Friday, October 21, 2011

Psalm 25 - Prayer for Guidance

LINK: Psalm 25 

BACKGROUND 

If you are reading along with us chronologically, this is our last Psalm of David. David calls for help in his old age asking that the Lord not remember the sin of his youth. This gives us an indication that it might have been written right before his death. 

Psalm 25 is an acrostic prayer psalm. The first letter of each line is the next in the Hebrew alphabet (Aleph, Bet, Gimel, Dalet, He, Waw, etc.).  Obviously, it doesn't translate over to our language, but the New Jerusalem Bible has done it with the English alphabet, and you can read it here: Psalm 25 in New Jerusalem Bible. (It is really cool too.) 

This is a great summary psalm of David's confidence in the Lord for guidance, instruction, and mercy. Note that two closely related keywords in this psalm are "way" (25:4, 8, 9, 12) and "paths" (25:10).

REFLECTION

I am so thankful to David for giving us so many Psalms to model prayer and praise! I am sad to be done with them, but there are quite a few more psalms written by other people yet to be read and prayed through. YAY! 

APPLICATION/PRAYER

Praying through this psalm is a perfect opportunity to meditate on the character of God. As you see Him in all His glory, it will probably lead you into confession. Enjoy!

1 comment:

Carol Ann Weaver said...

I had totally forgotten how the New Jerusalem Bible does an England language acrostic in this Psalm. It is quite cool.