Psalm 25:1-3 – Real World Talk

Again, 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.

I have become more and more convinced over the years that preaching today does people an enormous disservice by focusing almost entirely on “church” and utterly failing to address people’s everyday lives. With all due respect, I think that those in full-time ministry have developed a severe case of “in-grown eyeballs.” Their world centers around the church-building and its programs. And so their preaching does the same. But, sadly, as I’ve lamented before, the fact is that the average lay-person will spend no more than maybe 3 hours a week at the church building. They spend the other 165 hours of their week in a real world – a real world where those same people need desperately to be equipped to know how to live out their faith – the real world of their workplace, their families, their grocery stores, their mechanics, a world of pressing deadlines, bills to be paid, grass to be mown, runny noses, and soccer games. God help me, as I study the Bible, I am trying desperately to bridge that gap in my own life. What I’m reading MUST apply to my life all day every day or it really means nothing at all. It needs to change me as I live in that real world. It needs to make me different, make me like Christ, whether I happen to be inside the four walls of a church building or sitting in a meeting at work.

I say all of this because I think even these first three verses have everything to do with my everyday life. I have read a number of commentaries, both from my own shelves and on-line, and they have offered many helpful insights. Yet not one of them made any connection to real life, at least nothing beyond the very general sentiments of trusting God in difficulty.

What I’d like to do here is offer a way I see the passage applying in my life. I believe my application is valid and hope it might be encouraging to someone else who stumbles onto this post.

The passage involves a stark contrast between those who “wait for/hope in God” and those who “deal unfaithfully without a cause.”

The word “bagad,” which I have translated “to deal unfaithfully” is a word that gets translated by others in a variety of ways. One of the most familiar to me is “to deal treacherously” as in Malachi 2:14 of husbands “dealing treacherously” against “the wife of their youth”. I feel personally that translations like “deal treacherously” lose their effectiveness in their very melodrama. Apparently, in the right context, the word could mean that. But even in Malachi 2:14, the problem is not that the man turned into some kind of arch-fiend and sold his wife into slavery or gambled her away to some ex-con. Even in the passage, the Lord says, “Yet she is your companion and the wife of your covenant.” The man’s heinous crime is simply that he failed to live up to his promise. He promised to be her husband, to take care of her, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, till death do us part. But she displeased him in some way so he packed her bags and pointed her toward the door. He simply was unfaithful. He didn’t keep his promises.

I believe the real and very practical meaning of bagad is simply “to deal unfaithfully;”  “to not keep one’s promises;” “to fail to follow through when others are counting on me.” Can I just pause and say I find that immediately far more likely than that I might “deal treacherously.” I don’t feel “treacherous.” But I am very, very capable of simply not doing what I said I would – whether out of forgetfulness, laziness, distraction, or whatever. I doubt if I’ll be “treacherous.” But I am all too often “unfaithful.”

Now why is that a big deal? It is a COLOSSAL deal. The very essence of our relationship with God is His faithfulness. He keeps His promises. He is Who He said He’d be. He does what He said He’d do. You can count on it. Jesus said, “I am the Truth.” We build our lives, hang our eternal souls, stake our hopes on His promises. And He is absolutely, 100%, totally, unwaveringly dependable. Faithful. He won’t disappoint you. He won’t leave you ashamed. In fact, as I just learned in II Peter, it is through His "very great and precious promises" that we are allowed to "particpate in the divine nature!" So much is built on the fact that He keeps His promises!

You and I live in a world where we MUST do the same. We count on God. Others count on us. They base their plans on what we said we’d do, who we said we’d be. In a sense the entire human race is like a house of cards built on our mutual promises.

So then there are the others. They’re not like God. They “deal unfaithfully without a cause.” Can I say again in warning, don’t lose the practicality here by being melodramatic. We’re not looking here at some kind of monsters. We’re talking simply about people who don’t keep their promises, who don’t do what they said they would. The monstrosity is in the sin itself. Unfaithfulness, the simple act, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant, is itself a MONSTROUS sin. And why? As I said above, because we all depend on each other – to do what we said we would. Again, the whole human race is like a house of cards built on our mutual dependence. And simple unfaithfulness is the death of it all.

Back to our passage. David is praying as one of the people who is sincerely trying to live faithfully. It’s a precarious thing. It’s often uncertain. Just trying to be who I’m supposed to be, do what I’m supposed to do, to live with integrity. I have to make a lot of hard choices. I have to make promises. I have to present myself as a person of integrity, a person of sincere and good intentions. But I live in a world where it can all blow up in my face, turn out not at all as I planned, leave me looking like a liar, a charlatan. On the other hand, even as I’m going about trying to be faithful, I live in a world where others have no such intentions. They make the same promises as me, present themselves the same way, yet have no intention at all of living up to it. And they usually are the ones who seem to succeed. They’re the ones who get rich. David says, “No, no, no. Lord, please don’t let me be ashamed. Don’t let the people who are trying to be faithful be the ones who end up ashamed. The ones who ought to do down in shame are all these slinky jerks who go around promising people the world, then just using them. May those be the ones who end up ashamed!”

This antithesis is patently obvious in my business world. I am an engineer. I work particularly with small towns. I want to be their engineer. I want to help them. They need an engineer who cares, who is sincerely watching out for their best interests. They need someone who will help them plan projects that really will benefit the town. They need someone who is always available to answer questions, give them advice, and simply provide them with the technical expertise that they cannot possibly have on their own. The same is true of Town attorneys, but I’m not one, so I won’t go there. But I hope you see my point. And although we have to be paid and we have to make money (my creditors  insist on it!), yet it’s not about the money. It’s about sincerely providing a real service to meet real needs. I sincerely believe I can trust God that if I’m faithful to take care of my clients, then, in the long run, they’ll take care of me.

Let me not be ashamed (!).

On the other hand, everywhere I go I am literally awash in an ocean of others’ unfaithfulness. These poor little towns (and pardon me now if I seem to get melodramatic) have been raped for years by engineers and salesmen who have promised them the world, been more than happy to take their money, but utterly failed to look after their best interests. It is heart-breaking to see the junk they’ve been sold, the messes they’ve been left with, the money they’ve paid for nothing. I don’t want to be that way. Even if by sincere failure on my part. To fail is to fail whether the intent was sincere or not. I don’t want to be ashamed.

As I related in my last post, I’m working on a project right now that MUST succeed. There is no plan B. I walked into a hopeless situation where 350 people could lose their jobs and, based on my knowledge of engineering, I offered them a solution that I sincerely believe will work and will work well. I’m sure it will. And based on my recommendations, they are now spending $30,000 to see if it will work.  I sincerely believe it will. I’m sincerely pursuing this for their benefit. Yes, I’m getting paid, but that isn’t what it’s about. Others have made many, many, many similar promises, have pawned themselves off as someone who cares, only to let them down and run off with their money. I don’t want to be like them. I really do want to help. But I could fail too.

And so I pray,

To You, O Lord, 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.

For whomever might have stumbled across this post, I hope you see what I mean. This passage is NOT just some general nice sounding religious words. This is a very real and heartfelt prayer in a world where I desperately need my God to carry me in His arms, to bless the work of my hands, to honor me so that I can in turn honor Him by doing my work well and being a real benefit to those who depend on me.

O my God, I trust in Thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not mine enemies triumph over me.