My reference Bible has a brief description of Psalm 25 just above the heading, which states, “A prayer for defense, guidance, and pardon.  As we trust in God, He grants these same requests for us.”  In this prayer, we find the word, wait, three times repeated in verses 3, 5, and 21.  Verse 5 says, “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.”  And verse 21 says, “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.”  In particular, we will focus on verse 21. 

If we look into Psalm 25:21, we cannot but notice a few outstanding spiritual features of a person who was waiting on God.  The first spiritual feature is that David upheld the highest view of grace.  We know that the author is King David who was after God’s own heart.  The grace of the Lord was evidently shown in his life.  However, he refused to misuse or abuse the grace of God but to honor it by all means.  We must notice that David did not ask the Lord to preserve him regardless of how he lived and behaved.  Instead, he said, “let integrity and uprightness preserve me.”  He was persecuted by his enemies without any justifiable reasons.  Matthew Henry aptly explains the verse as following:  “He pleads his own integrity, v. 12. Though he had owned himself guilty before God, and had confessed his sins against him, yet, as to his enemies, he had the testimony of his conscience that he had done them no wrong, which was his comfort when they hated him with cruel hatred; and he prays that this might preserve him. This intimates that he did not expect to be safe any longer than he continued in his integrity and uprightness, and that, while he did continue in it, he did not doubt of being safe. Sincerity will be our best security in the worst of times. Integrity and uprightness will be a man's preservation more than the wealth and honour of the world can be. These will preserve us to the heavenly kingdom. We should therefore pray to God to preserve us in our integrity and then be assured that that will preserve us.”  He did not casually appeal to the grace of God for any degree of his misdemeanors, but made a request based on his conscientious spiritual walk in the Lord in this prayer. 

All of us struggle from time to time because of indwelling sins.  We are stricken by guilty conscience whenever sin is found in us.  Then, we claim that we are not under the law any more but under grace.  After all, the gospel message frees us from all condemnations against our sins.  Thus, we resort to the grace found in the Gospel for a solution to our sin problems and do not feel bad any more.  However, as we repeat such evil chain reactions, we begin to make the grace of God as just common and ordinary, not as special and extraordinary gift from the Almighty.  At the same time, we treat the gracious and merciful work of God lightly as if He is obligated to pardon our sins.  In fact, it was something that Paul wanted to argue against.  Romans 6:1 says, “What shall we say then? shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.”  Our deceitful hearts may desire to see a conclusion that we do not have to worry about sin and guilt anymore.  But it is only a deception, which will lead us to our own ruin.  Jude declares: Verse 4, “Ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness.” David said, “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.”  Even when he was pleading to the Lord for his deliverance from the hands of the evil, he did not lose his godly testimony.  The continuing psalm, the 26^th psalm begins with the following prayer: “Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.”  Verse 11 in the same psalm also says, “But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me.”  From this prayer, we can see that he prayed in sincerity and truthfulness.  He did not misuse God’s grace.  When David came to God, he came with a right heart.  If there is any spiritual work within us that causes us to wait for God, then there must be our inner desire and prayer to the Lord as David said, “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.”  God is holy and pure. 

The second spiritual feature we can find from David’s prayer is that he maintained a conscientious living.  He knew where he was standing at in relation to his spiritual life.  He knew whether he was maintaining righteousness and integrity or not in his personal life.  It is an amazing prayer that David prayed for the Lord’s preservation based on his integrity and uprightness.  How much integrity and uprightness should we have in order to make such a bold prayer to God?  David’s prayer indicates that he was constantly aware of the presence of the Lord, and he lived and walked in His presence with his utmost and perfect surrender to his will as much as he could.  His conscience was clear even to say such a prayer to the Lord.  His prayer was not presumptuous but very much conscientious of his integrity.  We must look inside of us and need to ask a question to ourselves: “Can we say the same prayer?”  At the same time, David’s prayer implies that he had surrendered himself to the Lord and His will with his utmost best.  Thus, he was not ashamed of himself to speak of his integrity and uprightness before Him.  It also implies that David walked very closely with the Lord.  He was constantly aware of the Lord’s holy presence.  His life was not a thoughtless but thoughtful life. 

The third spiritual feature we find from David’s prayer is that the believers’ wholly sanctified life must behind their prayers to God.  It is very clear that David needed the Lord’s protection and preservation from the enemies’ attacks.  His trials were not caused by his sin and guilt but the evilness of his enemies.  David’s heart was totally devoted to God in prayer and in his daily life.  What he did and how he lived was not different from how he prayed.  He lived and prayed in integrity and uprightness.  However, he also knew that he could not be the master of his own life, but must depend on God’s mercy.  He pleaded to the Lord with his integrity and uprightness to preserve Him.  Thus, his prayer was ended with “for I wait on thee.” 

The fourth spiritual feature we find from David’s prayer is that his help must come only from the Lord.  It is not too much to say that his prayer in Psalm 25 is full of his confessions of God.  He said that the Lord is his God in verse 2.  The Lord has His paths that David must learn from in verse 4.  The Lord has the truth that David must be taught with in verse 5.  The Lord is also the God of his salvation in verse 5.  The Lord is the God of tender mercies and lovingkindness in verse 6, and of goodness in verse 7.  The Lord is good and upright in verse 8.  There are many more lessons of God in this psalm.  As I look through all of His attributes and David’s prayer to the Lord, there is one particular feature of God.  It is not a new revelation but a well known and recognized truth.  “God is the living God.”  David spoke to Him as if he was in His presence.  This living God is the God of power and able to deliver His servants from their trials.  He teaches, leads, and directs His people because He is living.  Thus, He keeps His covenant and testimonies as in verse 10.  Because He is living, He pardons the sins of the repentant, and all of His people are expected to put their eyes on God and fear Him in verses 14-15.  He sees all the afflictions that His people are enduring in verse 18 and also knows their enemies.  They will not be ashamed because the Lord will deliver them, which is possible because He is the living Lord. 

Now we can encourage ourselves in the Lord despite seeming difficulties and trials in life, for God sees and knows and is able to deliver us.  We shall not be ashamed.  “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.”

Lovingly,

Your Pastor

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