Much has been written about the Psalms and how they often reflect raw human experience and yet bring a deep sense of assurance in the midst of the worst. That came home to me afresh this morning as I was reading Psalm 25. We can’t be sure what exactly David was going through at this time but he is certainly under great pressure. You get an idea of his inner pain in vv. 16-21:
‘Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish. Look on my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins. See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me! Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, LORD, is in you.’
And yet the Psalm is not just about David sharing his pain with us. He is opening himself up to his God in whom he trusts. He begins by saying:
‘To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God.’ (vv. 1-2)
Despite his troubles he has confidence in the God he knows and has experienced working in his life. The God who has revealed His truth, who has guided, who has shown mercy and forgiven, who has given hope and assurance.
It’s a lesson to me in these bewildering days in which we find ourselves never to allow the weight of trouble to become so heavy that I cannot lift my eyes to the God who has revealed Himself in Jesus. This morning the radio news was all about issues arising from the coronavirus pandemic, how it is affecting people’s lives at so many levels, how things seem set to become worse. This is when we need to stay close to the ancient voices of faith like that of David who never denied the reality of God whatever his troubles. At certain times in David’s story we read that he ‘found strength in the Lord his God.’ (1 Samuel 30: 6) Whatever personal challenges these times have brought us and whatever priorities we are moved to set nothing is more imperative for God’s people than to follow in David’s way.
