You are the God of my salvation

Psalm 25:1-15 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Prayer for Protection, Guidance and Pardon.

A Psalm of David.

To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
² O my God, in You I trust,
Do not let me be ashamed;
Do not let my enemies exult over me.
³ Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed; Those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed.

⁴ Make me know Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
⁵ Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
For You I wait all the day.
⁶ Remember, O Lord, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they have been from of old.
⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
According to Your lovingkindness remember me,
For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.

⁸ Good and upright is the Lord;
Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.
⁹ He leads the humble in justice,
And He teaches the humble His way.
¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth
To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.
¹¹ For Your name’s sake, O Lord,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

¹² Who is the man who fears the Lord?
He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
¹³ His soul will abide in prosperity,
And his descendants will inherit the land.
¹⁴ The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, 

And He will make them know His covenant.
¹⁵ My eyes are continually toward the Lord,
For He will pluck my feet out of the net.

In today’s text the psalmist says:  Make me 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.    From who or what is it that David sought and acknowledged the salvation of the Lord?    He begins saying:   Do not let my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed.   So, he sought protection; salvation from his enemies. He also says:    Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; According to Your lovingkindness remember me, For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord… Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.    So, there is both an acknowledgment of sin and a request for pardon, forgiveness, salvation from sin. God will indeed rescue us and save us from our troubles and from our enemies. But often forget that our greatest enemy can be our own selfish desires; our great iniquity. Many of the difficulties we face are not an attack by our enemies, either natural or spiritual, but rather they are consequences of our own choices and actions. Like the psalmist we need to seek pardon for our iniquities. In Isaiah 43:25 God says:   "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.”    Beyond just not remembering our sins, God also does not hold those past sins against us. The negative consequences of our sin that we continue to experience are not from God. Here’s the thing we need to know, to understand, to believe and to receive from God. Our sins are not only forgiven through the salvation of Jesus work on the cross. We are redeemed from our sin. We are reconciled to God and we are restored to all that God intended for us from the beginning. If God does not remember our sin, then what He sees for us is a life without the consequences of sin, just like the life He intended in the garden. Jesus taught us to pray: Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.   In heaven, there is no sin, and so there are no consequences of sin, it is as God intended it to be. If God does not remember our sin, then we need not remember it either. We need to not continue to struggle with the consequences of sin. We need to walk in the redemption and restoration of Jesus. In John 10:10 Jesus says:  “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”   We need to walk in the abundance of redemption and restoration in Christ, rather than continuing to accept the consequences of forgiven, pardoned and forgotten sin.   

One of the problems for many of us is that we repeat the cycle of sin and consequence. Even though Jesus died once for all sin, past, present and future, if we choose to continue in sin, we also continue in sins consequences.  The psalmist knows the answer for our problem. He says:  Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me… Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way. All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.   If we will walk with the Lord, in and on the path He has for us, we will walk in lovingkindness and truth. James 1:12-17 says:   Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.    Neither the temptation to sin, nor the consequences of it, are God’s desire and will for our lives. Rather, He wills that we would walk with Him, in the path He has chosen for us and that we would receive the good and perfect gifts, the abundant life He has for us.  

To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.  O my God, in You I trust… For You I wait all the day… My eyes are continually toward the Lord…  Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit; for Your forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation and restoration. Thank You for every good thing You have given me. Continue to lead me, to guide me, to teach me, that I might walk in Your way; always and all ways.   Amen.