John Calvin Commentary Psalms 25

To You, O Jehovah! etc. The Psalmist declares at the very outset that he is not driven here and there, like the ungodly, but directs all his desires and prayers to God alone. Nothing is more inconsistent with true and sincere prayer to God than to waver and look around for worldly help, as the heathen do; and, at the same time, to forsake God or not to turn directly to His guardianship and protection.

Those who imagine that David here declares he had devoted himself entirely to God, as if he had offered himself up in sacrifice, do not properly understand the meaning of the passage. Rather, the meaning is that, in order to strengthen his hope of obtaining his request, he declares—what is of greatest importance in prayer—that his hope was fixed in God, and that he was not ensnared by the world's allurements or prevented from lifting up his soul fully and sincerely to God. Therefore, so that we may pray properly to God, let us be guided by this rule: not to distract our minds with various and uncertain hopes, nor to depend on worldly aid, but to give God the honor of lifting up our hearts to Him in sincere and earnest prayer. Moreover, although the verb is properly translated I will lift up, I have followed other interpreters in changing it to the past tense, I have lifted up. By the future tense, however, David denotes a continuous action.

O my God! I have put my trust in you. From this verse we learn (what will become clearer later) that David was dealing with men; but since he was persuaded that his enemies were, so to speak, the scourges of God, he rightly asks that God would restrain them by His power, so that they would not become more insolent and continue to exceed all bounds.

By the word trust, he confirms what he had just said about the lifting up of his soul to God; for the term is used either to describe the way in which the souls of the faithful are lifted up, or faith and hope are added as the cause of such an effect—namely, the lifting up of the soul.

Indeed, these are the wings by which our souls, rising above this world, are lifted up to God. David, then, was carried upward to God with the whole desire of his heart because, trusting in His promises, he thus hoped for sure salvation. When he asks that God would not allow him to be put to shame, he offers up a prayer taken from the ordinary doctrine of Scripture: namely, that those who trust in God shall never be ashamed.

The reason that is added, and which he here pleads to move God to have pity on him, should also be noted. It is this: that he would not be exposed to the derision of his enemies, whose pride is no less hurtful to the feelings of the godly than it is displeasing to God.

Indeed, none of those, etc. If these words are interpreted as a desire, as if David had said, "Let none who wait on you be put to shame," then, in this verse, he continues his prayer and extends to all the faithful in common what he had spoken of himself alone.

But I am more inclined to understand the words in a different sense, viewing them as meaning that David shows the fruit of divine grace that would proceed from his deliverance. And there is peculiar force in the word indeed; for as he knew that he was seen by many, and that the report of his confidence in God was widely spread, his meaning is that what will be done in his person will extend far and wide as an example to others. This will have the effect of reviving and animating all the children of God, on the one hand, and of casting to the ground the arrogance of the wicked, on the other.

The words might also be understood in another sense: namely, that David, to strengthen his faith, sets before himself a promise that God frequently makes in His word. But the sense in which I have interpreted them seems more suitable.

By the wicked who deal falsely without cause, he no doubt means especially his enemies. Accordingly, he declares that when he is delivered, he will not exclusively enjoy its benefit; instead, its fruit will extend to all true believers. Just as, on the other hand, the faith of many would have been shaken if he had been forsaken by God.

In the last clause of the verse, which he contrasts with the first, he argues that when the wicked are confounded, it redounds to the glory of God. This is because the boasting in which they indulge in their prosperity is an open mockery of God, while, despite His judgment, they act more boldly in doing evil.

When he adds, without cause, this only serves to show the aggravated nature of the offense. The wickedness of a person is always more intolerable when, unprovoked by any wrongs, they set themselves, of their own accord, to injure the innocent and blameless.

O Jehovah! make me to know your ways. By the ways of the Lord, David sometimes means, as we have seen in another place, the happy and prosperous outcome of affairs. More frequently, however, he uses this expression to denote the rule of a holy and righteous life.

Since the term truth occurs in the immediately following verse, the prayer he offers here is, in my opinion, to this effect: Lord, keep your servant in the firm persuasion of your promises, and do not allow him to turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

When our minds are thus composed to patience, we undertake nothing rashly or by improper means, but depend wholly upon the providence of God. Accordingly, in this place David desires not only to be directed by the Spirit of God, so that he does not err from the right way, but also desires that God would clearly reveal to him His truth and faithfulness in the promises of His word. This is so that he might live in peace before Him and be free from all impatience.

If anyone would rather take the words in a general sense, as if David committed himself wholly to God to be governed by Him, I do not object to it. However, since I think it probable that, under the name of truth in the next verse, he explains what he means by the ways and paths of God (of which he speaks here), I have no hesitation in referring the prayer to this circumstance. This circumstance is that David, afraid of yielding to the feeling of impatience, the desire for revenge, or some extravagant and unlawful impulse, asks that the promises of God may be deeply impressed and engraved on his heart.

For I have said before, that as long as the thought that God takes care of us prevails in our minds, it is the best and most powerful means for resisting temptations. If, however, anyone would rather understand the ways and paths of God as His doctrine, I nevertheless still hold this as a settled point. This point is that in the language of the Psalmist, there is an allusion to those sudden and irregular emotions that arise in our minds when we are tossed by adversity. These emotions can precipitate us into the devious and deceitful paths of error, until they are in due time subdued or calmed by the word of God.

Thus the meaning is: Whatever may happen, do not let me, O Lord, fall from Your ways, or be carried away by a willful disobedience to Your authority, or any other sinful desire. Rather, let Your truth preserve me in a state of quiet repose and peace, through humble submission to it.

Moreover, although he frequently repeats the same thing—asking that God would make him know His ways, teach him in them, and lead him in His truth—there is no redundancy in these forms of speech. Our adversities are often like mists that darken the eyes. Everyone knows from his own experience how difficult it is, while these clouds of darkness continue, to discern in what way we ought to walk.

But if David, so distinguished a prophet and endowed with so much wisdom, stood in need of divine instruction, what shall become of us if, in our afflictions, God does not dispel from our minds those clouds of darkness that prevent us from seeing His light? Therefore, as often as any temptation may assail us, we ought always to pray that God would make the light of His truth shine upon us, so that, by resorting to sinful devices, we do not go astray and wander into devious and forbidden paths.

At the same time, we ought to observe the argument David employs here to enforce his prayer. By calling God the God of his salvation, he does so to strengthen his hope in God for the future, based on the benefits he had already received from Him. Then he repeats the testimony of his confidence toward God.

Thus, the first part of the argument is taken from the nature of God Himself and the duty which, as it were, belongs to Him. This is because He undertakes to maintain the welfare of the godly and aids them in their necessities, on the ground that He will continue to show the same favor toward them, even to the end.

But as it is necessary that our confidence in God should correspond to His great goodness toward us, David presents it, at the same time, in connection with a declaration of his perseverance. For, by the expression all the day, or every day, he signifies that with a fixed and untiring constancy he depended upon God alone.

And, doubtless, it is the property of faith always to look to God, even in the most trying circumstances, and patiently to wait for the aid He has promised. So that the recollection of divine blessings may nourish and sustain our hope, let us learn to reflect upon the goodness God has already shown toward us. We see David did this in making it the ground of his confidence, having found in his own personal experience God to be the author of salvation.

Remember, O Jehovah; From this it appears, in the first place, that David was grievously afflicted and tried, so much so that he had lost all sense of God’s mercy, for he calls upon God to remember God’s favor for him, as if God had altogether forgotten it.

This, therefore, is the complaint of a man suffering extreme anguish and overwhelmed with grief. We may learn from this, that although God, for a time, may withdraw from us every token of his goodness, and, apparently regardless of the miseries which afflict us, should, as if we were strangers to him and not his own people, forsake us, we must fight courageously until, set free from this temptation, we cordially present the prayer which is here recorded, beseeching God that, returning to his former manner of dealing, he would again begin to manifest his goodness towards us and to deal with us in a more gracious manner.

This form of prayer cannot be used with propriety unless God is hiding his face from us and seems to take no interest at all in us. Moreover, David, by having recourse to the mercy or compassion and goodness of God, testifies that he trusts not to his own merit as any ground of hope.

He who derives everything from the fountain of divine mercy alone finds nothing in himself entitled to recompense in the sight of God. But as the intermission which David had experienced was an obstacle that prevented his free access to God, he rises above it by the very best remedy: the consideration that although God, who from his very nature is merciful, may withdraw himself and cease for a time to manifest his power, yet he cannot deny himself. That is to say, he cannot divest himself of the feeling of mercy which is natural to him and which can no more cease than his eternal existence.

But we must firmly maintain this doctrine: that God has been merciful even from the beginning, so that if at any time he seem to act with severity towards us and to reject our prayers, we must not imagine that he acts contrary to his real character or that he has changed his purpose.

Hence we learn for what end the Scriptures everywhere inform us, that in all ages God has regarded his servants with a benignant eye and exercised his mercy towards them. This, at least, we ought to regard as a fixed and settled point: that although the goodness of God may sometimes be hidden and, as it were, buried out of sight, it can never be extinguished.