Psalm 25:7b-8 – Prayer Fuel

Here is my literal translation of these verses:

“ According to Your loving-kindness may You remember me, in accordance with Your goodness, YHVH.

 Good and upright [is] YHVH, therefore He will teach sinners in the way.”

Once again you might note from my “bolding,” the word “good” occurs twice with only the Lord’s name YHVH in between. More on this later.

Verse 7 makes an interesting transition to verse 8, which I think I’m going to find is significant to the structure of the entire Psalm. Verse 7 is clearly a request, a part of the prayer which David has been offering throughout verses 1-7. Verse 8 however is a statement of fact, or should I say, a statement of faith. In fact, as I look ahead, basically from verse 8 through 15, the entire section is made up of statements of faith (with one request in the middle at v11), then David returns to prayer for the rest of the Psalm in verses 16 through 22.

As I have pondered these verses, it struck me that this is a profound combination: prayers and statements of faith. Metaphorically speaking, it occurs to me that faith is actually the fuel that keeps prayer’s altarfire burning. Think about it: Without faith, why pray? Is it not true that the very reason I am praying is because I believe certain facts about God?

David just got done in verse 7 appealing to God to “…remember me, according to Your goodness.” He then asserts, “The Lord is good.” Do you see how the one is a request, a prayer, while the other is a statement of faith? The request would really be meaningless if it were not for the faith(!). If it is not true that God is good, why appeal to His goodness? On the other hand, if I’m assured that He is good, I can appeal to His goodness. I can bring Him requests assuming on that goodness. I’m actually motivated to pray, because He is good.

Here is what I think is significant … and perhaps why David offers prayers for seven verses, makes statements of faith for seven verses (with one request in the middle), then returns to seven verses of prayers. Why the combination? I think it is because it is so easy to lose sight of faith. I actually need to be reminded that God is good, do I not? Especially in the midst of pain or fear or whatever, the problems loom larger and larger, till I can “barely whisper a prayer.” But what will lift my heart and bring me again energetically to the Throne of Grace? Is it not being reminded of the truths of Who God is?

If you’ve stumbled across this blog, I hope you’re following me here. I just think this is enormously important to even realize. It goes even deeper. What are we talking about really? Is it not the promises of God? II Peter 1:4 says God has given us His very great and precious promises “that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world …” Faith, which we said above is the fuel that keeps prayer’s altarfire burning, is built on the promises of God. Faith is the very act of observing a promise of God and believing it to the extent my plans, desires, values are immediately altered. Fueled by those promises and my faith response, I then can look to God confidently in prayer. In fact, that faith moves me to prayer.

This is so cool.

What is also really cool to me to realize is how the opposite is true. If I am praying, but my heart has lost sight of faith, the prayer itself becomes lifeless. “Why pray?” my evil doubting heart asks. “What’s the use?” My head sinks. My heart sinks. Hopelessness and despair begin to overwhelm me. What to do? If I understand what just happened in Psalm 25 from verse 7 to 8, I know exactly what I need. I need to feed again on the promises of God. Seriously. I need to open my Bible and read again Who He is and the promises that I know speak to my issues. Feeding my faith adds fuel to my prayers and will lift my heart out of that despair. Even though it is still incredibly painful, I may still be scared and confused, yet I can pray confidently once again to the “God of my deliverance.”

(For whatever it’s worth, when I refer to the promises of God, in my mind that includes His specific promises (like “All things work together for good …”) along with the statements of the certainty of his character (“The Lord is good …”). Both feed faith).

I put together the following paragraph to draw together these thoughts. Hope it’s encouraging to you:

“Faith is the fuel that keeps prayer’s altarfire burning. Prayer can become but words except it be fueled by the promises of God and the certainty of His character. Pray on, my friend, till you feel your faith falter, then read again the promises of God; allow their kindling to add anew faith to your fire, and see if you do not feel the vigor of your prayers burn brightly once more!”  II Peter 1:4

Pray on, my friends!