A Guide For Suffering (Psalm 25)
This psalm is one of the alphabetical psalms. They begin with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet and work their way through it. We’re not sure the reason why this is the case. It may have been for memorization, so the teaching of a concept. Or it could just be a poetic device that teaches a person the A to Zs of the subject at hand. Whatever the case may be, the topic is trusting the Lord in suffering and he used the entire Hebrew alphabet from Aleph to Tav to express it.
The lesson taught in this song about enduring suffering is that we are to be people who trust and seek our faithful Lord amid suffering.
When you read through the psalms, and since we are preaching through the psalms on Sunday Night, you notice that suffering is a topic of conversation a lot. I have jokingly said that teething is a baby’s introductory lesson in the fact that there is a lot of pain in this life. And throughout this life there will be much pain and sorrow. That is the reason suffering takes up so much space in the psalms. As humans, we suffer a lot. It might be because of pain. It might be because of a disability. It might be because of an illness. It might be through loss of loved ones. It might be through persecution. But over and over we see people responding to suffering in the Book of Psalms. And Psalm 25 teaches us to endure suffering by trusting and seeking the Lord.
Amid Suffering Trust And Seek The Lord (Psalm 25:1-6)
The very first thing that we notice in this text is that this is addressed to the Lord. We don’t know the time or the occasion for the writing of this psalm. But we do know that this is a response to suffering. And immediately, he goes to the Lord. He brings his plea to God and trusts Him (Psalm 25:2).
In verse three we see the deep trust that he has in the Lord. All those who put their trust in the Lord will one day be victorious (Psalm 25:3). No matter what things look like in the here and now, he understands that there is coming a day when all those who trust in the Lord will be victorious while those who rebel against the Lord will be “ashamed” (Psalm 25:3).
Trust in the Lord means that the Lord is sought when hardship comes. These two things go hand in hand. When we trust the Lord at any time, it means that we want the Lord to teach us His ways and to help us walk in His ways. This is also sometimes neglected amid suffering.
When hardships come, we tend to jump into survival mode. And some of that is by design. When hardship comes, we oftentimes need to refocus ourselves upon certain things. So, it makes sense. But the problem is that we need to focus on the right things. So, we trust the Lord, we go to Him, and seek to walk in His ways knowing that the Lord is the One who redeems us. We will follow our Savior, even when life gets tough.
We have a transition to the next topic in verse 6, but it holds a huge reason for us to trust the Lord and to flee to Him immediately when hardship comes.
“Remember your mercy, O LORD, and Your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.” (Psalm 25:6 ESV)
He pleads with God to remember His mercy, that same mercy that has been poured out upon the people of Israel for many ages at this point. But also to remember His “steadfast love” that has also been poured out on God’s people over the years. The word translated “steadfast love” is “Hesed”. I like the ESV translation. “Steadfast love” seems to carry the idea pretty well. “Faithful lovingkindness” might be another way of putting it. “Hesed” carries with it both the idea of faithfulness and love toward someone. Both faithfulness and love are present in a strong way in this word and it is often used to describe God’s love toward His people. And God’s “Hesed” that has been poured out upon His people over many years is reason for Him to trust the Lord and turn to Him amid suffering.
We repeatedly find ourselves being taught to turn to the Lord in the psalms. When the hard times hit us, we go to the Lord. It is in the Lord that we will find our help. The believer should be moved to seek the Lord in times of suffering. It seems like a simple idea, and intuitively we know that this is how things should be.
I am not sure why it is the case, but that is oftentimes not the first place we turn. It is oftentimes the case that we try to figure things out on our own first. But that is not what the believer should do. We know how tremendous God’s love is for us, and so we should turn to Him in times of trouble.
Amid Suffering Examine Yourself And Seek The Lord (Psalm 25:6-18)
David trusts the lovingkindness of the Lord, but this idea works to transition us to a new thought. When suffering strikes, we should examine our own lives. We may very well be the reason for the suffering, or in some way are making it worse. And so, we should consider our own life and any sin that may have brought this about.
Scripture does reveal to us that we may or may not be the cause of our suffering. There are times when we bring hardship upon ourselves. And there are times when we do not, such as is the case with Job.
But we should, when hardship arises, examine ourselves.
The faithful lovingkindness of God leads David to think on his own failures.
“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!” (Psalm 25:7 ESV)
God’s “Hesed” moved him to see his own frailty, former sins, and sinfulness. And he seeks the Lord’s forgiveness for sins done even in his youth.
This verse always causes me to think. How many of us have past sins that we regret and have great sorrow over? I believe this is probably the case for most of us. But we should also understand that we are forgiven in Christ. As I read this, I see David seeking the forgiveness of the Lord over these past sins. And that is exactly what we need to do ourselves. Contemplation of the goodness of God, His love toward us, and present hardship should move us toward repentance of sin.
Even though He is a sinner, God is good to Him (Psalm 25:8). Even though he deserves only God’s wrath and justice, David receives God’s instruction and guidance. This love and guidance of God is not for those who believe themselves to be righteous, but for those who have come the Lord for cleansing. It is the humble who have God’s “Hesed”, or “steadfast love” (Psalm 25:10).
There is a back and forth in this section. David moves back and forth between the forgiveness of God and the goodness of God toward His people. And so, he revisits this idea of forgiveness.
“For Your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.” (Psalm 25:11 ESV)
David is again asking for forgiveness of sins. He asks for His guilt to be pardoned, not because of anything that He has done but for God’s name’s sake. He is pleading for purification from sin not on the basis of anything he has done, but only because of the kindness of the Lord.
This is our plea as well. We seek forgiveness of sins, not on the basis of anything we have done but in the finished work of Christ. We have earned for ourselves only God’s wrath and justice. God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt here on earth and earned for us righteousness and complete forgiveness of sins. It is only in the finished work of Chris that we can have forgiveness. And as we examine our lives, this is where we turn. God forgive us based only on the work of your Son and nothing within ourselves.
And now, for the third time we see David turning to the goodness and love of God toward those who are His people. Though God’s people are not many, it is they who have well being and friendship from God. And this moves David to proclaim that He has love for God Himself and follows Him.
But again, just as with the other two times, this contemplation of God’s goodness toward His people leads David to seek God’s grace and forgiveness.
“Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distress. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.” (Psalm 25:16-18 ESV)
David’s troubles are many and his sins are weighing upon him. When he examined himself in light of God’s ways, he found that he needed forgiveness. And here is David, going to the only place that he will find true forgiveness.
One thing we don’t often consider when we are struck with suffering is our own involvement. Or sometimes we act as if God could never forgive us from our sins that brought the occasion upon us. Neither are the way we should behave. The goodness and graciousness of God toward us should lead us to repentance.
“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4 ESV)
And sometimes the trouble we are in is because of our sinfulness. Not always, but it is the case enough that we should do that examination. Trouble is oftentimes a chance for us to assess the situation and check ourselves.
Is what we are going through directly caused by our sinfulness? A drunk driver going to jail. An angry person who ostracizes their family. We can do things that directly cause our hardships. If so, then we need to repent and make restitution and seek forgiveness from God and whoever we have wronged.
Is there something in our life that God is correcting us for? Is God disciplining us to bring us back to Himself? Is there a sin in our life that has brought God’s correction down upon us? If so, then we need to repent and ask God to forgive us.
Times of trial should point us to consider our life and consider our circumstances. But we seek respite not in fixing it ourselves but in the forgiveness that is found only in the Lord.
Amid Suffering Seek The Lord (Psalm 25:19-22)
We are now back at the beginning, in many ways. David returns to the trouble that brought him to the Lord. Even some of the requests are worded in the same way they were in the beginning of the psalm. He knows and he trusts that his deliverance will come from the Lord.
But there is one major difference. At the very end David pleas for the people of God. It is very likely that David understands his current situation to involve all of Israel. This would make sense, considering he is the king. So this would mean that the salvation of him would be the salvation of Israel.
When we suffer it becomes difficult to look outside of ourselves. Everything seems to shrink and we only consider ourselves and those immediately around us. And for a short time this is okay, but eventually we need to get here and move outside of ourselves to love and care for those around us.
You may not like the sound of this, but the suffering that God brings you through in this life enables you to help those around you. If you have suffered great loss in this life and God has helped you through, then you are equipped to love, pray for, care for, and equip others in ways that you were not previously. If you have suffered trauma in the past and God has helped bring you through, it allows you to help others as well. The difficulties we have should cause us to look outward to the help of those around us.
Conclusion
We will suffer in this life. And God has given us a guide to dealing with it. When suffering comes, we need to be people who trust and seek the Lord. This involves a lot of things. It involves fleeing to God with our needs. It involves trusting that He will bring us through. It involves examination of our life and seeking forgiveness where we’ve failed. And when God has strengthened us and brought us through, we help others.
R. Dwain Minor