Because my hope is in you. (Ps. 25:21)
THE EXILES IN BABYLON learned something over the course of seventy years: Hope is found only in God. This psalm perfectly expresses the anguish they must have felt every moment of every day while in exile. The single request of people in distress is constantly repeated: Help us!
Notice these phrases: “turn to me,” “free me,” “look upon my affliction,” “guard my life,” “rescue me” (Ps. 25:15–20). This is the song of someone who knew that the only hope, the only chance of life, is contained in God. In what seasons of life have you spoken such phrases to God? When you are at the end of your rope, do you call out, loudly in anger or desperation or softly in resignation, “Help me!”? This is an appeal directly to the heart of God, asking for the very thing that God loves to do: save.
God saves individuals like you and me. But God in Christ is also reconciling all of creation to himself. The end of this psalm makes the turn from the individual to everyone: “redeem Israel” (v. 22). In other words, God is at work to rescue you. And God is at work to rescue everyone! When we are suffering through life’s disappointments, it’s all too easy for us to forget that God is working to deliver everyone, and He wants to work through us to that end.
Earnestly seek to be used by God in His saving work.
Brian Niece is a former pastor who is now pursuing a PhD, writing, spending time with his wife and three kids, and watching way too much football.
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