Psalm 25:1-3 – Nice Psalm

Here is my literal translation of these verses:

[Given] to David: To You, Yahveh, I lift up my soul. My God, I trust [recklessly] in You. Let me not be ashamed. Do not let my enemies triumph over me. Also, do NOT let ones waiting for/hoping in You be ashamed. Let be ashamed ones dealing unfaithfully without cause.

Lots of things cross my mind as I’ve pondered these verses.

First of all, this Psalm has a characteristic opening which says simply “To David.” Once when I was studying the Psalms with a Rabbi, I said something attributing a Psalm to David, at which time the Rabbi most emphatically corrected me, pointing out that the Hebrew says “to David,” not “by David.” He suggested that someone else wrote it and perhaps presented it to David. I had to acknowledge that his translation was correct. It does say, “To David.” On the other hand, I knew there was some explanation. Interestingly, in Matthew 22: 43-45, Jesus very clearly recognizes David as the author of Psalm 110:1. He says, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?" Also interestingly, Psalm 110 begins with the same “To David;” yet Jesus unequivocally recognizes David as the author.

So why is it “to David?” I think Jesus explains it in the passage quoted above when He says, “…David, speaking by the Spirit …” I doubt not one whit that David was far too humble to claim authorship of a Psalm. He was all too aware that the Psalms were given to him, and so, in that humility, he never signed them “By David” but rather “To David.” Simple explanation, in my humble opinion.

Then I notice that David says, “To You, Yahveh, I lift up my soul.” This is in stark contrast to Psalm 143:3, where he says, “The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground.” That is why we have to constantly “lift up our souls” to the Lord. We have an enemy who is constantly crushing us down to the ground. David says in Psalm 27:13, “I would have fainted except I believed …” Satan and this world and even our own sin natures work quadruple over-time to knock us down, in a million different ways: “You’re no good. You’ll never make it. You’ll never amount to anything. See, you just can’t win, can you? What’s the point of trying? Give it up, stupid. That’s what you get for hoping. Of course you’re angry. You should be. Go ahead, let them have it! Go ahead, you deserve it! Go ahead. Give in. Why fight it any longer?” On and on, day after day, ad nauseum. Spurgeon said, “Very often, the soul cannot rise, [it is] more like a burrowing mole than a soaring eagle.” I personally can imagine no other cure than to “lift up my soul to the Lord.” “Much of what they’re saying may be too true. But You are my strength, my hope, my shield. By grace let me walk today. By grace give me the victory of love. To You I lift up my soul.” Apparently I find life very much like David did. Guess things haven’t changed much in 3000 years.

Another thing I love: In v2, he says, “I trust in You.” “Be-ka batakti.” I love the Hebrew word Batak. Simply translated it means to trust. But the Hebrew picture is far more colorful. It means to trust recklessly. It means to leave nothing in the bank. It’s like the “trust falls” the kids like to do. I hope that is how I trust the Lord: recklessly. He certainly deserves it.

Then he says, “Let me not be ashamed.” This is an important point, I think, where we have to shift cultures. In English, to be ashamed can be a very personal, private thing, the bad feelings I have when I deeply regret a course of action I pursued. But that is very, very American. We are first and foremost individuals. There is almost no sense of community in our souls. Yes, I am an American. Yes, I may be part of a team. But I am very much an individual within those communities and I expect to be recognized as such.

From what I have read of history and certainly from reading through the Old Testament numerous times, I am often amazed at how much more the ancient world was truly a community. People saw themselves first of all as members of a family, of a village, of a nation. I think we saw that in the Beijing Olympics even with the opening ceremonies, where there was an amazing number of Chinese able to perform together in perfect harmony and rhythm. As I watched that performance, I thought to myself, “You could never do that in America. You couldn’t get that many people to perform together in a group so large that they completely lose their independent existence". What this all comes down to is this word “shame.” In Hebrew it is not a private word for feelings I have sitting alone in my room. It is a very public word. It describes the feelings I have when I know I have failed and everyone else knows it too … and they’re all standing around pointing at me.

David is saying, “Lord, I want to trust recklessly in You. But if I do so, I fear my own failure. I fear people mocking and saying, 'Trust in God? Ha! See where it got you?'” The problem is that, even if what I’m doing is good, I have an infinite capacity to screw it up and make a mess of everything. I desperately need God’s help to actually succeed, to stick it out to the end, to overcome the obstacles, to not lose heart in the middle, to see it through to a successful end. I have projects at work right now where that is exactly what I’m praying. They must succeed. One in particular we are pusuing specifically because I said it will work. $30,000 from now, it had better work. If it doesn’t, I’ll be ashamed for recommending it, for wasting their money. And I’ll also be ashamed in the community sense because it simply must work. It is critically important.

So, although, we are very individual in America, public shame is a very real threat. While I hate the private feelings of regretting my own failures, I like that this Hebrew word is so much bigger. And I’m glad I can pray, “Let me not be ashamed,” and mean it in that very large public sense. The simple fact is, I fear that too.

There is much, much more to say, but I’ll end this post by noting that David adds, “Also, do NOT let ones waiting for/hoping in You be ashamed …” I don’t know if he means “Don’t let them be ashamed because of my failure” or just in general he’s thinking of others. Either way, he’s thinking of others. There’s that community thing again. And it’s a good thing. I hope when I’m praying, and especially when I’m praying out of suffering and anguish, that my heart is big enough to remember that people all around me are suffering too. David obviously was like that. Jesus certainly was like that. I should be too. Also, for whatever it's worth, I capitalized the NOT because it is the most emphatic Hebrew word for "Not." If anything, David was more concerned for others than for himself! "Let me not be ashamed, but let them NOT be ashamed." finally, I love the word translated wait/hope. It interestingly means both in one word. That is why I translated it with both.

Very encouraging Psalm. Thank you, Lord.