Psalms 25:1-3

The Psalmist's Initial Plea And Expression Of Confidence That YHWH Will Hear Him (Psalms 25:1).

Psalms 25:1

A ‘To you, O YHWH,

Do I lift up my soul, O my God.'

(The movement of ‘O my God' to this first stanza is required by the alphabetical arrangement in the Hebrew text. Its use in the opening stanza also fits in with ‘O God' in the final line of the Psalm, giving a solemn opening and close to the Psalm, with ‘O YHWH' the more personal covenant Name, being used in the main body of the Psalm (Psalms 25:1; Psalms 25:4; Psalms 25:6; Psalms 25:11)).

It is to YHWH that he ‘lifts up' his inner life (nephesh), recognising that YHWH is his only God. It is to YHWH and His ways that he is committing himself (in contrast to committing himself to vain things, that is, ‘lifting up his soul to vanity' in Psalms 24:4). He is putting YHWH before anything else, offering him his very life, and he wants Him to look on him, to examine his inner life, and to observe his true faith in Him. His greatest concern is that his relationship with his God might be close, and right. How wise we are when we lift up our souls to God, that we might come under His observation.

Note how the initial ideas in these opening verses are paralleled with the closing ideas in the Psalm;

‘To you I lift up my soul' ‘O keep my soul and deliver me' (Psalms 25:20).  ‘O my God' ‘O God' (Psalms 25:22).  ‘In you have I trusted' ‘for I put my trust in you' (Psalms 25:20).  ‘Let me not be put to shame' ‘let me not be ashamed' (Psalms 25:20).  ‘Let not my enemies triumph over me ‘consider my enemies' (Psalms 25:19).  ‘None that wait on you will be ashamed' ‘for I will wait on you' (Psalms 25:21). So the Psalmist will end with similar thoughts to those with which he begins. Herein is the essence of the Psalm

Psalms 25:2

B ‘In you have I trusted, let me not be put to shame.

Do not let my enemies triumph over me.'

He asks YHWH to be aware that he has trusted in Him, when others have looked elsewhere, and  on this ground of faith  he asks that he not be let down (put to shame) but that YHWH will prevent those who oppose him from triumphing over him. It is a reminder to us that if we have faith in God, and seek God and His Kingly Rule, everything else will be added to us, including His protection, because we will be under His Fatherly care (Matthew 6:33).

Note that the parallel in Psalms 25:19 makes clear that the opposition is both fierce and intense. ‘They are many, and they hate me with cruel hatred'. This is a heartfelt plea, not just a general request. Along with the reference to ‘those who deal treacherously' it may well indicate a time when an anti-YHWH party were conspiring to overthrow his own stress on YHWH as Israel's God. For having become ‘a priest after the order of Melchizedek' on his capturing Jerusalem David had subsumed that priesthood to an intercessory role looking to YHWH. But the opposition would not necessarily lie down. It is a reminder to us that we must stand firm for the truth about God, and mot let those who would debase Him from achieving their aims.

Psalms 25:3

G ‘Yes, none who wait for you will be put to shame.

They will be put to shame who deal treacherously without cause.'

Having first committed himself to YHWH he now asserts his full confidence in Him. His prayer was not in doubt but in faith. He wants YHWH to know that he has no doubt of the fact that no one who waits on YHWH will be disappointed. They will not have cause for being ashamed of trusting in Him. Rather it is those who deal treacherously, when there are no real grounds for them to do so, who will be put to shame. This idea of ‘waiting' in expectancy is repeated in Psalms 25:21, ‘let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on you'. So those who wait on Him must do so in total integrity and uprightness (in contrast with the treacherous) if they are to expect a response.

The treacherous are those who deal treacherously with His word. ‘I beheld the treacherous dealers and was grieved, because they observed not your word' (Psalms 119:158). They put on an outward show of piety and religion, but they do not really observe God's instruction. They seek their own ways, and plot against the truth. Compare also Jeremiah 3:20, ‘as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel'. Like faithless wives they have deserted YHWH. We are reminded here of Jesus' condemnation of the Scribes and Pharisees for the same reason (Mark 7:8; Mark 7:13). How careful we must be that we do not forsake the living God, by allowing a false image of Him to replace what He really is.

And what will be the result of his waiting on YHWH, his looking constantly to YHWH? ‘Those who wait on YHWH will renew their strength, they will mount on wings as eagles, they will run and not be weary, they will walk and will not faint' (Isaiah 40:31). He will find his inner strength daily renewed. Compare also Psalms 130:5, ‘I wait for YHWH and my soul waits, and in His word do I hope. My soul looks for the Lord more than watchmen look for the morning.' The idea is of an expectant and confident waiting that looks with determined faith to the response that it will receive, and is closely connected with prayer.