“Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” - Psalm 25:4-5 (ESV)
As we read more into the Psalms of David, it can be helpful and uplifting to recognize the fact that the king’s human faults or fears can be used to lend a greater perspective to these words, and that even his shortcomings can help us better understand the perfection and love of God. Take Psalm 25: from the start the first three verses show that the author trusts the Lord, and actively seeks Him out to place his trust in times of uncertainty; he admits that life and times are hard and fearful. He then chooses to reaffirm his trust in God’s timing, ways, plan, and goodness each time he returns to the Lord for support; David knows full well that he is safe in God’s care, and that nobody who trusts or waits on the Lord will be put to shame. However, he also understands that those who can’t or won’t place their faith in God will realize their mistake when all is said and done.
Continuing with verses four and five, he seeks out God in prayer, asking for His help to guide the reader’s focus on (or back towards) the ways God has shown us. We see the author begging the Lord to teach His paths to walk, that we be led by the Lord in His truth for deeper and more meaningful instruction than the world could ever provide. We ask this of God today (as well as then) because His ways are higher, His teachings hold or guide us to all wisdom we could ever require, and that His plan is perfect. We too carry this forward and come to the joyous realization, as the Psalmist here did, that He is the God of our personal salvation – and such a wonderful gift is worth waiting for and working towards, studying and refining, for all the days of our lives. But there is another important part in the start of these verses that should not be missed: the phrasing of “Make me to know your ways”, “teach me”, “lead me”, all of these show that we need help and support of some kind from God, a guiding hand to show and teach us who and what God is, how He would have us live, and how He wants us to honor, glorify, and worship Him. We cannot truly love God, or live a life honoring Him in our broken world, without recognizing that our need for Him includes our need to obey His teachings. Likewise, we cannot glorify and live for God if we don’t know what He would have us know, and to know we first must be receptive to His instruction. And sometimes, for any number of reasons ranging from ignorance to pride, to even fear or simply old habits, we miss His message in the noisy chaos of the world, or our own minds.
The Psalmist is apparently familiar with this, because he dedicates verse six and seven to ask the Lord to remember our human fallibility, to be merciful towards us when we fall short; to be kind in His steadfast love and choose to forgive where we fall short of His glory and fail, completely missing the mark- the original definition of “sin.” Because the Lord is good, He is merciful towards His children and mighty to save us from ourselves- the Psalm continues in recognition of this by restating in verse eight that the Lord is good, that He moves rightly, and because of that He also instructs His people in the right actions, words, and thoughts they need to know and understand. Then as now, the Lord equips us to better know, love, and serve Him and our role in His plan- we are made wise as well as humble, and He knows that we desperately need both to hold fast to His covenants and to understand the testimonies of His power and love.
Even though David realizes his own sin is terrible and that he is guilty, because he has learned and knows God’s law, and wants to do right despite his human failings, he also has faith in God that he can be forgiven, and is taught the correct ways to act so that he can still have fellowship with God, and receive all the blessings He wishes man to receive. The man who fears the Lord will respond to Him, and God will teach him how to proceed- verse thirteen specifies that those who fear the Lord will be offered friendship with God- how wonderful that is! As our love toward the Lord increases, we are not only better able and equipped to understand, act on, and share His love with the world, but also more greatly attuned towards the Lord and His teachings. The more we know and love God, the more clearly and frequently we can see His love for us and for all the world- when we are lonely, afflicted, troubled in heart, or persecuted by the very world that rejects Him, still the Lord will protect us, love us, and act as our refuge. He is mighty to save all of us, if we can incline our ears to the still, small voice despite the roaring world around us- the Lord is always there for us, and will always eagerly await us to turn or return to Him.