Psalms 25:4–5

This is not a request for even a right way, but for God's own way. We cannot learn His ways and His paths anywhere but in His word. And we cannot trust ourselves to learn this properly without God's own leading. So the psalm goes on, "Lead me in Your truth and teach me" (v. 5). We need more than to be told God's truth. We need God to teach us. His teaching is not only instruction. It also includes His disciplining hand, which holds back wrong thoughts and encourages true ones.

These are not simply ways in which He would have us walk, but ways which are in principle His own ways. We are called and privileged to "be imitators of God, as dear children" (Eph. 5:1, Gk.). Obedience is an essential part of this for us. And the Son of God Himself has "learned" obedience — learned it in suffering, down here among us (Heb. 5:8). What an incentive and encouragement for us!

He has found rest by committing himself, and his circumstances, to the LORD. Now he wants to see the LORD's ways, to be taught His paths, and to be led in the truth. Believers are often too taken up with the evil ways of men, the crooked paths they walk, and the errors they teach. But God has His own ways to guide how His people live, His paths for their feet to walk, and His truth to teach them.

It is not a way marked out and then left to us. God Himself watches over us and guides us. The way suits Him and is the fruit of His wisdom — a divine way for us. God Himself is what we see here: His goodness, His leading, His interest in us, ready to forgive when needed and to lead with the undistracted eye of love. But this assumes that the heart pays attention to the eye of God. The way is to watch Him and to follow with understanding. So God teaches the soul within what pleases Him, and shapes it after Himself in knowledge.

He deals this way with those who are near Him in heart. He gives them the capacity to understand Him and to receive what is in His mind. This is solemn. Israel could only know Him by His outward acts. In heart they were far from Him, so they were unfit to hear His counsels and His ways. It is always so. One Christian is fit for this: he obeys the mind and will God has revealed, he wants to bow to Him, and he responds to the way God has shown Himself. God waits for that, and guides and instructs him. Another is slow to hear, and learns very little.

The thought of God's ways reminds the believer of his own ways, often so contrary to God's. This leads to the confession of sins, and to the believer casting himself upon the tender mercies and loving-kindness of the LORD.

"Make me to know Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths" (v. 4). This asks not even for a right way, but for God's own way. We can learn His ways and His paths nowhere but in His word. And we cannot trust ourselves to learn them correctly without God's own leading. So the psalm adds, "Lead me in Your truth and teach me" (v. 5). Hearing God's truth is not enough; we need God Himself to teach us. And His teaching is not only instruction. It includes His disciplining hand, which restrains misguided thoughts and encourages true ones.

Believers often get taken up with the evil ways of men, the crooked paths they walk, and the errors they teach. But God has His ways to guide the conduct of His people, His paths for their feet to tread, and His truth to instruct them. Our great concern should be to see His ways, to be taught His paths, and, not only to know the truth, but to be led in the truth.

Sheep are passive creatures and can do little for themselves. Believers can do just as little in the work of their salvation. In themselves they know the way of salvation no better than sheep do. They cannot walk in it unless they are taught and led. "Teach me, O Lord" (Ps. 119:33): "Lead me in Your truth" (Ps. 25:5). They are like a blind man holding out his hand to his guide. Leading may suppose some willingness; but we must be drawn: "No one can come to me unless the Father… draws him" (John 6:44). There is a word of special grace that goes beyond teaching, leading and drawing. That word is leaning: "Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?" (Song 8:5). And there is one word more: bearing. When the good Shepherd has found the lost sheep, "he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing" (Luke 15:5).

And this God, whose ways we are called to know, is the "God of salvation." This is where worship springs from, as the Lord showed at the well in Sychar (John 4:22). And the spirit of worship must always be the spirit of obedience too. The salvation itself is, of course, a salvation from sin, or it would be no salvation at all. How suitable then is the argument, "Direct me in Your faithfulness, and teach me; for You are the God of my salvation"! He must be faithful to this purpose of His heart. So the glad soul may "wait for Him all the day long" without growing tired. That is how it gathers strength, for waiting on Him is itself rest. His patience is the patience of Almighty power, and it can never run short.

A soul may be convinced of sin and try to recover the place it has lost before God. This soul believes there is some means other than pure pardon. It has no true relationship with God yet. It can no longer seek the world; it observes the Lord's day; it attends meetings, and rests on such things. But then the soul is not convinced that God is love, any more than it is in God's presence with a true knowledge of itself. Not being humbled, it chooses its own way to reach God, and cannot say, "I wait on you," as in verses 5 and 21. It is when we are convinced that there is no question of getting to God, but that we are in His presence and lost, that we can say, "For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great."

They will turn to Him and inquire for His ways, His paths and His truth. Here are their prayers: "Show me — lead me — teach me — remember Your mercies — remember not my sins — remember me." And He will answer; yes, He will remember their sins and iniquities no more and remember them in mercy. Our prayer as Christian believers is also for guidance, but we know that our sins are put away, that He has saved us.