Reminders – Psalm 25:1-10

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:

Here is King David, later in life, asking for help figuring something out, or so it seems to me as I read our partial psalm for today. What he doesn’t want:

1. his enemies to taunt him as a loser, shaming him

2. his faithful God to shake a finger at him and say, “You did a lot of stupid things, remember? Why should I help you now?”

What does he want? The wisdom to make good choices and be just, the humility to accept God’s teaching and do it, and the continuation of God’s truly faithful relationship with him for his lifetime.

David really does love God, and he knows God has been very good to him. David knows that he, not God, is the problem. When he lacks humility, he goes off on his own and then the mistakes come. When he is humble, he also is patient and waits for the right teaching, the right insight, to come from God.

Does this mean we don’t spend long enough time in prayer? Are we patient and humble enough to even learn what God wants to teach us? For myself, I can say I do have patience and take time with some things, but prayer is probably not one of them. For that, like playing the piano, practice makes perfect. We get better at prayer the longer we do it and the more we know that it is our line to our Creator and our Savior. But I need reminding. And that is one thing I like about the psalms. They remind me.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for the psalms you have given us that remind us to come to you. Hep us to practice spending time in prayer, listening for you. Help us with our patience. Amen.