Psalm 25

"To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in You I trust, O my God." Psalm 25:1
"Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long."  Psalm 24:4-5

In Psalm 25 David prayed to the Lord for relief.  David was going through a crisis in His life, and he needed the Lord's help.  Psalm 25 is a prayer for God's help in David's time of illness, distress, or attacks from enemies.  David said to the Lord in Psalm 25:1, "To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in You I trust, O my God."  David lived in a deep personal love relationship with the Lord.  Hence, in his moment of crisis and need, David could immediately and confidently go to the Lord in prayers for help.  David approached the Lord in prayer with a humble heart.  David recognized his own unworthiness and the Lord's great power and love.  In this way, David experienced the power of prayer and of the Lord's presence and love in His life.  When our lives are saturated with God's Word and with prayer we too can experience the power of prayer and of the Lord's presence in our lives.  We too can then be used by the Lord in powerful ways.

David needed the Lord's direction and guidance in his time of crisis.  David said in Psalm 25:4-5, "Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long."  This must be our prayer also both in times of crisis and in times of relative calm in our lives.  God has a plan for our lives.  Psalm 33:11 tells us, "the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations." 

Since the Lord already has a plan for our lives, we need to only ask the Lord to direct our steps.  We need only to pray, "Show me Your ways, O Lord."  The Lord already knows the way that He wants us to go.  We often wish that we could see ahead into the future.  Peace, however, comes by simply letting the Lord take care of our future and by trusting Him to lead step by step.  We must patiently trust in the Lord's guidance and not seek to run ahead of Him.

David asked the Lord to teach Him the Lord's paths and ways.  This must be our prayer also.  Who could be a better teacher and guide for us in this life than the Lord?  He is the one who made us and takes care of us in love.  The Lord is the One who knows the beginning from the end, and He is the One who has planned our lives.  We need to trust that the Lord will guide us along the way.  The Holy Spirit will use Scripture, prayer, and circumstances to guide us step by step through this life.  Psalm 25:9 tells us that the Lord "guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way."  Psalm 24 goes on to say in verse ten, "All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of His covenant." 

In spite of our weaknesses and sins Psalm 25:12b promises the child of God that the Lord "will instruct him in the way chosen for him."   Hence, we can face the future unafraid.  We simply need to keep our eyes focused on the Lord and not on our circumstances and on the unknowns in our lives.  Even though we do not know what our future holds the Lord does, and we can trust Him.  We can say with confidence along with David in Psalm 25:15, "My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snare."  The Lord will remove any obstacle from our paths in our journey through this life.  We need only to bring our needs and our desires for His guidance before the Lord.  He will guide us.  We can trust the Lord and say to the Lord with David of old in Psalm 25:21b, "my hope is in You."  The Lord is our source of certainty for our salvation and for eternity.  The Lord is also our trustworthy and faithful guide through each step of our lives!  Praise His name!