Introduction – Going to the Designer
Have you ever tried to fix something you didn’t really know how to fix?
Years ago a man named Tim was stumped by his old Macintosh laptop.
His favorite Bible software simply would not run. He spent hours troubleshooting—restarting, reinstalling, checking settings—but nothing worked. His wife gently suggested, “Why don’t you call the people who made the software?” Tim waved her off. “I know what I’m doing.” Hours later, finally out of ideas, he called the Mac Bible company. They connected him with a man whose name sounded oddly familiar. Tim quickly discovered why—the man on the phone was the very programmer who had written the software. In minutes, the problem was solved.
Afterward Tim wrote, “How many times in life do we try to work out our problems our own way? Finally, when all else fails, we go to the One who designed us. Soon, if we obey, we find ourselves again at peace with God and functioning as He planned.”
Psalm 25 is like that phone call to the Designer.
It’s David lifting up his soul and saying, “Teach me Your paths.”
It is a psalm for people who need guidance, forgiveness, and deliverance—and who finally realize they must go to the One who made them.
---
Reading the Text
> “To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me… Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” (vv.1–5)
The whole psalm unfolds as a prayer of deep dependence.
It is not frantic or melodramatic. Many scholars believe David wrote it later in life, when his son Absalom rebelled against him. It reflects a seasoned faith—quiet, steady, and real.
Psalm 25 is also written as an acrostic—each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. But two letters are out of order, a “broken acrostic.” One commentator said, “This brokenness reflects the way troubles break the pattern of life itself.” Isn’t that true? Life rarely moves in perfect alphabetical order.
From this beautifully broken prayer we can learn three never-failing truths:
1. God helps us in our time of need. (vv.1–7)
2. God can be trusted. (vv.8–15)
3. God delivers us when we take refuge in Him. (vv.16–22)
Let’s walk these truths together.
---
I. God Helps Us in Our Time of Need (vv.1–7)
> “To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust.” (vv.1–2)
When trouble presses in, to whom do you turn?
Nations turn to governments. We want policies to remove viruses, protect health, pay bills, create jobs. There’s a place for wise government, but ultimate help is found only in the Lord. David knew that. He says, “Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame” (v.3).
The Hebrew idea of “shame” here isn’t just embarrassment. It’s the pain of trusting something that proves unworthy. As another translation puts it, “No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.” (v.3 NLT)
David had learned this lesson on the battlefield and in the palace.
He remembered days when everything was gone—like the time Amalekites raided Ziklag and carried off every woman and child. The people spoke of stoning him. “But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God” (1 Samuel 30:6). He went to the Designer.
Then David prays, “Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me.” (vv.4–5)
This is not just a cry for rescue but for direction. He doesn’t merely want escape; he wants formation. He is saying, “God, show me not only how to get out of trouble but how to walk rightly.”
Reflection
Do you pray like that? Not only “God, fix this,” but “God, teach me how to walk when this is over”? Guidance is a gift God loves to give, but He waits for the invitation.
Finally David pleads, “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!” (v.7)
Even a man after God’s own heart carried memories that haunted him.
Harry Ironside told of visiting a 90-year-old saint who lay on his sickbed troubled by old sins. Ironside read this very verse to him and reminded him of God’s promise, “Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more.” Tears gave way to peace. The old man said, “I am an old fool remembering what God has forgotten.”
Friend, if Jesus has paid for your sin, God will never hold it against you again.
Let that sink in.
So whether your need today is urgent trouble, fresh guidance, or freedom from old guilt, remember this truth: God helps us in our time of need.
---
II. God Can Be Trusted (vv.8–15)
> “Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.” (v.8)
Having prayed for help, David now affirms the character of God.
Why pray if God cannot be trusted? But He can.
David gives four reasons:
1. God is good and upright. (v.8)
2. All His paths are steadfast love and faithfulness. (v.10)
3. He forgives great iniquity. (v.11)
4. The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear Him. (v.14)
Let’s linger on that last reason.
“The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.” (v.14)
“Fear” here is reverential awe, not terror. It’s the wonder that draws you closer, not the dread that drives you away.
Charles Spurgeon wrote in The Treasury of David, “He who does not know the meaning of this verse will never learn it from a commentary; let him look to the cross, for the secret lies there.”
Through Jesus Christ we become true friends of God. As Paul said, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Pause and consider
If God has opened His covenant friendship to you, how can you not trust Him with today’s unknowns?
So God helps us in our time of need and God can be trusted.
These are not abstract statements; they are anchors for real storms.
---
III. God Delivers Us When We Take Refuge in Him (vv.16–22)
David now turns from trust to triumph through refuge.
> “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish.
Look on my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins.
See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me!
Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, LORD, is in you.
Deliver Israel, O God, from all their troubles!” (vv.16–22)
Notice the breadth of what David brings to God:
Loneliness – “I am lonely and afflicted.”
Inner anguish – “The troubles of my heart are enlarged.”
Guilt – “Forgive all my sins.”
External threat – “How numerous are my enemies, how fiercely they hate me!”
It’s as if David empties his soul onto God’s altar. He is not merely asking for relief; he is taking refuge.
The key line is verse 20:
“Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.”
Or as the New Living Translation puts it, “Protect me! Rescue my life from them! Do not let me be disgraced, for in you I take refuge.”
This is the heart of deliverance: Where is your hiding place?
---
Refuge Illustrated
Think of a mother bird spreading her wings over her chicks when a hawk circles overhead. The little ones don’t outfly the hawk—they hide under her wings. That is the picture David paints elsewhere: “He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge” (Psalm 91:4).
The Heidelberg Catechism’s opening words capture the same heartbeat:
> “That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ… without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation.”
That is refuge.
That is deliverance.
---
Reality Check
It’s worth noting that David also knew the other side of this truth.
When he failed to trust the Lord and chose sin instead, he suffered bitter consequences. Refuge is not automatic—it is entered by trust and obedience.
For us, that refuge is ultimately a Person.
Jesus is the rock that cannot be moved, the door that no one can shut, the shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. He is the fulfillment of David’s prayer.
---
Pulling It Together
So what have we learned from this Psalm of the broken acrostic?
1. God helps us in our time of need.
He invites us to lift up our soul, to ask for wisdom, and to believe His forgiveness is stronger than our memories.
2. God can be trusted.
His goodness, covenant love, and blood-sealed friendship in Christ prove He will never betray our faith.
3. God delivers when we take refuge in Him.
He protects from enemies without and anguish within, and He guards our eternal destiny.
These are not slogans—they are steel for the soul.
---
Illustration – Light vs. Shadow
G. Campbell Morgan once said,
> “What we do in the crisis always depends on whether we see the difficulties in the light of God or see God in the shadow of the difficulties.”
Think of that.
Do you look at God through the lens of your problem, or at your problem through the lens of God?
When you see God first, even the darkest valley becomes a doorway of trust.
---
A Pastoral Appeal
Some of us today feel the broken acrostic in our own lives—relationships out of order, health uncertain, finances fragile.
This psalm invites you to lift it all to the Lord:
“To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust.”
Maybe you’ve been trying to fix the software of your life with your own tools.
Tonight is the night to call the Designer.
Others are haunted by the sins of youth—old regrets that creep back in the quiet.
Listen again: “Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me.”
If Jesus has covered you, God does not rehearse what He has already forgotten.
Still others are simply weary and afraid.
The invitation is refuge.
Come under His wings.
Let Him guard your soul.
---
Conclusion – The Triple Truth to Stand On
Psalm 25 leaves us with a threefold foundation for every storm:
> God helps us in our time of need.
God can be trusted.
God delivers when we take refuge in Him.
Keep those three nailed into your heart.
Repeat them until they sing.
And as you do, you will discover the deeper miracle hidden in the “broken alphabet” of this psalm:
Life’s disorder does not have the last word.
God’s steadfast love writes the final letter.
Amen.
