The Confidence of the Righteous in the Lord’s Mercy

David is confident in prayer, because his eye of faith looks to God. Though a king, yet even he expresses the need to be led, shown, and taught in the truth and ways of God. He realises that a godly fear and worshipful awe of God will bring him into the secret of the Lord. The word, ‘secret,’ means a ‘close counsel,’ or an ‘intimacy of fellowship.’ From such intimacy will be unveiled further insights of the mysteries of the kingdom, and the truths of the covenant. But it would also entail the divulging of the secrets of His providence, which can be imparted in a special way. As a consequence of this awareness, David ends by the confession of sin and with a determination to be upright. He vows to wait upon the Lord, not passively, but actively.

Pastor Jeff O’ Neil

Recommended Tunes: Franconia

Psalm 25 – First Version (short metre)

¹To thee I lift my soul:
²O LORD, I trust in thee:
My God, let me not be asham’d,
Nor foes triumph o’er me.

³Let none that wait on thee
Be put to shame at all;
But those that without cause transgress,
Let shame upon them fall.

⁴Show me thy ways, O LORD;
Thy paths, O teach thou me:
⁵And do thou lead me in thy truth,
Therein my teacher be:

For thou art God that dost
To me salvation send,
And I upon thee all the day
Expecting do attend.

⁶Thy tender mercies, LORD,
I pray thee to remember,
And loving-kindnesses; for they
Have been of old for ever.

⁷My sins and faults of youth
Do thou, O LORD, forget:
After thy mercy think on me,
And for thy goodness great.

⁸GOD good and upright is:
The way he’ll sinners show.
⁹The meek in judgment he will guide,
And make his path to know.

¹⁰The whole paths of the LORD
Are truth and mercy sure,
To those that do his cov’nant keep,
And testimonies pure.

¹¹Now, for thine own name’s sake,
O LORD, I thee entreat
To pardon mine iniquity;
For it is very great.

¹²What man is he that fears
The LORD, and doth him serve?
Him shall he teach the way that he
Shall choose, and still observe.

¹³His soul shall dwell at ease;
And his posterity
Shall flourish still, and of the earth
Inheritors shall be.

¹⁴With those that fear him is
The secret of the LORD;
The knowledge of his covenant
He will to them afford.

¹⁵Mine eyes upon the LORD
Continually are set:
For he it is that shall bring forth
My feet out of the net.

¹⁶Turn unto me thy face,
And to me mercy show;
Because that I am desolate,
And am brought very low.

¹⁷My heart’s griefs are increas’d:
Me from distress relieve.
¹⁸See mine affliction and my pain,
And all my sins forgive.

¹⁹Consider thou my foes,
Because they many are;
And it a cruel hatred is
Which they against me bear.

²⁰O do thou keep my soul,
Do thou deliver me:
And let me never be asham’d,
Because I trust in thee.

²¹Let uprightness and truth
Keep me, who thee attend.
²²Redemption, Lord, to Israel
From all his troubles send.