Teach Me Your Paths, Part 1

Teach Me Your Paths

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

- Psalms 25:1

Every night I try to lift up my soul to The Lord! Asking Him to fill it so that it overflows with His love and grace. I must say I really enjoy all of Psalms 25 although my favorite verse is probably verse 2 (KJV): O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, Let not mine enemies triumph over me. Isn't that a wonderful verse? Let's look at Psalms 25:1-3 (ESV) together:

1 To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

2 O my God, in you I trust;

let me not be put to shame;

let not my enemies exult over me.

3 Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;

they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

I'm not sure whether Psalms 25 was a song or prayer of David but I like to read it as a prayerful passage. As I understand it is actually an acrostic poem, with each verse beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Through this section we lift up our souls to the Lord, trusting in Him to not allow us to be put to shame or allow our enemies to triumph over us. Often I'll pray to the Lord saying "God, I lift up my soul to you and I am putting my faith and my trust in you for its protection." Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous (25:3). Or they shall be ashamed who are unrestrained in their treachery. Nobody who trusts in the Lord will feel guilt but those who are unrestrained in their treachery will be guilty! Shame, from BibleStudyTools.com: Sinful human beings are traumatized before a holy God, exposed for failure to live up to God's glorious moral purpose. The first response of Adam and Eve to their sinful condition was to hide from God, and consequently from one another (Gen 3:7-8 ; 2:25).

We lift our souls up to God and we trust in Him. NONE who wait or trust in the Lord shall be put to shame! But those who are unrestrained in their treachery they hide from the Lord, ashamed and exposed for their sinful condition. So take this opportunity to lift up your soul but not just your soul, lift up your sins, your burdens, your ailments and give them over to the Lord to be cleansed. Pray that He not let us feel shame or guilt but lift those feelings out of our hearts because we know we are forgiven, Christ Jesus paid the ultimate price to have that burden lifted off of all of us and that is what it means to be saved. The wicked who hide from God and bear the shame of their treachery on their own shoulders do not know that forgiveness and they shall be ashamed if not now then on the day of judgement! 

I enjoy the book of Psalms for its ability to teach us about praise and prayer. It is understood that most of them were authored by David which means it was before Christ. Give it a read and wait for part 2 as we study Psalms 25 a bit more. If you have anything to add or anything that I missed point it out in the comments section and I encourage everyone to study the Word of God and to know truth for themselves because you cannot stand before God on the day of judgement and say that "well my pastor said this or my mother said that or I read this on a blog somewhere!" Pray for discernment, open your Bibles and soak up truth! God bless.