Day 49: Psalms 25:8-11
Psalm 25:8 Good and upright is the LORD; Therefore He teaches sinners in the way. 9The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way. 10All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth, To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies. 11For Your name’s sake, O LORD, Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
Our Triune, Sovereign, and holy God, You are good. You are good and loving and upright, and righteous! You seek out Your children and show us both our need for righteousness and Your provision in Christ! Even in your forgiveness and cleansing of sins, Your Word says. If we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Yes, there is compassion, but there is also justice and truth. You do not pretend there are no problems. You do not sinfully cover up problems. You deal with sin, evil and judgment.
Your servant Joseph thought Mary had sinned and become pregnant by another man. But Joseph reflected Your great righteousness, kindness, and love as is seen here. Matthew 1:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, desired to put her away secretly. Joseph wanted to do the right thing. He wanted to be just. Perhaps Hosea’s great love and forgiveness of his erring wife could have come to mind. Perhaps the Old Testament Levitical law that allowed for the stoning of an unfaithful mate was something he thought about. Whatever the case, Joseph wanted to do the right thing. His goal was not to destroy but to deal with a terrible issue.
Lord, if You should mark iniquities, who should stand? (Psalm 130:3). For “There is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10). If You were only just and never kind, then there would be no hope for any of us. If You only meted out what we deserved there would be no one left alive. Psalm 130:4 But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. There is kindness and hope.
You, O Lord, are good, therefore You teach sinners in the way. You do not leave us in our sin. John 1:11 You came to Your own people, and Your own people did not receive You. 12But as many as received You, to them You gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in Your name. Lord, You come to us, even while we are dead and our trespasses and sins. As Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, You have come to meet with us, to eat with us, to speak with us, in spite of our sin. You bring us out of the kingdom of darkness and into Your glorious kingdom of light. You have shown us Your truth and Your truth sets all true believers free through Jesus Christ.
O Lord, I still remember that dream I had. I dreamed I was in heaven before Your throne, dressed in a robe of righteousness, but covering my head because I was not worthy to be in Your presence. But You lifted my head. You made me worthy. You have taught me to trust Your love and Your righteousness and not my own righteousness. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly – for us. We did not, we could not ever earn Your love. We could not make You love us. It is only by Your grace that we can see our sin, confess our sin, repent of our sin, and trust Christ’s righteousness. Without Him, we can do nothing. But with Christ, we can do all things.
Lord, I praise Your name. I Thank You for all You have done, are doing and yet will do. Thank You for touching me, loving me, forgiving me, and helping me believe and begin to follow You. Though I am often fickle, yet You continue to work in me and make me more and more faithful, more and more believing. All praise be to Your name.
The Lord is good and righteous and continues to teach this forgiven sinner all along the way. Amen and Hallelujah!
You guide the humble to Your justice. You guide the humble in Your way. It is those who admit that they are sinners, poor and needy who find Your help. They seek You because You alone have the words that lead to eternal life. When they stop and ask spiritual directions, when they admit that they do not know the way, but seek You because You do know the way. Those who depend on You are blessed.
Your paths are mercy and truth. Your paths are the way of life. Help us follow You and live. You do not give us what we deserve and that is Your mercy. You hold back Your judgment because of Your love and because of the sacrifice of Your Son Jesus for our souls. You guide us into all truth. Your Word is truth, and Your Holy Spirit increases our understanding, our longing to know and to do Your will.
You help us to keep Your covenant, to be covenant keepers and not covenant breakers. Help us be faithful to the testimonies of Your people. Help us to be faithful to the testimonies, the evidence of Your grace throughout the universe.
Do all this for Your glory, for Your sake, for Your name. Do not do this for us, for we are weak and fickle and undeserving. But save us and use us for Christ’s sake, for Christ’s glory. Forgive our iniquity. Do not let our sin diminish Your glorious name or Your wondrous work. Our iniquity is great. We have offended You in thought, word, and deed. We have not loved You with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. We have not loved one another as Christ has loved us. God forgive us our sins, for they are many and full of sinful pride and defiance of You. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Pardon our iniquity because of Jesus’ one-time sacrifice for us on the cross.
Pardon our iniquity, for it is great. You have taught me more and more how great and deep and ugly my sin truly is. But Your grace, Your love, Your forgiveness is even greater. It is greater than all my sin, all the sin of all Your people for all ages.
Growing in Prayer 