Psalms 25:1

The Bible says in Psalms 25:1-2, “Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. [2] O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.” These verses tell us the attitude that every believer should have daily towards God and the Savior Jesus Christ. To “lift up” the soul means to seek God. You can take yourself into the presence of Jesus by means of the spiritual attitude and determination that you have. Your will is involved. Go to the Lord in order to get close to Him. To “trust” in God means to rely upon Him and to depend upon Him. There are a lot of other things that a human being can trust in instead of God: self, money, friends, family, government, lawyers, doctors, the philosophies of the world, etc. And so to trust in God takes a determination and desire on the part of the believer. At the end of verse two David gives the reason that he is trusting in the Lord: so that his enemies would not “triumph” over him. Life involves a battle between good and evil. No one can win this battle without the Lord and without faith in the Lord. We are weak, but Jesus is strong.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:3, “Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.” This is a plea for justice. We long for justice because we want things to be done fairly and correctly. The idea here is that we wait upon God to deliver justice. We do not imagine that justice will come from our efforts or our words. Only God can do this. Full and complete justice will come when Jesus returns. Justice will begin with the Battle of Armageddon.

Notice in verse three that David writes that the ungodly “transgress without cause.” They sin so much that there is no reason for them to sin. Often people lie because they think that there will be an advantage from lying. They think they will gain something from lying. Eventually, they lie all the time even when there is no perceived gain from doing so. That is because people are creatures of habit and only Jesus can truly change a life.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:4, “Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.” God has a path for you to take in life. How will you find that path in order to make sure that you are going the right way in life and not going the wrong way? Do what the Psalmist did: ask God. Consider yourself to be a student and Jesus is the teacher from Whom you desire to learn as much as you can.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:5, “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of may salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” God leads us with His “truth.” The written truth is the Bible. The better that you know and understand the Bible, the better that you can be led of God. One of the benefits of being saved through faith in Christ is that God will lead us. In addition to studying the Bible and learning from it, notice another requirement to being led by God: the Psalmist wrote, “on thee do I wait all the day.” The key word here is “wait.” Sometimes we are in too big of a rush. We must wait upon God’s time and God’s leading. The inability to wait on God has caused many to go the wrong way and to make a very bad decision.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:6-7, “Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old. [7] Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.” God is merciful and kind because He loves us. If you look at the history of God’s dealing with man, you will see God’s mercy and lovingkindness manifested over and over. In verse seven the writer is thinking about the fact that there can be consequences for sins, and so maybe there will still be consequences for sins committed a long time ago, but the consequences just have not come to light yet. He said, “Remember not the sins of my youth.” It is true that we are dependent upon God’s mercy even more than we realize. The only reason that we do not suffer greatly from the sins of our youth is because God is very merciful in regards to those sins also. We live enveloped by God’s mercy. Everything that happens to us is related to His mercy. We do not deserve God’s mercy, but He showers it on us anyway through Christ because He does it “for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.” He wants to be known as a merciful God, and so He is using us to prove it.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:8, “Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.” Jesus loves sinners. Jesus was known as the friend of publicans and sinners. Jesus said about Himself that “the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” God does not want to punish sinners. He wants to forgive them. He wants to teach them the way: which is to come to Christ and find forgiveness.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:9, “The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach in his way.” You will not be guided by God and you will not learn His way unless you are meek. That is because a proud person thinks that they have all the answers, and therefore they see no need of coming to God. The proud do not have a teachable spirit, and so they cannot learn spiritual truth. They might learn things about the Bible from an intellectual standpoint, but they will not be spiritual. Knowledge puffs up.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:10, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.” What does the path of the Lord involve? In other words what are two of the characteristics of God’s path? The answer is: mercy and truth. As we confess our sins daily, we benefit from the mercy of God, and we stay on the path of being in fellowship with Christ. As we feed on God’s Word daily (the truth), we grow in the knowledge of Christ, and we allow God to speak to us through His truth. Of course, our desire is to do what is right. When we ask for forgiveness, our intention is to “keep his covenant and his testimonies.”

The Bible says in Psalms 25:11, “For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.” One of the reasons that God is so merciful is for His “name’s sake.” God’s reputation is on the line. God wants to be known as kind, compassionate, merciful, and tenderhearted. He will forgive your sins, no matter how bad they are, because God wants His reputation to spread. He wants another testimony from you of how merciful He is.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:12, “What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.” Verse nine mentioned the importance of being meek. This verse has the importance of fearing God. To fear God means more than just a reverential respect. It also means to fear God. It means that you understand that God has the power of life and death, and that He is Judge of the whole earth. You do not want to get into a situation where His judgment must fall upon you. Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Notice that Psalms 25:2 says that when you do fear the Lord and learn his “way,” that it will be “the way that he shall choose.” The idea is to stop choosing your own way in life, but to start choosing God’s way. Jesus has a will and a choice for you.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:13, “His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.” This is a verse that gives two of the many benefits of knowing the Lord Jesus and serving Him. Many people are tormented because of the guilt of their sins. It is a heavy burden to carry guilt around with you wherever you go. But what a happy condition when you accept Christ and you learn the joy of the fact that all your sins are gone: “His soul shall dwell at ease.” Here is another benefit of knowing Jesus as Savior: “his seed shall inherit the earth.” People fight for power and money, but it is all in vain. The earth will be given to the believers who will reign with Christ the King of kings. What a wonderful future we have.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:14, “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.” Here is another one of the great benefits of knowing Jesus as Savior: knowledge, the knowledge of truth. Such knowledge is called a “secret.” That is because most people do not know Jesus as Savior, and they do not know the great truths of the Bible. The last word of this verse is “covenant.” In the Old Testament the covenant was the law. In the New Testament the covenant has to do with grace instead of law. Grace is the free gift of God of eternal life through Jesus and because of the shed blood of Jesus. Since we are sinners, we need grace. Grace proves God’s great love for mankind. Grace proves that heaven’s door is opened and the invitation is extended to all. The covenant of grace is a great covenant. God has made an unconditional promise in this covenant, and God always keeps His promises.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:15, “Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.” The only way to serve Jesus is to have the attitude expressed in this Psalm: “Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord.” We keep looking to the Lord and we plan to keep looking to the Lord no matter what happens. One of the reasons that we plan to keep looking to Jesus is that we know how much we need the Lord. There can be troubles and tribulations in life, and we will need the Lord to deliver us from those troubles. We know that “he shall pluck my feet out of the net.” Without learning to rely on the Lord daily, you will be overcome by the world, the flesh, and the devil. And the devil will sift you like wheat.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:16-18, “Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted. [17] The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring me out of my distresses. [18] Look upon mine affliction, and my pain; and forgive all my sins.” King David says to God, “Turn thee unto me.” David is expressing his desire to be closely related to the Lord. A person who understands the Holy Spirit knows that no happiness or satisfaction is possible without being in a right relationship with God and in fellowship with Jesus. You will be “desolate” and “afflicted” without the help and presence of your Lord. You will have “troubles” and “distresses” that will overpower you without relying upon the Lord continually. How does anyone stay in fellowship with God daily? Notice that David said in verse 16, “have mercy upon me.” And David said in verse 18, “forgive all my sins.” That is it: confess your sins. That is what keeps you close to God. That is what keeps you in fellowship with Jesus. We all sin often and easily, and so we must often confess our sins. The person who walks consistently with God is not the person who has become sinless, but the person who understands the importance of confession and forgiveness daily.

The Bible says in Psalms 25:19-22, “Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred. [20] O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee. [21] Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee. [22] Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.” In these pleas to God we see King David relying upon his integrity and relying upon the fact that God will side with those who are doing right, but that God will judge those who are doing wrong. The lesson here is that if you want God to be on your side, then do the right thing. Of course, God loves His children, and God is not going to be happy with those who hate His children. David said in verse 20, “I put my trust in thee.” That is exactly what we want to do: trust in the Lord. But notice that David also said in verse 21, “I wait on thee.” Often when we trust in the Lord, He does not take action immediately as far as what we can tell. Of course, God is always at work doing things that we are not aware of. But we must be ready to wait on the Lord. Maybe we would like to see an answer in a few days, but God’s plan might be to do something in months or even years down the road. God’s timing is always perfect, like everything else that He does.

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