Psalm 25

vs 1

The inevitable trust that humanity has - for we are a people of faith - is here by David set upon God. He is in this psalm petitioning for God to keep himself and Israel safe from themselves, mostly.

vs 2

There is also the everpresent threat of enemies from outside which plagues Israel, not to mention this idea of being shamed which is so hard for us to understand outside of a shame culture.

vs 3

Shame, shame, shame. Why is David asking God to protect him from shame? Because that's what God does - he doesn't let those who rely on him be shamed. No, it's those who aren't faithful who are shamed. Treacherous "without cause" is an interesting statement. Not often you'd hear a king say that there might be a cause for treachery.

vs 4

TNIV got rid of the 'O' here, and I'm glad to see it go personally.

David doesn't want to be a traitor - he wants to know the ways and paths of God, so that he can follow them.

vs 5

Why does David seek to follow God's path? Because God is his God, his saviour, and that is where his hope lies.

vs 6

They are indeed. God's mercy stretches right back to the beginning, not just of his dealings with Israel, but with people generally. By David's time, there has been many hundreds of years of God's faithfulness, even just to Israel. How many thousand do we need?

vs 7

This is quite an ask. David asks that rather than being remembered for his sin, that God instead looks at David through his loving eye and remembers his love for David and his people. That tghis is pre-Jesus is at once astonishing, but also reminds us that God hasn't really changed.

vs 8

As opposed to, you know, just blasting them to cookie bits. I think we forget how plausible an alternative that is to sin.

vs 9

The humble. People who can't be humble before God have themselves a fairly serious ego problem. Wait, that's all of us. D'oh.

vs 10

See, this is one thing the Jews knew full well - God loved them, especially when they were doing good. We tend to look at the world through "God loves everyone" glasses, and he does! But there is something special about being a Christian. God will eventually let the non-Christians go. He makes no promises to them.

vs 11

David wears his sin, accepts its gravity, and yet still asks and expects forgiveness. Pre-Jesus expects forgiveness. Why? Because he knows that God wants glory, and it will make his name great. Woe betide us when we ask forgiveness but God forgiving us wouldn't make his name great...