A Disciple’s Prayer

Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Psalms 3 (1)

Pray Psalm 25.1-3.
To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
O my God, I trust in You;
Let me not be ashamed;
Let not my enemies triumph over me.
Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed;
Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.

Sing Psalm 25.1-3.
(Festal Song: Rise Up, O Men of God)
I lift my soul to You; O LORD, in You I trust.
Let me not come to shame, nor let my foes o’er me exult.

All they who wait on You shall never come to shame.
Yet they to shame shall come who stand against Your holy Name.

Read Psalm 25.1-22; meditate on verses 12-15.

Preparation
1. How did David describe the Lord?

2. What did he want the Lord to do for him?

Meditation
I regard this as the most complete disciple’s prayer in the entire psalter. Consider its contents; devotion (vv. 1-3); seeking guidance (vv. 4, 5); calling on the Lord for mercy and forgiveness (vv. 6, 7, 11); celebrating the Lord and His justice, mercy, and truth (vv. 8-10); renewing covenant with the Lord (vv. 12-15); looking to the Lord and waiting on Him (vv. 16-21); interceding for the people of God (v. 22).

You can pray this psalm, just as it is, using the words of the psalm as your prayer. And if you pray slowly enough, you will have no trouble seeing Jesus as the object of your prayer. He is the Way, and His ways are in the truth of God and His salvation (Jn. 14.6; 1 Jn. 2.1-6). He has purged our sins and through Him we cry out for forgiveness. He is our Teacher (vv. 8-10), and we are His disciples.

And He calls us to fear Him, that He may teach us His ways and fill us with His blessings (vv. 12-14). So we set the eyes of our heart to see Him (v. 15), seated in glory at the Father’s right hand (Col. 3.1-3). He is with us to forgive, keep, deliver, and preserve us in all adversity (vv. 16-21), and in His Name we pray for our fellow believers according to the requests of this psalm (v. 22).

David knew God intimately, yet not so well as we who know Jesus do. His beautiful prayers can be even more meaningful and transforming for us as we come to the Father through Jesus and for His glory.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“For of Him and
Through Him and
To Him are all things,
To Whom be glory forever. 
Amen” (Rom. 11.36).
“Now I AM no longer in the world, 
but these are in the world, 
and I come to You. 
Holy Father, keep through Your Name 
those whom You have given Me, 
that they may be one as We are” (Jn. 17.11).

As we see Jesus in this beautiful psalm, we also see God’s love and care for His children.
He is The Powerful God. He never changes. His power is never subdued.
He has ruled kings and kingdoms since the earth was formed.
Humanity continues, as do the heavens as earth, because all are His servants (Ps. 119.89-91).

Due to God’s enormous, saving power, and Daniel’s courageous actions, King Darius wrote these words: 
“To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth:
Peace be multiplied to you.
I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom 
men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.
For He is the living God, and steadfast forever;
His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, 
and His dominion shall endure to the end.
He delivers and rescues, 
and He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, 
Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions” (Dan. 6.25-27).

Daniel’s testimony was one of faithful prayer and dedication to God.
“…in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, 
he knelt down on his knees three times that day, 
and prayed and gave thanks before his God, 
as was his custom since early days” (Dan. 6.10). 

A daily custom we would do well to imitate (1 Cor. 11.1).

This powerful man of God was captured as a youth, and carried to another part of the world, to live out his Personal Mission Field. To honor and glorify God in all he did and said—from captivity to positions of power in Babylon—his was a daily walk with God, always true to the Word, always faithful to his beliefs (Dan. 1.8). His was a life of witness—not of going witnessing; but of being a witness.

“Who is the man that fears the LORD? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses…My eyes are ever toward the LORD…forgive all my sins…Keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You” (Ps. 25.12, 15, 18, 20, 21).

Our “cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12.1) are a heritage and legacy of courageous people, people who set their eyes upon Jesus, Who “poured out His soul unto death” (Is. 53.12) to redeem sinners—us. All those who have gone before us—like David and Daniel—who trusted and feared God, were blessed with “the secret of the LORD” and were shown “His covenant” (Ps. 25.14).

God keeps the same covenants with us that He kept with all our forebears. We will be blessed as they were, when we trust Him as they did; and fully follow Jesus, the One we love, and see so clearly in Psalm 25.

Reflection
1. What does Psalm 25 suggest about how we must come to the Lord? Is this your practice?

2. What does Psalm 25 suggest about what we may bring to Him in prayer? How much of this regularly populates your prayers?

3. How do Jesus and Daniel encourage us to live in the strength Jesus can give us?

All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth; and so it will appear when they come to their journey’s end. Those that are humble, that distrust themselves, and desire to be taught and to follow Divine guidance, these he will guide in judgment, that is, by the rule of the written word, to find rest for their souls in the Savior. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Psalm 25.8-14 

Pray Psalm 25.4-22.
You can pray this psalm verbatim, just as it is, and it will guide you to add your own words where appropriate.

Sing Psalm 25.4-22.
(Festal Song: Rise Up, O Men of God)
Make me to know Your ways, teach me Your paths, O LORD!
My Savior, all day long I wait and seek You in Your Word.

Remember mercy, LORD, and steadfast love to me!
But all my sins before You let them not remembered be!

My sins have been of old, Your love is new each day;
according to Your goodness, LORD, regard my sinful way.

Upright and good are You, You lead us in Your way.
The humble You instruct in truth and guide him day by day.

The paths of God are all of love and faithfulness.
All they who keep His covenant the LORD will surely bless.

For Your sake, LORD, forgive. All they who fear You, LORD,
shall know Your blessings day by day and follow in Your Word.

Your friends are they who fear and seek Your holy face;
Your covenant with them You share and save them by Your grace.

Be gracious, LORD, to me; my heart is weighed with woe.
My troubles and affliction see; let my transgressions go.

Consider all my foes, who hate me all the day;
and rescue my poor soul lest I should stumble in the way.

Preserve me in Your way, redeem Your people, LORD!
We wait for You and refuge seek in Your own faithful Word.

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

For more teaching about the subject of this series, “Jesus throughout the Scriptures”, download our free ReVision study, “We Would See Jesus”, by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.