Your Ways, Your Paths

Psalm 25:6-7 [6]Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. [7]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! (ESV)

In a time of difficulty, David called upon the mercy of God. The word “mercy” is a plural intensive, calling upon God’s “full compassion.” David called upon God’s steadfast love/lovingkindness which is God’s covenant love. Thus in Psalm 103:17 we read “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.”. David was grievously afflicted and tried, so much so that he had lost all sense of God’s mercy: for he calls upon God to remember for him his favour, in such a manner as if he had altogether forgotten it. This, therefore, is the complaint of a man suffering extreme anguish, and overwhelmed with grief (Calvin, J., & Anderson, J. (2010). Vol. 1: Commentary on the Book of Psalms (418). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)

Please turn to Psalm 51

In verse seven David asks God not remember the sins of his youth. These are not concerns about God forgetting something, but the psalmist’s prayer reminders about God’s gracious covenant promises and provisions, all of which are grounded upon His “goodness (The MacArthur Study Bible. 1997 (J. MacArthur, Jr., Ed.) (electronic ed.) (Ps 25:6). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.)

Psalm 51:1-13 [51:1]Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. [2]Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! [3]For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. [4]Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. [5]Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. [6]Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. [7]Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. [8]Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.[9]Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. [10]Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.[11]Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.[12]Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. [13]Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. (ESV)

Quote: To live in the light of God’s steadfast love is to become all too conscious of the lack of such love and steadfastness in our own response to God. Hence our continuing need to recognize our failures, to confess them, and to seek forgiveness. That alone is the way to spiritual health. As Calvin puts it, unless we confess, “We shall follow the example of unskillful physicians who overlooking the disease only seek to alleviate the pain, and apply mere adventitious remedies for the cure.” (Davidson, R. (1998). The vitality of worship: A commentary on the book of Psalms. International Theological Commentary (90). Grand Rapids, MI; Edinburgh: W.B. Eerdmans; Handsel Press.)