The Goodness of God - Pt 4

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 ESV).

It comes out most clearly when we turn to our third focus, namely, the basis of David's expectation. We have looked at the elements of his situation, fear, loneliness, guilt, confusion; and the content of his supplication. He takes all these concerns to God. David shows us he is not on a quest for messages, but a quest for holiness. And what we see when we look at the basis of his hope for guidance is that the essence of it is a spiritual condition. The prerequisite of divine guidance is not the quest for messages, but the quest for holiness. This is his prayer in our reading today. Then he later describes the kind of person who can be confident of God's guidance. These become our focus.  First, sinners can be (v. 8). Sin is NOT a qualification for guidance; but sin is not necessarily an obstacle to guidance. We saw that David confessed his sinfulness four times in this psalm. So, we can confidently say perfection is not a prerequisite to guidance, because God is good. That brings us to a consistent attitude of repentance.  Second, humility is a prerequisite to guidance (v. 9). In other words a person who admits his sinfulness and feels helpless in himself has one of the indispensable spiritual qualifications for discerning what pleases the Lord. The quest for guidance must be the quest for humility.  Third, covenant keeping is a prerequisite to guidance (v. 10). To keep God's covenant and his testimonies does not mean sinlessness. That has already been ruled out (v. 8). In fact I don't know a better passage in the Old Testament to show that covenant keeping does not mean sinlessness. Covenant keeping means admitting sin; seeing our only hope in the Lord's commitment to his own name; and, fearing God. Fearing God means fearing to insult his knowledge by presuming to hide our sin. It means the reverence of humility. It means fearing to dishonor God's name by not trusting that he is a reliable guide to joy.  Fourth, faith is a prerequisite for divine guidance. And we don't have to get this from some indirect inference like this. It is the first thing David says in the psalm. So, our first effort must be to trust God. Do you trust him for who he really is? For he is a sin forgiving Savior and an infallible guide to everlasting joy.