“Forgot your password?” I paid two bills this morning but when I came to the third… “Incorrect password.” So I tried again, failed again, and decided to click for a new password.
Psalm 25 is a reset, one that I’ve come to treasure over the years. The psalmist was being criticized by people and was at a loss how to move forward, but he knew how to reset his attitude. “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me” (verses 1-2). In the push and pull, the back and forth of dealing with obvious sinners, the psalmist looked up.
He knew ways forward, worldly ways, political ways, power plays to deal with his detractors, but he looked up for a better way forward. “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me” (verses 4-5). “Lord, take my hand and lead me” (LSB 722, 1). Settle that prayer down into your troubled emotions. You don’t have to solve your problem, whatever it may be. Don’t ignore it but don’t imagine you’ll be your own Savior. “Wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14). In time the light will go on, the light from above. “For you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long” (verse 5). AKA, your situation may not be better when today ends, but you have the spirit to wait. The Father of Jesus your Savior knows your situation and knows all the players in your life better than you do.
“Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old” (verse 6). Note the plural, “they.” Mercies are many, the specific things that the unseen God of grace does for you. Little things, not heaven-rending things, just little acts of loving-kindnesses that do come down from heaven to you. Sometimes His mercies are delivered by others, sometimes perceived only by the eyes of faith, and many realized only in hindsight. Troubled soul, mercies to you!
Like my detractors, I’m also a sinner. “Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord” (verse 7). Since the Father has embraced you with the forgiving love of Jesus, “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). “Your password has been reset.”