Psalm 25

a psalm of David

⁰¹       To You, O Lord,

I lift up my soul.

⁰²            In You I trust, O my God;

        let me not be put to shame;

let not my enemies exult over me.

⁰³         Indeed:

let none who wait for You be ashamed;

                                let them be ashamed who are rebels without cause.

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Who Do You Trust?

For the Lord’s Day:  the 6^th of February  2005

Introduction:  Let us begin with a short overview of the entire Psalm.  My Translator’s Handbook divides this acrostic Psalm into eight parts.  In this outline, after the initial declaration of praise and trust, the whole Psalm is thought to be arranged in five distinct petitions with a note of assurance near the middle and a final prayer at the end to summarize the whole.  “In spite of the limitations imposed by the acrostic feature, the poet has constructed a highly regular and symmetrical pattern in which a single petition for forgiveness stands at the center of the psalm, with two sets of petitions on either side.  The theme of forgiveness is repeated in the inner petitions (verses 2 & 4).  [A concern for] ‘enemies’ is repeated in the outer petitions (verses 1 & 5).  The transformation from individual concern to that of the entire people takes place only in the closure, ‘Redeem Israel’.”

 

And so given this schematic, we begin today with the opening address and the first petition which are contained in the first three verses.  Verse one shows the opening praise which weighs upon David’s soul.  “To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.”  What a fitting initial declaration within the alphabetical context of this wonderful Psalm.  In the very first verse of David’s prayer, David declares the divine fixation of his heart towards the Creator God.  His first thought is his best thought. 

 

Do you remember when you first fell in love?  Night and day, for a few intense weeks, you could think of none other, than the object of your affection.  You courted them with a passion, in order that you might spend the rest of your life basking in their presence.  Yes, we all know that the initial intensity of loving relationships mature and settle down in time.  However, if the fixation is permanent – still, throughout life, we dote in some respect, small and large: upon the person of the one who consented to spend this life with us.  No wonder, the Bride of Christ theme in the scripture plays so heavily upon this type of relationship to demonstrate the love and passion of our God for the good of His chosen people.

 

David here is simply returning to the Lord God of heaven and earth a thankful confidence in the One who first loved us.  This Davidic experience is nothing more than the fruits of the Spirit within us, prompting David to look continually to the divine source of life for his humble soul.  To God, Spurgeon declares: does David’s heart return just as predictably as a “homing pigeon to its nest.”  It is this unnatural condition of spiritual affection which is grafted into the hearts of men by the Holy Spirit whenever the new birth is accomplished.

 

“I lift up my soul,” David declares.  I am reminded of the first evening; I popped over the hill above Zanesfield to see the local sky slope lit up like a thousand Christmas trees.  My first impression of the small black dots moving up and down the hillside, was how similar must have Jacob’s vision been when he saw the angelic ladder to heaven in his dream.  Now, I know that the assorted participants at the local “mountain” were and are hardly angelic, however we may learn something from their snow loving affection.  After all, every eye must be lifted to the heights from which their mad controlled rush to the bottom must begin.  Continually, they labor to the top, hour after hour – all to indulge their favorite passion.

 

To the believer, ever must our eyes be focused on high, directed to the Lord of life, who calls us and even claims us as His own.  To Him we may also lift up our souls in solemn delight for how he has filled us with an imperishable passion to know Him as we are known.  “To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.”  May this be our passion day by day, whenever we turn to the Lord our God in humble prayer.

 

Development:  The second letter of the Hebrew alphabet highlights an echoing phrase, which is often included in the first verse, but actually belongs at the beginning of the second.  “In You I trust, O my God.”  The ordinary habit in translation is to begin here with the words, “O my God.”  However, within the acoustic agenda – the phrase declaring trust must have priority.  So in a sense, the word ordering of the first verse is reversed to point out the focus of David’s great trust.  Here again is the passion of belief focused as it always should be on the grand first Person of our Father God in heaven.  “Who do you trust?” is the title of my meditation, if you are beloved as David was, you know who you must trust.  There He is in the faithful, loving understanding of David:  “O my God!”  Spurgeon tells us that “this title is more dear and near than the [Divine Name], which is used in the first” verse.  These words demonstrate the poetry of every believer’s affection.  “My God!”  He is ours, and we are His – is more than just a theological declaration.  It is a declaration of personal affection as well.

 

The nature of the relationship is firmly established.  Then there follows the first petition of the alphabetical psalm:  “Let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me.”  This petition contains two thoughts.  Again, in these phrases, we sense the bride nature of the church’s relationship to the Son of God.  “Let me not be put to shame,” David quickly declares once his passion and affection have been put on record. 

 

If you have ever lived any part of your Christian life “in extremis” or under duress as I intend to question you, then you already know David’s thought here.  He may well be concerned that his life might not become a scandal to the gospel of grace.  In our own day, the beliefs of the Christian Church have been under regular assault and every televangelist who demonstrated his human failures to the public seemingly brought dishonor upon the church in general.  Some years ago, when Billy Graham was asked about several prominent scandals, he quickly observed that God was only cleaning house – and let it go at that.

 

“Let me not be put to shame,” David petitions the Lord of heaven.  May, my life be a living declaration in your favor, he prays.  Absolutely, we know that God is sovereign and everything is accomplished according to His divine word.  I am reminded of several scenes in the movie “The Patriot.”  The father and son who went recruiting men for the rebellion against Britain went to two differing groups.  The father wandered into a bar to find the necessary red necks to rumble with the enemy.  The son purposely went to church to challenge the “saints” to fight - not only for their own: but also the Lord’s cause.  And so, two disparate groups had to work out their noted differences before the guerilla war in the south could be waged and finally won.

 

The point I would make is this:  we are called in this world to get out hands dirty, and to associate with the unredeemed on a regular basis.  In the process, we must realize that God’s cause is in His own hands and that while He may well use us to accomplish His goals, the accomplishment of those goals are never dependent upon our small abilities.  “Let me not be put to shame,” David prays and in that prayer he commends his life, his works and witness to the purposeful working out of God’s providence.

 

Further, he prays:  “let not my enemies exult over me.”  Here, David is simply asking that any temporary victories of God’s enemies may not be laid against him.  Let me not give Your enemies any reason to rejoice in the seeming defeats of Christ’s Church down through the ages.  Indeed, we may well appreciate that it is primarily the false sons within the pale of Christ’s Church that bring the worldly disgrace home to roost.  To this end, we turn our attention at the end of our selected text for today.

 

Application:  “Indeed,” begins the third alphabetical verse of this precious psalm.  Of course, the Hebrew word is different, and its main function seems to be to carry along the acrostic scheme.  However, after the petitions in verse two, the follow verse only heightens and strengthens the heartfelt requests made by David.

 

In this verse, David expands his cause to include all of those who have submitted to the kind rule of our Creator God.  And further, he allows those who will not to be dealt with as the Father determines best.  Calvin too, allows this simple extension “to all the faithful in common what he had spoken of himself.”  However, he would rather to teach them “as meaning that David shows the fruit of divine grace which should proceed from his deliverance.”

 

And so David well writes about the great divide in mankind:  “Let none who wait for You be ashamed; let them be ashamed who are rebels without cause.”  Calvin notes that “when the wicked lie confounded, it redounds to the glory of God.”  What we are getting at here is being acted out on the current stage of human history in Iraq as well as in the pettiness and selfishness of our own American polity.    Specifically, my comment here relates to the growling of the leftists in our land, who complain that sincere Christians should not be gloating at the temporary setback of several liberal causes.

 

All of this complaint against a vast right-wing conspiracy against the humanistic wisdom of total tolerance to every ungodly thought word and deed!  As if, we like David could actually accomplish any good on our own.  At the very least, we can take confidence that the purpose of God is not bankrupt, and further, we may be encouraged when every tiny success that builds up the cause of Christ causes consternation in Satan’s camp of rebels.

 

Ah, do we have the confidence of David in this Psalm that every enemy of our God and King will be laid low in the fires of hell for all eternity?  While we are not charged to actively send broken rebellious souls in that direction – still we can pray, work and hope for the triumph of our God and King.  But, like the Marine General who misspoke in public about those who would wrong the womenfolk of Iraq – still he was only speaking in terms of civilized behavior that I learned early on in a more civilized decade.  Any man who betrayed the trust of his most dearly beloved or any false brute who would manhandle the faire sex – he certainly deserved to be called out and roughly handled.  So too, will any and all who mean harm to the Bride of Christ suffer eternally for hoping the same for the elect of every tribe and nation.  God has determined to make a different end of those called into His kingdom and those who would continue in rebellion to the bitter end!

 

Let me end with a final thought, do we realize the greater and grander drama of the human experience down through the ages: when we watch the current events in the Middle East?  The conflict there is only a microcosm of eternal things, so let us watch, listen and learn from the human drama.  And, let us make certain that our hearts are in spiritual trim, so that we can pray with David that God’s people might not be put to shame even as God’s enemies go down to hell in self-inflicted wounds.  Yes, wounded we are, spiritually – but the God of all the elect has chosen to bind up our wounds, lift us out of the slime of battle and point us towards heaven.  May we, like David appreciate that fact and then go on to give the Lord our heartfelt thankfulness and passion.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

Delitzsch, F:  Commentary on the Old Testament – Psalms.

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

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