Our Kind Of Prayer Series

OUR KIND OF PRAYER

Text: Ps. 25

Intro:

1. sing the youth song---unto thee, O Lord, Do I lift up my soul…

2. That is taken straight from Ps. 25, our text for tonite.

3. Read the Psalm

4. What do we see of the psalmist as he looks to God?

I. WE SEE HIS SPIRIT

A. sacrificial---v. 1-2 I lift up my soul… I offer you…me

1. This is the pleasure/delight we saw in Ps. 37

2. “I look to you and you only”

B. pained---v. 16-17

1. I am lonely and afflicted

2. Troubles of my heart have multiplied

3. free me from my anguish

4. look upon my affliction and distress

5. take away all my sins

C. I t almost sounds like he has gotten himself into some trouble

that has compounded

D. Fear---I am surrounded by my enemies and they fiercely hate

me---I am a target

E. Hope---v. 16-21---be gracious, free me…look upon my affliction

and distress…take away my sin

1. everything is laid out for the Lord to see

2. He doesn’t try to hide anything---“Look upon…”

F. Tender hearted, distressed, hopeful, confident, ---a full range of

emotion is found here.

II. WE SEE HIS PLEA

A. V. 2—let me not be ashamed---do not betray my trust, don’t

disappoint me, don’t embarrass me in front of others who don’t

believe

1. Moses reflected the same thing Ex. 32:12-14 golden calf

2. don’t let my enemies triumph/exult over me---don’t let them

gloat and rejoice over humiliation

3. Paul voiced the same—Phil. 1:20-21

B. v. 4-5---Show me your ways, teach me your paths

1. He constantly wants to stay in touch with God’s will

2. Constant alignment with God, so he can enjoy that relationship

C. V. 6—Remember your great love and mercy, they are from of old

1. The psalmist clings to the unchangeable nature of God

2. He interprets history in view of God’s nature

3. James said, “He doesn’t change like shifting shadows…”

4. Hebrews: he is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow…”

D. Remember not sins of my youth, or my rebellious ways.

1. sins of our youth are careless, thoughtless, without knowledge

2. “rebellion” speaks to willful sin, intentional acts of rebellion

E. v. 16-22 turn to me and be gracious, look upon…take

` away…guard my life…

1. Don’t give me what I deserve, I know my sin and my situation

2. grant me mercy, bestow tenderness, “don’t kick me while I’m

down.”

3. Don’t ignore me, listen, look, turn toward, not away

III. WE SEE HIS CONFIDENCE V. 3, 8-15 his picture of God

A. No one whose hope is in you is put to shame. V. 3

1. You always come through, you do not turn away from the cries

of those who need you.

2. My God is not distant

B. God is good & upright, he instructs sinners in his ways

1. God’s nature and desires are for the good of people, not their

harm

2. “he instruct sinners in his ways” he reaches out, takes

initiative so that they will come to know him

C. He guides the humble, teaches them his way

1. those who are teachable, he works with,

2. he teaches them justice/what is right

3. This is one way he works to protect his righteous ones.

D. v. 10 all the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful

1. Loving---God’s essence, nature in the O.T. a key word is

“chesed”—loving kindness; cf. Ps. 136

2. faithful---trustworthy, truthful, in keeping with his covenant

Promise,

3. God doesn’t fail in keeping His promises to His people

4. My God is one I can count on, He is always working for me,

cf. Rom. 8:28

E. This is his treatment of those who keep his covenant

1. His promises only extend to his people,

2. His care, benevolence, guidance, are in the context of

covenant. Not outsiders

IV. TWO VERSES IN PARTICULAR

A. v. 10—the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful

1. I don’t understand all the ways of the Lord—

a). Heb. 12 he chastises, instructing, correcting me out of

his love and faithfulness.

b) he blesses---out of his love and faithfulness

2. But all his ways are loving and faithful,

a) God moves and acts out of love, motivated by love

b) He is constant, covenant keeping, never changing, never

reacting on a whim in anger or in justice

B. v. 14 “the Lord confides in those who fear him, he makes his

covenant known to them”

1. “confide” is “secret” and speaks to an intimate communication

between close friends

2. “he makes known his covenant” God’s promises, based on his

unchanging nature

3. a privileged and close relationship with God

4. He will always act toward us, for us, in covenant faithfulness