Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 25

Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul - In meditation; in gratitude; in praise.

The idea is that the thoughts are lifted up from earth and earthly subjects to God. This is the beginning of the meditation; this gives character, perhaps, to the psalm.

The state of mind is that of one who turns cheerfully away from earthly themes and opens his mind to more lofty and hallowed influences.

The mind begins with God; and, beginning with this, the current of thought is allowed to flow on, gathering up such ideas as would fall under this general purpose. Opening the mind to this influence, thoughts would flow in upon the soul embracing a wide range, and perhaps not very closely connected among themselves, but all of which would be fitted to raise the heart to God in meditation, thankfulness, and praise.

O my God, I trust in thee - This is the first thought: a feeling that he had true confidence in God, and that in all the duties of life, in all his trials, and in all his hopes for the future, his reliance was on God alone.

Let me not be ashamed - That is, let me never be so forsaken by you as to have occasion for shame that I have thus trusted in you. The prayer is not that he might never be ashamed to avow and confess his trust in God, but that he might find God to be such a helper and friend that he might never be ashamed on account of the trust which he had put in Him, as if it had been a false reliance; that he might not be disappointed, and made to feel that he had done a foolish thing in confiding in One who was not able to help him. See the word explained in the notes at Job 6:20. Compare Isaiah 30:5; Jeremiah 8:9; Jeremiah 14:3–4.

Let not mine enemies triumph over me - This explains what the psalmist meant by his prayer that he might not be “ashamed,” or put to shame. He prayed that he might not be vanquished by his foes, and that it might not appear that he had trusted in a Being who was unable to defend him.

Applied now to us, the prayer would imply a desire that we may not be so overcome by our spiritual foes as to bring dishonor on ourselves and on the cause which we profess to love; that we may not be held up to the world as those who are unable to maintain the warfare of faith, and exposed to scorn as those who are unfaithful to their trust; that we may not be so forsaken, so left to trial without consolation, so given over to sadness, melancholy, or despair, as to leave the world to say that reliance on God is vain, and that there is no advantage in being his friends.

Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed - To “wait on the Lord” is an expression denoting true piety, as indicating our dependence on Him, and as implying that we look to Him for the command that is to regulate our conduct and for the grace needed to protect and save us. Compare (Isaiah 40:31). See also (Isaiah 8:17); (Isaiah 30:18); (Psalms 40:1); (Psalms 69:3). This petition is indicative of the wish of the pious heart that none who profess to serve God may ever be put to shame; that they may never be overcome by sin; that they may never fall under the power of temptation; that they may not fail of eternal salvation.

Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause - This does not imply that any sinners transgress with cause, or that they have any good reason for sinning; but it brings into view a prominent thought regarding sin: that it is without cause. If the wicked had any good reason for their course of life, if they were compelled to do wrong, if the temptations under which they act were so powerful that they could not resist them, if they were not voluntary in their transgressions—then true benevolence would demand of us the prayer that they might not be confounded or put to shame.

However, since none of these circumstances occur in the case of the sinner, there is no lack of benevolence in praying that all the workers of evil may be put to confusion; that is, that they may not triumph in an evil course, but that their plans may be defeated, and that they may be arrested in their course. There is no benevolence in desiring the triumph of wickedness; there is no lack of benevolence in praying that all the plans of wicked men may be confounded, and all the purposes of evil be frustrated. True benevolence requires us to pray that all their plans may be arrested, and that the sinner may not be successful in his course. A person may be certain that he is acting according to the principles of benevolence when he endeavors to prevent the consummation of the plans and the desires of the wicked.

Show me your ways, O Lord - The “ways” of God are His methods of administering the affairs of the world: His dispensations; the rules He has prescribed for Himself in executing His plans; and the great laws by which He governs the universe.

Deuteronomy 32:4 states, “all his ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.”

The psalmist's prayer is that he may be able to understand the methods of divine government: the principles upon which God bestows happiness and salvation; the rules He has been pleased to prescribe for human conduct; the arrangements by which He confers favors upon humankind; and the scheme by which He saves people.

The clear idea is that he might understand enough of this to regulate his own conduct correctly. He desires not to lean on his own understanding or trust his own guidance, but instead to be always under the guidance and direction of God.

Teach me your paths - These are the paths you take; that is, as before, in administering the affairs of the world. This prayer expresses a desire to be wholly under God's direction.

Lead me in your truth - In the way which you regard as truth, or which you see to be true. Truth is eternal and unchanging. What God sees and regards as truth is true, because He sees things as they are; and when we have the divine estimate of anything, we understand what the thing is. It is not that He makes it to be true, but that He sees it to be true.

Such is the perfection of His nature that we have the utmost assurance that what God regards as truth is truth; what He proclaims to be right is right. It is then His truth, as He adopts it for the rule of His own conduct and makes it known to His creatures to guide them.

And teach me - Since this would be understood by the psalmist, it would be a prayer that God would teach him by His law as then made known; by His Spirit in the heart; by the dispensations of His providence. As applicable to us, it is a prayer that He would instruct us by all the truths then made known and all that have since been revealed; by His Spirit’s influences on our hearts; by the events which are occurring around us; and by the accumulated truth of ages. This accumulated truth is the knowledge that, through all the methods He employs, He has imparted to people for their guidance and direction.

For you are the God of my salvation - The word “salvation” is not to be understood here in the sense in which it is now commonly used, as denoting deliverance from sin and future ruin, but in the more general sense of “deliverance”—deliverance from danger and death. The phrase is synonymous with “preservation,” and the idea is that the psalmist regarded God as his preserver, or that he owed his protection and safety in the time of danger to Him alone.

On you I wait - That is, I rely on You, or I am dependent on You. He had no other source of reliance or dependence.

All the day - Continually, always. He was really dependent upon Him at all times, and he felt that dependence. It is always true that we are dependent upon God for everything; it is not true that we always feel this. It was a characteristic of the piety of the psalmist that he did feel this.