Psalm 25:1-8 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 25:1-8 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
Verse 2O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.
Verse 3Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
Verse 4Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
Verse 5Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.
Verse 6Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.
Verse 7Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness' sake, O Lord!
Verse 8Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
Devotion
The psalmist invites us to take a risk: Do we have the kind of trust in God that we dare to speak openly and honestly about our desires? I want to hold God's memory to account.
But memory is a double-edged sword. We remember both the good and the bad. Sometimes we do not remember the things we should, such as God’s trustworthiness, but instead remember those things from the past that haunt and accuse us.
Here the psalmist reminds us to plead for God's good memory: that God be true to character, remembering and repeating God's acts of mercy, salvation, goodness and steadfast love. We ask too that God have a lapse of memory, forgetting about all those bad things of our pasts.
Prayer
God of steadfast love, is it too bold a thing for me to count on you to remember the right things? No, I'll take the risk and ask that you remember to be yourself, to be for me today as your have been for others in the past – a God of love and forgiveness, of mercy and salvation. Amen.