Gleanings in the Psalms

(Psalm 25 Verses 1 to 7)

Verse 1. "Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my Soul". It is but mockery to uplift the hands and the eyes unless we also bring our souls into our devotions.

C.H. Spurgeon

Verses 2 and 3. "O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed …Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed …" David prays in verse 2 "Let not ME be ashamed," but as if conscious that his prayers are too restrictive and narrow, he enlarges the bounds of them and builds them on a broader bottom, "Yea, let NONE that wait on thee be ashamed." Our devotions must not be pent or confirmed to our own private good, but extended to the benefit of all God's servants in whatever conditions they are.

Andrew Fuller

Verse 4. "Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths." There are the "ways" of men, and the "ways" of God; the "paths" of sin and the "paths" of righteousness; there are "thy ways" and there are "my ways"; THINE the ways of truth, MINE the ways of error; THINE which are good in THINE eyes and, MINE, which are good in mine eyes; THINE which lead to heaven, and MINE which lead to hell. Therefore, "Shew my THY ways, O Lord; teach me THY paths," lest I mistake mine own ways for thine; yea, lead me in the truth and teach me, lest I turn out of thy ways into mine own. "Shew me thy ways, " by the ministry of thy Word; "teach me thy paths," in the guidance of thy Spirit.

Robert Mossom

Verse 5. "Lead me in thy truth …" Do what you know, and God will teach you what to do. Do what you know to be your PRESENT duty, and God will acquaint you with your FUTURE duty as it comes to be present.

Samuel Annesley

Verse 5. “… on thee do I wait all the day.” We must wait ALL the day.

1. Though it be a LONG day; though we be kept waiting a great while, quite beyond our own reckoning; though when we have waited long, we are still put to wait longer, and are bid with the prophet's servant, to go “yet seven times” before we perceive the least sign of mercy coming – “wait all the day.”
2. Though it be a DARK day; yet let us wait upon God “all the day.” Though while we are kept waiting for what God will do, we are kept in the dark concerning what he is doing and what is best for us to do, yet let us be content to wait in the dark … for though what God doeth we know not now, yet we shall know hereafter.
3. Though it be a STORMY day; yet we must wait upon God “all the day.” Though the wind be contrary and drive us back; nay, though it be boisterous and the church be tossed with tempests, and ready to sink … Christ is in the ship … and why are ye fearful?

Matthew Henry

Verse 6. "Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses; for thy have been EVER OF OLD." Let the ANTIQUITY of divine love draw up our hearts to a very dear and honourable esteem of it. Ancient charters, how careful we are to preserve them. How then should the great charter of heaven, so much older than the world, be had in everlasting remembrance, and the thoughts thereof to be very precious to us. For that which is from everlasting shall be TO everlasting; if the root be eternal, so are the branches.

Elisha Coles (on God's Sovereignty)

Verse 7. "Remember not the sins of my youth …" It was these words that floated across the raging Solway floods one May morning during the "killing times" when the fields and rivers of Scotland ran red with the blood of the faithful. Two stakes had been erected in the bed of the Blednoch Burn "which fills with Solways from the sea when the swift running tide comes in." The one furthest from the shore was for old Margaret MacLachlan, at seventy-two, called to be a Covenant martyr; the other for young Margaret Wilson, now denied the right of seeing her eighteenth summer on this fair earth. The floods go over the older Margaret first. "What do you think of her now?" the young martyr for Christ is asked as she is directed to the struggling form. "Think!" she triumphantly echoes across the rising waters as they come nearer and nearer her own chest; "I see Christ wrestling there," she says: "Think ye that we are sufferers? No; it is Christ in us, for He send none a warfare at their own charges" And then, her dying song …

"Remember not the sins of my youth … according to thy mercy remember thou me."

(Continued next edition)