Summer of Psalms | Psalm 25

“Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.” (Psalm 25:8-10)

The title of this Psalm in my Bible is “Teach me Your Paths”. That’s what I have been diving into further this summer. If I am candid, my quiet times before the summer started were a little lackluster. They lacked a depth that I so desperately needed. I began to believe this foolish lie that there was not more for me to go for intimacy-wise with the Lord, but this thought began to be broken as I ventured on a Wesley mission trip to Cortez, Colorado. In one of the devotionals I read on the trip, the author spoke about treating God like a gas station to be filled up for the day to do his work or ministry, but in the end, the author missed the point. The main point is always be in love with Him over doing only work for Him. He desires such a close relationship with us that when we make our whole relationship with Him about the work we do for Him, then He has to take you back to basics which is exactly what He had to do for me this summer. He taught me to learn how to receive His love again and how to love Him afresh in myself. He had to teach me that when I began my quiet time, it wasn’t to be filled with requests (for He was already aware what I needed way better than I did), but instead with simply telling Him that I loved Him over and over and over again until my soul was quiet and at rest with Him. It was from this place, that I was finally able to reach the depth I knew I wanted from my quiet times with Him.

The purpose of David writing this Psalm was to connect with God on that deeper level. In verse 1, David says, “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” In that simple verse, I believe that David was settling his soul to a posture of receiving more from God. He understood that loving God was the first step to ever connect with Him in the secret place and to move forward in learning His ways.

As I have learned that I must keep intimacy with the Lord first, I have had to keep my heart open to His leadings. Lately, I have been reading The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis for the first time. In it, I have found wonder in the description of the Lion who is the Savior of the realm and how in each of the books, a character is either brought low or is left to carry on their miserable way. And a quote sticks out to me from The Magician’s Nephew where Aslan is speaking about freeing someone from their folly’s and he says, “But I cannot tell that to this old sinner, and I cannot comfort him either; he has made himself unable to hear my voice. If I spoke to him, he would hear only growlings and roarings. Oh, Adam's son, how cleverly you defend yourself against all that might do you good!”

Prayer

I pray that we never get so caught up in the busyness and rush of the world that we miss knowing God as He wants to be known. I ask that we would know deeply that God desires to meet with us, and He will meet us in that place. I ask that we would have a renewed sense of trust in His leading, and that we would know truth as it is meant to be known. Lord, show us who you are...who you truly are. Take courage dear hearts, He’s closer and better than any of us even know.

Author | Aubrey Gold