A Psalm of David

1 Unto Thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.

2 O my God, I trust in Thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

3 Yea, let none that wait on Thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.

4 Shew me Thy ways, O LORD: teach me Thy paths.

5 Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation: on Thee do I wait all the day.

6 Remember, O LORD, Thy tender mercies and Thy lovingkindnesses: for they have been ever of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to Thy mercy remember Thou me for Thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.

8 Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will He teach sinners in the way.

9 The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His way.

10 All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.

11 For Thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity: for it is great.

12 What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall He teach in the way that He shall choose.

13 His soul shall dwell at ease: and his seed shall inherit the earth.

14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear Him: and He will shew them His covenant.

15 Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD: for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.

16 Turn Thee unto me, and have mercy upon me: for I am desolate and afflicted.

17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.

18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain: and forgive all my sins.

19 Consider mine enemies: for they are many: and they hate me with cruel hatred.

20 O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed: for I put my trust in Thee.

21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me: for I wait on Thee.

22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.

Special Note: This is an acrostic psalm, which means that each of the verses begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in the proper order.

The Point:

This psalm confesses our utter dependence on God for everything—forgiveness, deliverance, and guidance along the way.

How do we feel in the recitation of this psalm?

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by troubles—attacked from without, and filled with uncertainties and doubts from within? This is the predicament of the Psalmist in Psalm 25. When your troubles begin to snowball on you (v. 17), you begin to feel as if things are out of control. With David in this psalm, you are pressed to turn to God for help. David intersperses little faith lessons throughout the psalm which help to buttress his faith, and then he throws himself, in faith, on the mercy of God to deliver him out of all his troubles.

This psalm is both a personal prayer and a meditation on Yahweh as our Helper and Savior, and you will see it move from prayer back to meditation several times throughout.

What does this psalm teach us?

Verses 1–7. Prayer—David begins with a confession of trust and reliance on God. The godly man simultaneously has nothing but doubt in himself and every confidence in God. Without God, we can do nothing and we are nothing. So David hands himself over to God, and says, “Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.”

He cries out to God, “I trust in You. Now, oh Lord, please don’t let me down! Don’t let my enemies triumph over me.” Then he distinguishes two sets of people in the third verse. There are those who wait on Yahweh and there are those who deal treacherously without cause. While the godly are those who hope in God and hang their expectations on God’s Word, the ungodly are those who live their lives for stupid reasons. Their chief end is to glorify themselves and see the survival of the species for no other reason but that the species need to survive.

Salvation for the godly is described in several places as “not being ashamed.” By this we mean a salvation, a resurrection, and a glorification that will signify that we have not lived our lives in vain. We trust that our hopes will not be crushed in the end because God, our Savior, will come through for us. Nobody lives his life without hope. Even the wicked, who refuse to trust in God, live their lives with the hope that their lives will mean something, but they most certainly will be disappointed in the end.

To summarize verses 2 through 5, David is acknowledging his trust in God for salvation and his trust in God’s Word as truth. He asks God to show him the right paths in which to walk. He relies on God to teach him the truth—the right way to think and the right way to live. He confesses that God is his Savior and he waits dependently on God for direction and blessing.

In verse 6, David calls to mind an aspect of God’s nature. He is faithful. In the past, Yahweh has revealed Himself as a covenant-keeping God. The covenant is a promise and a relationship wherein God accepts His covenant people. On the basis of the covenant and God’s goodness and mercy, David asks God to forget the sins of his youth and his sins that he still commits.

Verses 8–10. Meditation—While the first section is prayer to God, the following verses contain a meditation on the nature of God. David reminds himself that God is good and upright and that He does teach sinners the way He would have them to walk.

The Christian life is depicted as a way, or a walk, and this way is lined with mercy and truth. And those who walk in that way are characterized as the meek or the humble, and as covenant keepers. Keeping covenant cannot be the same as sinless perfection, because then there would be no need for mercy or confession of sin. Indeed, keeping covenant is the life of faith, confession of sin, and repentance.

Verse 11. Prayer—Based on what David has already confessed concerning God’s mercy and truth, he cries out to God to pardon his iniquity. It is plain that David is weighed down by his sin here, for he says “it is very great.”

Verses 12–15. Meditation—Now he returns to another meditation on his relationship with God. Those who have a covenant relationship with God are identified by their basic heart attitude towards God—fear. The psalms speak of fear twice as often as they speak of love. Both are essential parts of worship and characterize our relationship with God. But fear recognizes God’s place, His authority, and His fatherhood over us. Those that fear God will find fulfillment, security, and comfort in that fear, and God’s blessings will flow on their children. Progressively, throughout history, those that fear God will see their children inherit the earth. Moreover, the Lord will maintain a close relationship with those that fear Him. They will discover the security, the meaning, and the importance of His covenant. Verse 15 summarizes the relationship David has with Yahweh. He constantly sets his eyes on the Lord in faith, in love, and in reliance on God for all of his needs.

Verses 16–22. Prayer—The final seven verses return to a prayer. One can only pray to God based on a relationship with God, and he has claimed that relationship in the previous verses. So he cries out to God, “Bring me out of my distresses, forgive my sins, and deliver me from those that hate me.” Prayer addresses the concerns of God’s people and here those concerns include both real physical enemies and real spiritual enemies. In the life and death struggle of our existence, physical enemies seek to take our physical life, and the enemy of our soul seeks to take our spiritual life and send us to hell forever. Only God can save us from sin and death.

He closes the prayer with a plea for the church of God. Indeed, David’s concern is not merely for his own situation, but for all of God’s kingdom. When David prays for the redemption of Israel, he is praying for the salvation of the entire church—Jew and Gentile alike—who will be grafted into that vine (Rom. 11). The Bible speaks of both an individual redemption and the redemption of the corporate church body. We must therefore consider ourselves to be individuals and members of a larger body called “the church,” and we should pray for both.

How do we apply this psalm?

This psalm has much to say about “the way.” This way is the covenant. It is a relationship with God that is not rebellious but directed by a love and fear of God. We may not be perfect but our heart’s desire is to follow God. This is the life of faith.

How does this psalm teach us to worship God?

1. Worship includes both prayer and meditation, as exemplified for us here in this psalm.

2. We may also plead with God in our prayers using His promises, His covenant, His nature, and our own trust in Him, as arguments in our pleas.

3. We pray for forgiveness of sins, for deliverance from our enemies, and for help in the face of trials. Many churches will pray this sort of prayer as a congregational prayer of petition during the worship service.

Questions:

1. Give two examples of Deliverance psalms.

2. What is a Penitence psalm?

3. What is an acrostic psalm?

4. What are the two parts of this psalm that keep coming back?

5. David prays for two redemptions or salvations in this psalm. What are they?

6. Name one Thanksgiving psalm.

7. Which Psalm contains the sentence, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

Family Discussion Questions:

1. Do we meditate and pray as often as we should? When do you pray to God? When should you pray to God? Does your mind wander in prayer? What are the impediments that keep you from prayer and meditation on His Word?

2. How often do we pray for our own individual salvation and deliverance from trials? How often do we pray for the church of God, the local church and the church around the world? Is the health of the church important to us, such that we would pray for it? Do we understand that the health of the church will determine our spiritual health?