Psalm 25:1-11
You may have noticed that many Psalms have 22 verses – Psalm 25 today, Psalms 33, 34 later this month; Psalm 119 much later with 176 verses is actually 8 x 22. When you see a Psalm with 22 verses, it is typically the case that each verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which contains 22 letters. These Psalms are known as “alphabetic acrostics”; sometimes the verses begin alphabetically in order while other times the letters are scrambled, but each is used. FYI.
Today is another of David’s laments. What is he lamenting? Often he is sorry for his own sins – see verses 7 and 11b today. Other times he is sorry for the sins of the nation Israel. Most often in these laments David is sad, lonely, and afflicted (Ps. 25:16-18 tomorrow). But an unusual item appears in today’s Psalm in verse 11a: For your name’s sake, O LORD… (see also v. 7b). David is concerned for God’s reputation, occasionally reminding God of His promises of compassion, mercy, and forgiveness (vv. 6-7), but also reminding God of how Israel’s enemies will regard Him when they win victories over Israel.
David’s laments are not simply “pity party” times in his life, whining about how things are going. Although it may not be going well for him, David’s desire is to grow closer to God. That’s why we’ll find praise (vv. 9-10), repentance (noted above) and thanksgiving in all his laments. David offers us a good model for our own prayer life when times are difficult.
This psalm may be a lament, but I find it a comforting one, in spite of the obvious distress of the writer (David).
The trust in God in the midst of trouble is encouraging. I especially love the prayer in verses 4-7. I would do well to pray those verses every day!
My study notes point out the pairing of “Remember… your great mercy and love…” and “Remember not …” (all that sinful, stupid stuff I did before and still do …). Amen to that!
There’s also a third “remember” in that pairing you mentioned, the one that stuck out for me: “…remember ME”!! 😊!