The Goodness of God - Pt 2

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. (Psalm 25:1-4 ESV).

David begins the psalm by listing four things that he is struggling with: fear, loneliness, guilt, and confusion. It will be helpful for us to look at each of these. By moving from the trouble that comes from outside and moving to the trouble that rises from within, we will certainly see the goodness of God for our lives. We can’t see it all. The future is always fuzzier than the past or present; but, we can see that God is good.  The first struggle is fear (v. 2). David is struggling with fear because his life or his reputation is in danger. David's life is not one of outward peace and safety. There are threats. And he does not breeze through these without feeling the tight chest and sweaty hands and pounding heart of fear. Normal Christian life in this age does not mean escaping danger, but handling it with success and confidence. Prayer is the answer. We will see more about this before we are done.  The second struggle is his loneliness. This often goes in hand with a life devoted to radical obedience and hardship. People pull back. You are uneasy to be around, and it is too threatening. It happened to Paul at the end of his life in prison (cf. 2 Timothy 4:16) and it happened to Jesus in Gethsemane. You know who your friends are when trouble strikes and life together is comradeship in battle not just company for dinner.  The third struggle is guilt. David mentions this four times. He can remember the folly of his youth and he admits that even his present guilt is great. So in the middle of all this external turmoil with foes threatening and friends forsaking, the trouble is compounded by the internal misery of a sinful and guilty heart.  The fourth struggle is confusion. It is not unusual in a situation like this to begin to lose your bearings. What is the will of God? What am I supposed to do? We feel so uncertain. We just want to lie down and cry we are so confused. No path seems like a way out. But then David says, "Make me to know thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach me” (v. 4). Every one of us struggles at one time or another with fear, loneliness, guilt, and confusion. David's answer was pray! The experience of the goodness of God begins with prayer.