We do not know fully the context of Psalm 25. We only know that it was written by David later in life. It is possible that it was written during his conflict with Absalom. This Psalm gives us a beautiful picture into the man after God’s own heart. It shows his inner thoughts, conflicts, prayers, and desires. The psalm is arranged into twenty-two verses, each beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order.

Coming to God broken

David begins his song by coming to God. In all of our conflict, struggles, and successes we must always come to the Lord. David is in trouble, so he runs to God as opposed to away from Him. David does not come with health issues or physical problems. He comes with a soul that is broken and hurting. Many times our external trials make us stronger; sometimes they destroy our soul. David is lifting his soul to the Lord begging Him to heal it.

David’s struggle

David reminds God of his faith in Him. David has lived a life of faith, and at this moment in David’s life he is entirely trusting God alone to fix the situation. He now begs God to not let him be ashamed. In our lives we sometimes boast of things we are unable to achieve; we then end up with egg on our face, embarrassed and ashamed. David has not boasted of himself; David has boasted of his God. It now appears as if God is not going to live up to the reputation that David has boasted of. David has publicly relied on God, and now it appears as if God has decided to abandon David. David is begging that God would come through for him and not leave David ashamed of his boasting in God.

David ties his conflict into enemies attacking him. If the enemy wins, David’s confidence in God will have been misplaced and everyone will see it. David is not so concerned with his own victory; he is concerned about God’s reputation if he is defeated. In the past David went to fight Goliath with a public dependence on God. If David had lost, God’s reputation would have suffered greatly.

God’s people wait

David is not just praying for himself; he is praying for all the people of God. We all must wait for God to act. David is now begging God to act on behalf of all those who wait patiently, trusting that God will come through.

Those who should be ashamed

Not only should God deliver His people, but God should also judge those who rebel against Him. Sometimes it appears that the most evil people receive the greatest of God’s blessings and God’s people receive the greatest of God’s curse. David wants God’s justice to be displayed as God delivers His people and judges the wicked. The wicked should be ashamed. They should be publicly embarrassed by God.

Application:

David’s psalm gives us a true account of what it is like to be a Christian. Even though Jesus is victorious (Psalm 24) it does not mean that we will not have trials and tribulations in this life. We will all go through times where it appears that God has abandoned us and blessed those who do evil. We will face the same struggles and feelings that David expresses here. We will feel like God has abandoned us and that all of our trusting in Him is only going to make things worse for us. Psalm 25 is so needed in our day.

We must realize that suffering and feeling abandoned by God is part of the Christian life.

We should be encouraged to find ourselves in such company when we are struggling.

We must be honest as we share the Gospel; Christians suffer.

We must trust in Jesus for victory. There is no victory apart from Him.