The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"shew me," Hebrew hodi'eni (הוֹדִיעֵנִי), make me to know. Having lifted up his soul to God (v1), David asks first not for rescue or riches but for guidance: "Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths." He longs to know how God would have him live and walk.

"thy ways," derakhekha (דְּרָכֶיךָ). Notice they are God's ways he wants, not his own: "thy ways... thy paths." This is the prayer of a humble, teachable heart that does not presume to know the way but asks to be shown and taught.

"teach me," lammedeni (לַמְּדֵנִי), train, instruct. And it continues in verse 5: "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day." This is the posture God delights to answer, for verses 8-9 promise, "Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way." God teaches the humble and the meek; those who will not be taught, He cannot guide.

"thy paths," orchotekha (אֹרְחוֹתֶיךָ), the well-worn tracks. He wants not only to be shown the way but to be led in it, and he waits patiently, "all the day," for God's guidance. The one who truly wants to know God's way, and waits on Him for it, will be shown it. Guidance is promised to the teachable.

Explanation

There is a hidden design in this psalm that the English reader never sees, and it fits the prayer perfectly. Psalm 25 is an acrostic: in the Hebrew each verse begins with the next letter of the alphabet, running from aleph to tav, the Hebrew A to Z. Now think about what that form does to this particular prayer. Here is a man asking, "Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths... teach me" (vv4-5), a prayer to be taught, and he pours it into the shape of a lesson, an orderly alphabet, the very framework a child is taught by. An acrostic is learning made visible. It quietly says two things about the seeker. First, that he wants God's ways whole, from A to Z, not a favourite path or two but the complete road. Second, that an alphabet is something you receive, never something you invent; you do not make up the letters, you are given them in their fixed order. So the humble heart that prays "teach me thy paths" is not asking God to approve the way it has already chosen; it is asking to be taught an order it did not set, from the very first letter to the last. The form is the prayer: a life laid out to be learned from God, aleph to tav.

Gospel Focus

"Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths", this prayer is answered fully in Jesus Christ, who is Himself the way. When David asked to be shown God's way, he was reaching for what has now been revealed in a Person: "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). To know God's way is to know Christ, and to walk in it is to follow Him. He is the path made plain, "an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness" (Isaiah 35:8), and He walked it perfectly before us, leaving "us an example, that ye should follow his steps" (1 Peter 2:21). And He gives His Spirit to lead us: "when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). So the humble prayer "teach me thy paths" finds its answer at the feet of Jesus, in His word, and by His Spirit. We who do not know the way have a Guide who is the Way; we who are prone to wander have a Shepherd who leads in the paths of righteousness. Pray this prayer daily, and follow the One who says, "Follow me," for to walk in Christ is to walk in the way of the LORD.

Word Study

"remember not," Hebrew al-tizkor (אַל־תִּזְכֹּר). Between the prayer for guidance and the prayer for fellowship stands this cry for pardon. David asks God to blot out his past: "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions."

"sins of my youth," chattot ne'urai (חַטֹּאות נְעוּרַי). He knows that his old sins stand between him and the God whose ways he longs to walk in, so he pleads for them to be un-remembered, forgiven and put away.

"transgressions," pesha'ai (פְּשָׁעַי), rebellions. With the sins of his youth he names his transgressions, his rebellions, so that the whole record, the failures of his early years and the deliberate revolts of his heart alike, is laid before God to be put away.

"according to thy mercy," kechasdekha (כְּחַסְדְּךָ), by thy steadfast love. And notice the ground on which he pleads, not his own merit, but God's character: "according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake." He does not say "remember me because I have improved," but "remember me according to thy mercy."

"for thy goodness' sake," lema'an tuvekha (לְמַעַן טוּבְךָ). Later he prays even more boldly: "For thy name's sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great" (v11), a stunning prayer, asking pardon not in spite of the greatness of his sin but appealing to God's name over it. This is the logic of grace: the greater the sin, the greater the mercy needed, and the more God's goodness is magnified in forgiving it. The one who would walk in God's way must first be forgiven his sins, and forgiveness rests not on our goodness but on God's.

Explanation

Listen to how one word keeps turning over in these two verses: remember. David uses it three times, and the way he uses it opens the whole nature of forgiveness. First he prays, "Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies... for they have been ever of old" (v6), remember these. Then, "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions" (v7a), remember not those. And finally, "according to thy mercy remember thou me" (v7b), remember me. The same Hebrew verb, zakar, three times: remember your mercies, forget my sins, remember me. That is a precise little portrait of what pardon actually is. Forgiveness is not God developing amnesia, as though the holy One simply could not recall what happened; it is God deliberately choosing what to hold in His mind and what to let fall. He keeps the sinner and drops the record. He remembers His own ancient mercies, He remembers you, by name, in love, but the charge sheet of your youth He puts out of mind for ever. To be forgiven is not to be forgotten; it is to be remembered while your sins are not.

Gospel Focus

"Remember not the sins of my youth... according to thy mercy remember thou me", this prayer is answered at the cross of Jesus Christ, where God's mercy blots out sin and remembers it no more. Under the new covenant God promises, "their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 8:12), and that promise is sealed in the blood of Christ, "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). David's bold appeal, "pardon mine iniquity; for it is great," is exactly the ground on which the gospel offers pardon: "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Romans 5:20). No sin of youth or age is too great for the mercy that flows from Calvary, for Christ came "to save sinners; of whom I am chief" (1 Timothy 1:15). Because Jesus bore our transgressions, God can righteously remember them no more; He casts them "into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19) and removes them "as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12). So the guilty soul may pray with David, and know the answer is yes, not because our sins are small but because His mercy is great and His blood is sufficient. Cast yourself on the mercy of God in Christ, and your sins, remembered against you no more, will stand no longer between you and the God whose ways you long to walk.

Word Study

"secret," Hebrew sod (סוֹד), intimate counsel, confidential friendship, the close circle where a friend shares his heart. Here is one of the most precious promises in the Psalms. "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him." The word sod means far more than a piece of hidden information; it is the intimate counsel a man shares only with his closest friends, the confidence of friendship, the opening of the heart.

"them that fear him," yere'av (יְרֵאָיו). God has such a circle of intimacy, and He admits into it "them that fear him", those who reverence and love Him. The fear of the LORD, far from producing cold distance, opens the door to warm intimacy; those who reverence God most are drawn closest to His heart.

"shew them," lehodi'am (לְהוֹדִיעָם), make known to them. To such He unveils His heart: "he will shew them his covenant", He makes known to them the depths of His faithful, saving love. This is astonishing: the infinite God treats those who fear Him not as distant servants but as trusted friends, sharing His secret counsel with them. Abraham was called "the Friend of God" (James 2:23), and God said, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" (Genesis 18:17).

"his covenant," berito (בְּרִיתוֹ). And what He makes known is His covenant, the bond He has pledged to His own; the deepest thing God has to share is the certainty of His own faithfulness. The one who walks humbly and reverently with God is welcomed into a friendship in which God shares His very self.

Explanation

This verse is the quiet answer to a prayer prayed near the psalm's beginning, and the Hebrew makes the connection unmistakable. Back in verse 4 David asked, "Shew me thy ways, O LORD" (hodi'eni, "make me to know"). Here in verse 14 God responds with the very same verb: "he will shew them (lehodi'am, "make known to them") his covenant." The seeker asked to be shown a way, and God answers by showing him something far greater than a road, His covenant, His own faithful heart. Watch the deepening. A man begins by lifting up his soul (v1) and asking for directions, "teach me thy paths" (v4); he ends up admitted into the sod of God, the inner circle of confidence where a friend opens his heart. Ask God merely for guidance, and He gives you Himself. The teachable seeker who wanted a map is welcomed past the map into friendship, shown not just where to walk but the covenant love behind the whole journey. Guidance, followed faithfully, ripens into intimacy; the one who kept asking the way is at last taken into the confidence of the One who is the way.

Gospel Focus

"The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him", this intimate friendship with God is opened wide to us in Jesus Christ, who calls His people not servants but friends. On the night before the cross He said, "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you" (John 15:15). The very thing Psalm 25 promises, that God shares His secret counsel with those near to Him, Jesus fulfils, making known to His friends all He has heard from the Father. And He shews us the covenant, the new covenant in His blood (Luke 22:20), the depths of God's saving love unveiled at the cross. Through Christ we are brought into the closest fellowship with God, given His Spirit who "searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10), so that the mysteries once hidden are now made known to those who love and reverence Him. The fear of the LORD that Psalm 25 commends is not abolished in the gospel but fulfilled in reverent love for the Saviour, and to such the Lord opens His heart. Draw near to Jesus in reverent love, and enter the secret place of friendship with God, where He makes known to His friends the riches of His covenant.