Psalm 25
Psalm 25
Psalm 25 is a prayer of David, where he confesses his complete dependence on God, asks for complete forgiveness of all his sins, and begs the Lord to deliver him from his afflictions and grant him comfort.
The Psalm begins with David expressing his dependence on God, “to You, Oh Yahweh, I lift up my soul”. And again, in verse 2, “O my God, in you I trust”. The first 5 verses show how David depended on God for guidance and for teaching, all of his hopes were placed on God, “In you I hope all the day”. David pleaded that those who hope in God would not be ashamed, rather that those who look away from God and do evil would be ashamed. He asked that God would lead him in the right direction and teach him how to live a righteous life before God. Much can be learnt from these first 5 verses. First, we must know that it is God we are to depend on rather than ourselves or any other man. We can’t teach ourselves to be godly, and while good and faithful men may teach us many great things, without the help of the Holy Spirit our ears would be deaf to all good teaching. We are to have all our hopes placed on God, who will never fail us. If we hope in ourselves or in man, we are sure to live a life full of disappointment. Even our most beloved and dearest companions can one day be the knife that pierces our heart and causes us the greatest sorrow. God never changes, His promises are sure, and even when we are faithless, He remains faithful (2 Tim. 2:13).
David, in verses 6 and 7 calls for God to remember and to forget. He asks God to remember His compassion and lovingkindness, and to forget the sins of David’s youth. Of course, God does not need help to remember, nor can he forget, this is using the language of man. David reaffirms the truth of God’s compassion and mercy in his own mind and asks God to show compassion and mercy as He has done in the past, “For they have been from old.” As stated previously, God does not change, if He has been compassionate and merciful to His people in the past, so He will be in the present and the future. We should learn from David, and when we are confronted by present afflictions or fears of the future, we must remember God’s past mercies and in doing so we may be comforted, knowing that He will be merciful once again. “For the sake of your goodness”. Here David calls for God to show him mercy, for the sake of His goodness, or so that His goodness might be shown and that He may be glorified because of His goodness. God’s attributes make up His person. People may be somewhat kind, and yet somewhat rude and selfish. God cannot be anything but merciful, because that is who He is. He cannot be anything but holy, righteous, and just. He is who He is (Exodus 3:14) and He never changes. This is why David could have such confidence pleading the attributes of God, because he knew the God whom he served, and his expectations of God were also correct. He did not ask God to be someone He was not, or to do something out of line with His nature, instead David asked God to be who He is.
The next section of the Psalm, verses 8-15, contain wonderful promises in them. Each of these promises are sureties, we can completely trust that the Lord will do these things. We can, as David did, hold God to His word, knowing that He is faithful and that He will keep to His word. May these great promises be a great comfort to us as they were to David, and may we learn to pray these promises and rest in them. Verses 8 and 9 contain the promise of instruction and guidance to humble sinners. By humble sinners it refers to those recognise their own sinfulness, and who submit themselves to the Lord. These are the people that the Lord will instruct and teach. He will guide these people in their lives, He will teach them to be righteous, and He will not leave them to wonder all alone in the dark. He will be an ever-present light to them. Those who walk in close communion with the Lord and who meditate upon His word will walk in mercy and truth. Verses 12 to 14 speak of the promises given to those who fear the Lord, those who know that He is holy and who revere Him because of His holiness. Once again, this man who fears God will receive guidance and instruction from Him. The one who fears the Lord will have a heart that is filled with peace and with goodness. No matter his life circumstances, this man’s heart will remain at peace, “his soul will abide in goodness”. It is also said that this man’s seed will inherit land, that is to say that his children will be blessed on this earth. Of all the promises given to the one who fears God, perhaps the greatest is that the secret of Yahweh, His covenant will be revealed to him. This man will know the truth of Christ, he will know that salvation can be found in no other name, that no blood but the blood of Christ can wash away our sins, and he will know that it is only through the Lord Jesus Christ that a man can have a relationship with the Father.
Verses 16 to 22 conclude the Psalm. Here David again turns to his petitions for comfort and deliverance from his afflictions. He feels isolated, and the troubles of his heart seem too much to bear, so he turns to his God, the God of his salvation, and begs for help, knowing that he will receive it, “My eyes are continually toward Yahweh, for He will bring my feet out of the net” (v.15). He again asks that he will not be ashamed. He affirms his hope in the Lord and asks the Lord not only to comfort and deliver him, but to do so for all of Israel. May we all learn to respond to our trials with such dependency on the Lord and may we learn to pray that others are also delivered from their struggles. May the Lord answer our prayers according to His word, for His name’s sake and the name of Christ. Amen.
