Advent Devotions: Psalm 25

Psalm 25 (The Message)

1-2 My head is high, God, held high;
I’m looking to you, God;
No hangdog skulking for me.

3 I’ve thrown in my lot with you;
You won’t embarrass me, will you?
Or let my enemies get the best of me?

Don’t embarrass any of us
Who went out on a limb for you.
It’s the traitors who should be humiliated.

4 Show me how you work, God;
School me in your ways.

5 Take me by the hand;
Lead me down the path of truth.
You are my Savior, aren’t you?

6 Mark the milestones of your mercy and love, God;
Rebuild the ancient landmarks!

7 Forget that I sowed wild oats;
Mark me with your sign of love.
Plan only the best for me, God!

8 God is fair and just;
He corrects the misdirected,
Sends them in the right direction.

9 He gives the rejects his hand,
And leads them step-by-step.

10 From now on every road you travel
Will take you to God.
Follow the Covenant signs;
Read the charted directions.

11 Keep up your reputation, God;
Forgive my bad life;
It’s been a very bad life.

12 My question: What are God-worshipers like?
Your answer: Arrows aimed at God’s bull’s-eye.

13 They settle down in a promising place;
Their kids inherit a prosperous farm.

14 God-friendship is for God-worshipers;
They are the ones he confides in.

15 If I keep my eyes on God,
I won’t trip over my own feet.

16 Look at me and help me!
I’m all alone and in big trouble.

17 My heart and kidneys are fighting each other;
Call a truce to this civil war.

18 Take a hard look at my life of hard labor,
Then lift this ton of sin.

19 Do you see how many people
Have it in for me?
How viciously they hate me?

20 Keep watch over me and keep me out of trouble;
Don’t let me down when I run to you.

21 Use all your skill to put me together;
I wait to see your finished product.

22 God, give your people a break
From this run of bad luck.

What verses of the psalm, paraphrased in the Message, capture your attention?

Is it the ones where God forgives and restores our lives?

It is the ones where God delivers us from our enemies?

Is where the psalmist is sure that God will not let him be put to shame?

Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt completely lost? You knew where  you were, of course, and you knew how to find places and yet in your heart of hearts you just felt lost. I can certainly remember a time like that in late adolescence. As I look back on it today I can see what a fog of unknowing I was really in. When the psalmist says, "From now on every road you travel

will take you to God. Follow the Covenant signs; Read the charted directions," I recognize God's guiding hand in my life. Just because a person grew up in the church doesn't mean she knew the Lord of life. 

Faith comes to us from an external source - that source being the Holy Spirit. It comes to us through the Word of God and the intentional teaching of that word in our lives. There is no substitute for the conversation between people of faith that allows the Holy Spirit to work within us and create a faith that follows the roads of God. St. Paul said, "faith comes through hearing," and also, "how can they believe what they have not heard?" (Romans 10:14-17) There is no way possible that we can follow the covenant signs if we have not heard the Word that there exists a God who loves us and wants the best for us. (The best for us means a life with the One who created us in his own image.) We cannot create a faith within ourselves because faith comes from the outside, not the inside. It lives inside eventually, through the power of the Holy Spirit, but it must be gifted to us by the Spirit. 

So what does this mean? 
It means that we are called to speak the faith - our children, our friends, our neighbors, whoever crosses our path. How can they believe what they have never heard? We want no one to experience the sense of being lost like we have. We want all people to walk on the covenant roads, assured of new life and a different kind of life. We have to use our words to bolster each other on the journey. We cannot be silent because the Truth has to be proclaimed. 

Holy God, inspire us to speak the word to those we know and love, and those we just met. Put us on the path of your ways so that we will not be put to shame, and we will not be wandering around our own lives in a fog of confusion. Give us clarity and help us to see your hand in our lives everywhere we turn. In Jesus' most holy and precious name we pray. Amen.