Waiting for Someone – Psalm 25

A text – Psalm 25

¹ To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
² O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.
³ Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

⁴ Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
⁵ Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.

⁶ Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.
⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

⁸ Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
⁹ He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way.
¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

A reflection:

In this psalm of David, one of the themes is waiting. When you are waiting for someone to come, you might have all kinds of thoughts about them: I can’t wait to see her, or it has been so long since we last  met (will I recognize him?), or what could be keeping her?, or am I at the right restaurant?

Waiting for someone whose opinion you value, who is part of your future, who is of higher status than you, is especially hard because it seems to matter even more how the meeting will go and you care what he/she thinks. In this psalm David is waiting to be delivered or perhaps vindicated. So he brings up another theme – knowing or learning the right and acceptable way to live. He is ruing his youthful mistakes and longing to stay on the right path before a God who made him everything he has become.

In Advent, we wait for Jesus to come, once again. We know Christmas will bring him, as always. Do we do the soul-searching David does in this psalm? Maybe not. But as we open each advent calendar door and window, might we pray for wisdom and willingness to do and say the right thing, the helpful thing, for our neighbors and loved ones? Might we repeat after David, “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths”? Might we see this time of waiting as a preparation time for learning and growing as good, humble, steadfast people who await the coming of a baby who will open the doors of heaven to us?

Come, Lord Jesus.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for the psalms of David, which always point us to the God who rescues, comforts, forgives, and teaches. Help us to accept those same gifts from you as we await Jesus’s coming once again. Help us to look for your salvation and be good to one another. Amen.