Inspiration for Worship

Most of us were taught from an early age to thank those who give us something. Over time, thankfulness becomes an automatic response to the goodness and kindness of others toward us. This is a part of being a member of a civil society.

We should all be motivated to thank and worship God with our lives and lifestyle.  God’s goodness and love lead us to worship Him as good citizens of God's Kingdom.

We look in Psalm 25:4-15 at a Pslam “of David.”  While of David might indicate belonging to, about, on behalf of, or (written) by David, it can also indicate that a psalm is one with prophetic content pointing toward the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Let's introduce this Psalm by reading verses 1-3 of Psalms 25:

1 In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.

2 I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.  3 No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.

The English word shame is from Old English indicating a "painful feeling of guilt or disgrace; confusion caused by shame; state of being in disgrace; dishonor, insult, loss of esteem or reputation."   The Greeks distinguished shame in the bad sense of "disgrace, dishonor" from shame in the good sense of "modesty, bashfulness" with two different words.

The introduction to this Psalm could be paraphrased as "In God we Trust. Don't let us be disgraced, dishonored, insulted, or loose face.  Don't let those opposed to us have success over us. Shame does not come to those who trust you, but those who are maliciously dishonest or false to sworn allegiance or their sacred obligations without cause will be shamed."

In our current era I think that these first three verses of Psalm 25 are vital for us to keep in mind.  We, ALL OF US, and all of the USA, need to trust the creator, follow God's policies, and shame those who are maliciously dishonest, or false without cause to their sworn duties or obligations.  

Where there is "no shame" one cannot feel dishonored, insulted, or embarrassed.  Like a modern day "Karen" they charge ahead in their maliciousness, dishonesty, or falsity and cannot be convinced that anyone but their self is correct. 

The quarterly points out a humorous anecdote of a star athlete scoring a touchdown and when the camera zooms in for a closeup, he says, "Hi, Mom!" The author states, "It doesn’t matter that dad taught him everything he knows about football. In the moment when the world is watching, mom is the one who gets the greeting."  It’s natural to respond to the nurturing we get from our mothers. But even our mothers don’t care for us like God does. 

But let's look at our focal passages for today.  David opened this Psalm with the "In God We Trust" passage, now he explains his request of God.

Psalm 25:4-7

4 Make your ways known to me, Lord; teach me your paths. 
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; I wait for you all day long. 
6 Remember, Lord, your compassion and your faithful love, for they have existed from antiquity. 
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my acts of rebellion; in keeping with your faithful love, remember me because of your goodness, Lord.

When we consider the compassion and faithful love of God, we are moved to worship Him.  I would paraphrase these verses roughly as Teach me YOUR ways God, I will wait for you to teach me.  Your compassion and love are eternal.  Please forget my screw ups of when I didn't know better.  Teach me to know better.

The request of David is for more than conceptual knowledge; it is a plea for instruction that affects life. While the word knowledge is a capacity for knowing, understanding; familiarity, or a fact or the awareness of a fact, in the 1100s the word indicated acknowledgment of a superior, honor, and worship. This basically is a restatement of verses 1-3.  God, you are our superior. We honor and worship you.  The concept is that since God is so far superior to humanity we should be seeking to follow, AND HONOR, God.

The Psalm asks for guidance in God's Truth. The Hebrew word was used of reliability and faithfulness, but it also refers to truth in the objective sense. It is in reference to God’s instruction, laws, decrees, and commandments and the objective results that observing and following those commandments bring. It is as simple as law abiding citizens bring good results, those who are treacherous without cause bring bad or harmful results.

Humanity likes to paint God as a jealous, vengeful, and dictatorial tyrant. But David points out that God's compassion and love have "existed from antiquity." Compassion carries the thought of tender feelings for a helpless or dependent person and is related to the Hebrew word for “womb,” implying maternal instincts. This Hebrew word can also be rendered “mercy.” So, in a way, God CAN be viewed not only as a heavenly FATHER, but as a heavenly MOTHER as well - God is the originator, God is the bearer, God is the nurturer, God has always been so.

The phrase Faithful love in verse 6 represents the important Hebrew term hesed, with so many shades of meaning no oneEnglish word adequately expresses its variety. It indicates “loving-kindness,” “steadfast love,” “mercy,” “grace,” “loyalty,” “loyal love,” and “love” to list a few. In short, it describes acts of devotion and loving-kindness that go beyond the requirements of duty.” Most importantly, hesed is used to describe God’s nature. Hesed goes to the heart of God’s character and is used in reference to the inexhaustible quality of the Lord’s faithfulness to His covenant and His covenant people. 

David also did not want God to remember “the sins of my youth.” He acknowledged he had not always followed God's ways. David thus confessed his past failures and prayed for forgiveness.

David contrasted his youth with God’s “antiquity”. “Missing the mark” – the literal meaning of sin – refers to human frailty, falling short, or failing to measure up. Just as infants and children commonly do not measure up to adult understanding, knowledge or wisdom, so humanity commonly does not measure up to God's "adult" understanding, knowledge, and wisdom of spiritual matters. 

David recognized that some of his sin offenses were because he didn't know better, but he also recognized that with some of these sin offenses he knew better, but he chose to rebel against God's way intentionally. Some screw ups are unintentional and some screw ups are intentional. David based his request for forgiveness on God’s hesed and on His goodness. Goodness here is an attribute of God. 

In verses 8-11 we will be reminded of the goodness of God.

Psalm 25:8-11

8 The Lord is good and upright; therefore he shows sinners the way. 
9 He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 
10 All the Lord’s ways show faithful love and truth to those who keep his covenant and decrees. 
11 Lord, for the sake of your name, forgive my iniquity, for it is immense.

You are just regaining consciousness and you are strapped into an aircraft that has crashed in the water and has sunk far below the surface and you can’t tell which way is up. How can you tell if you are upside down or right side up? Helicopter Underwater Egress Training is training provided to helicopter flight crews, offshore oil and gas industry, law enforcement personnel, and military personnel who are regularly transported by helicopters over water. One technique of such training is to follow the bubbles. 

It is a law of nature that less dense gas bubbles will rise in the increased density of water. Follow the bubbles is a way to find the surface. This is what God's nature is like. Because of God's hesed, IF we follow God we will, like the bubbles underwater, rise to meet God. God's nature, like the bubbles, must always rise to the level of goodness.  We metaphorically need to follow God's bubbles...

God is good. He loves because He is loving. We experience His goodness; not because we are worthy of it, but because He is good. Good refers to the Lord’s essence—it is what He is in and of Himself. The Lord’s goodness is because he is upright. Because David was (and we are) not upright he recognized and appealed to God’s uprightness to forgive his own lack!

Because God is upright, While he could not ignore David’s sins, but because He is good, He could forgive David’s sins.  God is the bubbles in our analogy. Focusing on that which IS good, loving, and upright will lead you to what is good, loving and upright. Hence David notes therefore he shows sinners the way. 

One of the attributes of God's disciples is humility verse 9 tells us. The word may also be rendered “the meek.” The word derives from a root meaning to bend or bow down, and indicates those who have been bent over by affliction. These meek, or the humble, are those who experience help, guidance, and forgiveness from the Lord. Why so? Because they are focused on God, God's goodness, love, and uprightness (justice) they are acutely aware of how lacking in goodness, love and uprightness they CAN be and so are humbled before God.

The humble often are contrasted with the proud, mockers, and oppressors in the prophets and in the wisdom literature. The haughty, the contemptuous, and the oppressor, what we could today call the tyrant, are the opposite of humble. It is THEIR view, THEIR opinion, THIER desire that matters to them. God's opinion is not of concern to them and so they unwisely promote their opinions as better than God's wisdom.

The Bible constantly urges people to humble themselves before the Lord. When one is humble, it is easier to be open to listen to God. The humble will allow God to guide them. The Lord then leads those who will travel life in His paths to make right decisions and correct judgments and act accordingly, but those who claim to believe in the Lord need to live by His revealed truth. We shouldn't pick and choose what WE desire to follow but rather should strive to follow ALL that is good, upright and just.

David asked God’s forgiveness based on God’s own reputation—His name. While this seems to be self serving or manipulative (God YOU are good so you MUST forgive me because it is in your interest to do so), Another way to view this request is along the lines of God, I am in a position of leadership and I know that I, in no way compare to your goodness! Please forgive me, one who doesn't deserve it so that I can be an example to others of how good YOU are in forgiving me! I am a bad example, let me be a good, bad example so others may be drawn closer to you. 

David was aware of the magnitude of his past sins against the uprightness of God, but the word used, for forgive is not the usual Hebrew word used for forgiveness. Here, for the first time in Psalms, this Hebrew word is used with this meaning of pardon, forgive, or spare and becomes a technical term for forgiveness. It involves not only sin’s forgiveness but its removal. When we consider the goodness and forgiveness of God, we are moved to worship Him. When we follow God's' path we are led to forgiveness AND REMOVAL of our sin, our screw ups. It was all just so much learning that led to a better you.

Now let's look at the characteristics of those who respond to God's goodness with reverence and worship. 

Psalm 25:12-15

12 Who is this person who fears the Lord? He will show him the way he should choose. 
13 He will live a good life, and his descendants will inherit the land. 
14 The secret counsel of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he reveals his covenant to them. 
15 My eyes are always on the Lord, for he will pull my feet out of the net.

What does it look like to always have our eyes on the Lord? David asked a rhetorical question to put the focus on any person who meets the requirement. Who is it that fears the Lord, what does it look like? Fear does not refer to an emotion that causes one to hide in terror from the Lord. Here it is not the terror of God’s judgment or of failing to live up to God's standards. Rather, this is a reverential fear that derives from the Lord’s faithful love. Godly fear, or the fear of the Lord, causes one to heed God's instruction. 

While the world envisions God as some kind of "Slave driver" who follows along behind us and drives us in the direction that GOD wishes, here is a better analogy: like a good shepherd, God is not trying to heard cats by pushing them in one direction or another, God LEADS, going ahead of the herd and entices them to follow on the good path upon which God leads. The Christian life was described as one where Christ is out front and we are following. Like a little child we struggle to keep up and come alongside of Christ. It is this desire to follow that makes us followers of Christ, not some threat or rule that dictates our actions against our wills.

As David notes in Verse 12, the emphasis falls on choice. The Lord will show those who fear Him the best path to utilize, but they must choose whether to follow it or not. I liken it to Peter. Jesus walked by the disciples rowing their boat on the water. The disciples had the choice to follow in their boat as they were currently doing or to get out and walk with Jesus on the water. Peter got out. As long as as he was focused on Jesus he was capable of walking towards Jesus on the water. When he took his attention, his focus, off of Jesus he floundered and began to sink. Either way, the disciples were pursuing Jesus, most in the boat, one by walking on water. WE get to choose the path we take to pursue Jesus. He will show us the best path and we have the choice to pursue that path or to attempt to take our own less than best path. 

Those who choose to follow the Lord’s ways prosper—they will live a good life. Literally the Hebrew reads “live in good,” in prosperity. From a biblical perspective, the good life is everything that enhances and enriches life, as God would have us live it. This goodness is to be passed to our descendants so that they may also pursue God.

The term secret counsel in verse 14 indicates close and intimate communion with God. Secret implies hidden or not widely known. Who knows the plans of the ruler but the ruler and those that the ruler has told. God reveals not only His ways to those who honor Him in their lives, but He reveals His heart to them as well. God confides in them His most intimate thoughts. They become “friends” of God. This is a privileged relationship, a relationship granted to only those who choose to be in God's inner circle - the relatively small number close to the leader. 

David's reference to his eyes refers to his spiritual focus, his commitment to the Lord, and to where he would look for his help and provision. David learned that keeping his eyes on the Lord would prevent him from falling into hidden traps (or as in Peter's case, from sinking under the water). 

He will pull in verse 15 is another indicator of God pulling his flock along rather than pushing. David needed deliverance and here affirmed that God will pull David towards God and out of whatever trap or entanglement he was in. God doesn't herd humanity by pushing them, God entices humanity by leading them and inviting them. Acceptance of an invitation are entirely discretionary and each member of the "herd" gets to choose to follow the leader, or to wander in the desert.

We are inspired to worship God when we consider the love and forgiveness God has shown us in Christ. We respond in worship to His leadership in our lives. As He lovingly guides and directs our paths, we know that God’s compassion draws humanity to worship. 

God provides guidance and direction to us by His Spirit and through His Word. It's so important that we keep our spiritual eyes on Him and ever seek His guidance in our daily walk. It is important for us to invite others to become members of God's herd and make the choice to either follow God or go through life struggling.

God initiated our worship by loving us first. God’s goodness and love lead us to worship Him. God is our inspiration for worship.