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Psalm 25:1-10

Writer's picture: Austin TroyerAustin Troyer

Especially as the Church enters the season of Advent, this prayer can spur us on not only to immerse into a season of anticipation but a lifestyle of faithful and active patience. As we proclaim and reflect on this prayer, it calls to mind two major themes - patience and remembrance. Through the lens of these themes, the prayer tells us of God’s character. In doing so, it differentiates the character of the righteous from those wantonly treacherous and wicked. Through patience and remembrance, the Church enters humbly into this season first with prayer and a life that sounds like the Psalm.


Most importantly, Psalm 25 proclaims something essential about God’s character, that God is good and trustworthy. The very act of “waiting on the Lord” says something about the kind of God that we serve. If God is good, then God is worth waiting for. If God is good, then the guidance, protection, and promise is good. So why would one wait on anything lesser? The Psalmist answers that rhetorical question - because of the wantonly treacherous on the road ahead. The traveler on God’s path does not anticipate that God will put them to shame, but perhaps worries that God will allow shame to take them over. Like any path in the ancient world, there is the possibility of robbers, waiting to pounce on unexpecting travelers and put them to shame.


The Psalmist affirms that, because God is good and righteous, those who wait on the Lord should reflect this righteousness and in doing so will be remembered by the Lord who will not put them to shame. Consider the traveling man who was left for dead in Jesus’ parable about the good Samaritan. Several passed by because that man was put to shame by the wantonly treacherous, and to touch him would be shameful for the likes of the priest and the Levite. Except for a good and kind person, that man would have died on that road. In life, we know there are those waiting to put others to shame. God, however, will not let those who wait on him to be put to shame. This is not to say that nothing negative will happen when we follow God, but we know that God is faithful to vindicate, to keep God’s promises, to lead the righteous to the good in the end.


Therefore, when the psalmist prays, “Be mindful of your mercy,” or “do not let the righteous be put to shame,” they are praying not as someone having to convince God to be mindful of those who trust in him or be steadfast and good. Rather, the psalmist is affirming in this prayer what God has revealed of God’s self. God passed before Moses and proclaimed that he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love; his awareness of wickedness is only paled in comparison to God’s knowledge of the righteous. The Psalmist is aware of the identity of the one to whom they pray. Yet, it is common for those who are following the God who has made Himself known in this way to need reminding. What a better place to practice remembrance than in prayer? God does not need the theological reassembly done by the prayer’s assertions, but the one praying does!


The one praying is remembering their faith in a God who remembers, affirming the love of a God who has been loving from “of old.” When one prays for God to be faithful to God’s self, it is not so much trying to convince God to be consistent in character, but rather is forming one’s faith in God’s steadfast faithfulness. Consider when Jesus teaches us to pray, “lead us not into temptation.” It is apparent that Jesus does not disagree with James’ later sentiment that “God does not tempt anyone (James 1:13).” The statement is not made in uncertainty as to whether God would lead us into temptation. Rather, we ask this in anticipation that God is the deliverer from temptation and evil! This Psalm is doing a similar thing by reconstituting one’s faith in anticipation that God will indeed be loving, good, and remember the righteous who wait on the Lord.


If God is good and righteous, then those who wait on God and follow God’s paths should reflect that righteousness. The first character trait of righteousness is patient obedience. One who walks their own way at their own speed is not likely to notice when instructions are being given. I remember one important meeting I had to go to where I was listening to the music loudly in my car. When it came time to turn from the highway, I was so wrapped up in what I was doing that I missed the instructions. I was several miles away when I finally heard the app calling me to take a U-turn. When we are not waiting for the Lord, patiently anticipating guidance and listening for instruction, we are likely to miss the turn on God’s path. And the path of the Lord is good, and if we reject patience, humility and righteousness for our own arrogance, we will miss the turn. So, we wait for the Lord.


This waiting is active, it looks like being humble in what is right. Those who are righteous are not on a “holier than thou” ego trip but understand that goodness in character comes from God in the first place. Humility is necessary to receive the teaching of God. Good students anticipate and wait for the teacher's words so that they can grow in understanding. The righteous understand that they have a lot to learn, a lifetime to grow. So we lean in, focus up, pray and listen to our righteous God who teaches the humble. Such a posture transforms our tendencies to rush through life. It changes our character so that we will not be like the wantonly treacherous - looking for a reason to shame, for doom to happen, for the wrong on the road. In other words, righteous people are not looking at the world hoping for destruction, or at their neighbor with contempt, or at themselves with arrogance. No! The faithful wait on the Lord and follow the path laid out for them by a God who remembers the righteous.


These insights from the psalm are especially important for those entering the Advent season. This season is a time of waiting and remembering. We remember that creation waited for a savior, that we still wait for his return. We sigh inwardly and hear the reverberation of the expectation of creation who in the Spirit waits for its redemption - groans too deep for words. Yet, the groaning is a call for active and faithful patience. We trust that God will bring the redemption that was promised because in this season we also remember that the savior was born, that the waiting was worth it and still is! In the Son of God, we see the fullness not only of our hope for the future but the character of the trustworthy God we worship; the God we wait for.

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