Psalm 25

A Psalm of David.

1 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.
3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed;
let them be ashamed that transgress without cause.

4 Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me;
for thou art the God of my salvation;
on thee do I wait all the day.

6 Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindness;
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.

8 Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he will teach sinners in the way.
9 The meek he will guide in judgment;
and the meek will he teach his way.
10 All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth
unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11 For thy name's sake, O LORD,
pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
12 What man is he that feareth the LORD?
Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
13 His soul shall dwell at ease;
and his seed shall inherit the earth.
14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him;
and he will shew them his covenant.
15 Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD;
for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.

16 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 thou me out of my distresses.
18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain;
and forgive all my sins.

19 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.

JW: David distrest, takes refuge in God, ver. 1-7; shews the goodness of God to them that fear him, ver. 8-15; prays for help against his enemies, and for the church, ver. 16-22.

2: 'Ashamed' - disappointed of my hope.

8: 'Upright' - Holy and true in all his declarations and offers of mercy to sinners.

10: 'Paths' - All the dealings of God with them, yea even those that are afflictive, are done in kindness and faithfulness to them.

13: 'At ease' - Heb. in Good; in the enjoyment and possession of the true good.

14: 'The secret' - His love and favour, which is called his secret, Job 29.4, Prov. 3.32, because it is known to none but him that enjoyeth it.

15: 'Pluck' - He will deliver me out of all my troubles.

20: 'Soul' - [Keep] my life.

22: 'Israel' - If thou wilt not help me, yet spare thy people who suffer for my sake, and in my sufferings.

How would you define 'ashamed'? Shame and guilt are obviously not the same thing. I typically think of shame in terms of embarrassment or alienation. So when I hear the psalmist cry (and when I repeat), "Do not let me be ashamed/put to shame" I'm thinking, "God, I'm trusting in you, so don't embarrass me in front of my enemies (or other audience)." That's what I think of when I hear Third Day's rendition of this psalm:



But when reading Wesley's brief definition, I'm drawn toward what he says: "...Let me not be disappointed of my hope." Embarrassment may play into that, but there's so much more riding on shame than just my emotional feelings/reactions today. It's about the future, too. St. Paul prays this for the Colossians: We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Do you see the connection of faith (or trust) and hope there, too?

We'll get to Psalm 51, the token psalm for confession/repentance, down the road, but this psalm is (at least in part) a cry of contrition. I didn't include it above, but Wesley indicates that David may be referring to his sin against Uriah and Bathsheba in this Psalm (something that is indicated in the prescript of Psalm 51). After making his appeal to the mercies and lovingkindness of God, David asks for these to be applied by God forgiving and forgetting his sins. He pleads for forgiveness on several occasions in this psalm. In fact there's a unique clause in this Psalm that appears here that should be good news to us sinners: therefore he will teach sinners in the way. I think this is unique because in the Psalms we often find the Lord teaching his paths to the faithful and thwarting the plans of the wicked/sinners. David recognizes here that he is a sinner and God's mercy and goodness is what brought him back to the path of righteousness.

Confession: a couple of terms in verses 13 and 14 bothered me - "...shall dwell at ease" and "The secret of the LORD..." My thought with the first one was: "Really? The one who walks the path of righteousness shall dwell at ease? What is easy about being a faithful follower of Jesus? Didn't he say it wouldn't be easy and that suffering would be part of what it meant to be his follower, to pursue holiness?" But Wesley's words helped me to see that 'ease' here is not about comfort or lack of resistance, per se, but in the enjoyment and possession of the true good. In other words, the followers of Jesus dwell in the delight of the presence of God. That's ease, or peace.

As for 'the secret,' I got bothered too because my heresy radar starting screaming "Gnosticism! Gnosticism! Secret knowledge? ACK!" That's the thing about heresy. It uses the words of truth but twists their meaning. But there is something good and redeeming about secrets. When I tell Sam, my nearly 4 year old son, that I have a secret to tell him, he leans in closely to hear what it is. The secret is often telling him I love him, but it is sometimes about a surprise plan for Carrie, my wife, so that he can be "in on" the plan of showering love on my wife/his mother and help out. Wesley says the 'secret' that God shares with 'those that fear him' is God's love and favor. The thing I enjoy about the Wesleyan approach to the message is that God wants us to let the secret out because he wants everyone to know his love and favor. It's not reserved for the elect to keep to themselves.