Faithfulness, Friendship, Forgiveness and the Future (Psalm 25)
This devotional was shared with Magherafelt Baptist Church on 11 September 2024.
When we gather to pray together, and are looking for a passage of Scripture to draw us before the throne of grace, and shape the petitions that we will present, it is unsurprising that we turn so often to the book of Psalms, which is called the prayer book of Israel. It is here that we can listen into the prayers of God’s people in the past, and so learn how we too can pray to the same God here and now in the present.
[Read Psalm 25]
You can see from the superscription […], that Psalm 25 is a prayer of David.
We don’t know the exact circumstances that led him to offer up this prayer, and to write it down for others. However, it is clear that it was a time of great trouble and difficulty, as David references this a number of times throughout the psalm. For example, there in 25:16-17 we heard David cry: [READ].
David was in a time of great distress, and yet he still took the time to carefully consider and craft this prayer. It is obscured when it is translated into English, but in the original Hebrew, Psalm 25 is actually set out largely as an acrostic. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and the 22 verses of this Psalm generally start with a different one. Going from A-Z as it were in Hebrew.
As a result, it could be said that this Psalm makes 22 points, one for each letter of the alphabet. However, don’t worry, I’m not going to have 22 points tonight. Instead, I want to briefly draw out 4 things, 4 themes that appear over and over again in this psalm. They are 4 truths that we learn about God in this prayer, which can be of great comfort to us when we face challenges and difficulties, and that we should keep in mind as we turn to pray to God together in a few moments time.
1. The Faithfulness of God - He will never fail you
That is where this psalm starts (25:1-2). And after that initial prayer, we get that wonderful promise that I mentioned on Sunday night in 25:3, where we are told that none who wait for the Lord will be put to shame. God will not fail those who have faith in him. If you put all your weight on God’s promises, they are more than able to bear that load. Even if other people let us down, God never will. Oh yes, he may lead us into many times of trouble and difficulty, as we see here in David’s life. And yet, God will never let us down, even during those times of difficulty and distress. As the psalmist puts it Psalm 46, [READ].
Brothers and sisters, even if everything in your life is caving in on you (as it seems here with David in Psalm 25), even if the very substance of this earth is evaporating all around you (as is pictured there in Psalm 46), God can still be a refuge for you, a well proved help. He never lets us down, he never fails us. What he has promised, he will perform. What he has said, he will do. And so, when we go to him in prayer, we can place our cares and concerns in his hands, knowing that he can handle them. We can leave all our loved ones in his hands, knowing that he can care for them. Whatever our burden is, God is able to bear it, if only we should cast it on him.
If little children feel safe in the arms of their earthly father, or if little boys and girls run to their mothers for comfort and love when they are hurt or scared, how much more should we throw ourselves into the arms our Heavenly Father, run to him when we are overwhelmed. For his mighty arms have never once let one of his children fall. His great hands are more than able to hold onto us. He is faithful, those who look to him are never let down, those who take shelter in him are never put to shame.
That is the first truth we see in this psalm, the faithfulness of God, the fact that he will never let us down. Which is not only the foundation for this prayer, in Psalm 25, but is really the foundation for all of our prayers.
2. The Friendship of God - He will never turn against you
As I said, we don’t know the exact circumstances David finds himself in here. However, it seems clear that his difficulties have arisen as a result of enemies working against him. We can see that there in the opening verses, where he pleads with God not to let his enemies exult over him. And he returns to speak of these enemies throughout the passage. Indeed, in 25:19, he cries: [READ].
From the psalm, it seems that David has been betrayed in some way, dealt with treacherously. And as many of you will know from experience, that is one of the most painful things that can happen to you: the betrayal of a close friend or a conflict between family members. As when Judas turned against our Lord, being stabbed in the back by a stranger is one thing, but being betrayed by the kiss of a friend is another. It can lead to deep bitterness and ongoing feuds, the kind of violent hatred that David speaks of here in this psalm. This opposition that he is facing is deeply personal, and all of us will likely experience this kind of relational pain at some point in life. Indeed, maybe that is what you are facing tonight […]
However, we not only face human enemies, but the rest of the Bible makes clear that there are other forces that will try to oppose us. There will be spiritual opposition, the demonic forces of the evil one, as well as our battle against indwelling sin in each of our lives. As Christians, there are foes both without and within. We live in constant conflict with the world, the flesh and the Devil.
And yet, here in the middle of this psalm, we see that over against the enemies that we always have in this world, we also always enjoy the friendship of God. There in 25:13, we read that despite the difficulties and distress he is in, David is able to say that his soul will abide in well-being and his future is bright. And he can say that because in 25:14, he goes on to remind us that ‘the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him.’ If you are a Christian you will have many enemies in this world, both without and within, and yet you are also a friend of the Lord.
That is Jesus said to his disciples, wasn’t it, on that night before he died. John 15:15, ‘No longer do I call you servants, but I have called you friends.’ And brothers and sisters, that friendship should be a great comfort to us in all the challenges of life. For no matter who stands against us, we always know that God is for us. No matter who has left us, we always know that God is with us. As John would later put it in 1 John 4:4, you will overcome all the opposition that this world will throw at you, for we know that greater is he who is in you, than he who is in the world. Yes, you have enemies in this world. But what does that matter when you enjoy the friendship of God. And what a friend he is? What a friend we have in Jesus, one who sticks closer than a brother, one who will never turn against you.
3. The Forgiveness of God - He will never condemn you
What makes the faithfulness of God even more amazing, is that we have all been unfaithful to him. What makes the friendship of God even more amazing, is that we were once all his enemies. And perhaps, in times of trouble, that plays on your mind a little. You remember how you have failed God in the past, you recall the many sins of your youth. Things you have said, been involved with, done in the past. Satan loves to remind us of our past failings, as well as of current faults and flaws, the ways we still struggle to follow after Jesus today. And it seems such things were playing on David’s mind during these difficult days. And yet, when David was reminded of his own mistakes, he also sought to remember God’s mercy. And so, could pray in 25:6: [READ].
David confesses that he has messed up in the past, that he sinned in his youth. That he has transgressed God’s law. And yet, he clings onto the hope that while his sins may be many, God’s mercy is more. That while he made mistakes in his youth, God’s mercy is far older than that, for his steadfast love and mercy are from of old in 25:6. God’s love for us goes back far longer than our guilt.
And so, if you are trusting in Christ, you need never fear that God will condemn you for your past. Oh yes, when you look back over your life you can see many mistakes, Saran is quick to remind you of all your sins. And yet, we see here that God is able to look back far further than that, not just look back to what you did, 10, 20, 30 years ago, but he can also look back to what his Son did 2000 years ago. Oh yes, he sees all the sins of your life, but he also sees all the righteousness of Christ’s life, and remembers that day on the cross when, in the words of the old hymn, ‘All your sins were laid upon him, Jesus bore them on the tree; God who knew them, laid them on him, and believing you are free.’
Indeed, in this psalms we see that he even is able to look all the back to of old, to when he set his love in Christ upon you in eternity, when in grace he chose you before the foundation of the world.
Brother or sister, do not worry about God being able to remember your sins, for his memory goes back even further than that, all the way back to his mercy on the cross, even all the way back to the grace he set on you before time began.
4. The Future with God - He will never leave you
This is really what has drawn me to this Psalm in recent days, for my own personal times of devotion. For Psalm 25 is a prayer for not just when we are in difficultly, but for when you need guidance. In it, David again and again asks God for counsel for the future. David not only wants deliverance, but he wants direction. There in 25:4-5, we hear him pray: [READ]. And similar requests appear throughout the rest of the psalm. David’s attitude here in Psalm 25 very much echoes the attitude of a later king of Israel, that of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:12. When confronted with a great army of enemies, and knowing that he was powerless to save his people, he led them in that wonderful prayer: ‘We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.’ And that is very much David’s attitude here as well. Asking God for guidance, and being able to say there in 25:15: [READ].
Scripture is clear that God does guide, direct us, teach and tell us the way that we should go. We learn this from David’s example here in Psalm 25, as he asks God for guidance. However, we also learn of this wonderful safety net that we have as Christians. For here David not only asks God to lead him to take the right path, but he also reminds himself that no matter which way he goes, as long as he fears God and walks faithfully before him, then God’s steadfast love and faithfulness will go with him. There in 25:10, we read: [READ].
As I’ve meditated on that verse in recent days, it has reminded me of the end of Psalm 23. Where we are told that goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives. We see something similar here. For we are reminded that no matter which way we go, God’s steadfast love and faithfulness will go with us. Whatever road God leads us down, he will go with us and continue to love us and care for us. Indeed, as he see in Psalm 23, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he is with us there, protecting and providing for us. No matter what road you take in life, God is with you. No matter what your future holds, God’s love will go with you into it.
The foresight of God. We can approach him to ask for guidance for the future. But we can also take comfort in knowing that he will never leave us. That no matter which way we turn, God’s love and faithfulness follow us all the days of life, down all the ways of life.
Conclusion
As I’ve mediated on this Psalm in recent days, these truths have been precious to me. It reminds us that God will never fail you, never turn against you, never condemn you, never forsake you. Often in our troubles we can be tempted to look inward to ourselves and our circumstances, but here we see how much better it is to look outward and upward, to see what God is like, and allow that to shape our prayers in such days.
