This week’s psalm is an acrostic, a poem in which the Hebrew alphabet determines the beginning of each line. We’re left wondering whether this “song of David” is the product of a spiritual/academic “exercise” or an expression of David’s desire to find some kind of order in the midst of the chaos brought about by David’s enemies!

The psalm opens with a statement of trust in God and a plea that this very trust would not be cause for disappointment or shame. David asks the Lord to teach him, to reveal to him right ways and godly paths. We noted that trust itself is something we learn over time (we acknowledged that having children to raise helps us in this process, since parents are so often moved to cry out to God for guidance in caring for them!). Perhaps we echo Paul’s “I have learned to be content” (Philippians 4:11) - that is, we realize that such things as trust and contentment can’t be packaged/given and received/unwrapped in hasty succession. The teaching and the learning take time.

David rejoices that the Lord is a willing teacher. And he sets the stage for a New Testament understanding of grace - that is, we receive God’s forgiveness NOT because we earn it by way of our own sacrifices or righteousness, but because our God is a God who desires to lead us in the paths of truth and love and faithfulness. In Hosea 2, God declares no less than three times, “I betroth you.” He is committed to us - forever.

Psalm 25:14 mentions “the friendship of the Lord,” in some translations, and “the secrets of the Lord,” in others. It would seem that the sharing of confidences must be integral to and characteristic of the relationship the Lord offers us. Perhaps “fearing the Lord” is our taking seriously the Lord’s intentions to instruct us and befriend us and betroth us. Perhaps as we acknowledge the Lord’s intentions, we’ll experience relief from the troubles of our heart, which often seem “enlarged” (Psalm 25:17, in some translations). Perhaps as we try to learn God’s perspectives, we’ll find that we are also learning to trust. And perhaps, in that process, our enemies (whoever or whatever they are) will no longer seem larger than life. Praise God!