By Adam Winn, Ph. D.
Chair and Professor, Department of Biblical and Religious Studies at Samford University
THE INSPIRATION FOR WORSHIP
Psalm 25:4–15
Because of His love, God forgives. (4–7)
The psalmist is waiting on God to act and to respond to a particular need, although the need is not specified. The theme of waiting for and trusting in the Lord to act dominates the first three verses of the Psalm.
Verses 4 and 5 pick up the theme of God guiding the psalmist in the way and truth of the Lord. In this time of uncertainty, the psalmist seeks to know and understand God’s ways and realizes that God — the God of his salvation — is the only one who can teach him.
In the latter half of verse 5, the psalmist returns to the theme of waiting, saying he is willing to wait because of the Lord’s goodness. The nature of this goodness is further expanded upon in verse 6, where the psalmist asks God to remember His former acts of mercy and loving-kindness.
It is because of God’s past faithfulness that the psalmist waits for God to act on his behalf in the present moment. In verse 7, the psalmist asks God for forgiveness of his former sins, to not hold those sins against him but rather to bestow upon him loving-kindness.
Because of His goodness, God shows us the right way to live. (8–11)
The next three verses address the guidance God gives even to His sinful people. In particular, God guides the humble and shows them His way. To those who keep His covenant, the paths God has for them are both loving-kindness and truth. The psalmist, who is humbling himself and waiting on the God of the covenant in this very Psalm, presumably is seeking to be the recipient of this favor from the Lord.
In his situation, he does not seem to be experiencing God’s guidance and loving-kindness and thus is reminding the Lord of these truths and urging the Lord to act on them now, in the present moment.
In verse 11, the psalmist returns to a plea for God’s forgiveness of his sins, which he identifies as great. This request further illustrates the humble posture of the psalmist.
God guides us to lead lives of goodness. (12–15)
These verses turn their attention to the blessing of the Lord upon the faithful. The psalmist declares that those who fear the Lord will dwell in prosperity and that their offspring shall inherit the earth — a promise that likely envisions God’s future restoration of creation and the righteous who inherit this new creation from God.
Additionally, those who fear the Lord have the very friendship of the Lord, a friendship expressed in the covenant relationship between God and His people.
Again, the psalmist is expressing hope for his current troubling situation, one in which he feels he is not experiencing God’s friendship. With this hope, the psalmist boldly declares that his eyes are constantly on the Lord because it was the Lord who, in former times, freed his feet from a previous difficulty.
It is because of God’s past faithfulness, both to the psalmist himself and to God’s people, that the psalmist will continue to look to the Lord for his help.
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