalmist.