Trusting God to Know Best
Ellie Schnack
Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. Psalm 25:4-5
The meaning of the word psalms is “the twanging of harp strings.” David, the author of Psalm 25, most likely sang these poetic song verses as he twanged his harp strings for his sheep – and reflected on his life: his desires, his needs, and his regrets.
My study Bible* titles Psalm 25 as a “Prayer for Guidance and Deliverance.”.With this introduction we can see that David’s yearnings are not unlike our own desires: to know God and to know how to live a life of discipleship of trust. To learn how to accomplish this life lesson, we need only to reflect on Psalm 25, verse 2: “O my God, in you I trust.” It sounds easy, but trust takes unwavering faith! Faith shows us a God who is unwavering in that love for us. God’s promise is to never forget us. All we have to remember is “in God we trust!” In order for one to accept guidance from another, one must trust the One who is imparting that guidance.
We become teachable to God’s love and to God’s expectations for our lives when we put our trust in God. We can pray for God to teach us all we need to know to live godly lives (verses 5, 9, 12).
Perhaps the most difficult element in all of this — keeping our trust in God always at all times; opening our minds and hearts to God’s guidance in all phases of our lives — is to be patient with ourselves and with God. Our time may not be God’s time when we want something to happen. Yet it’s God’s time that is the right time — on this we must put our impatience aside and trust and wait for God (verses 3, 5b, 21).
O God, keep our eyes always focused on you. Keep our hearts and minds open to your guiding truth. Sustain our faith, build our trust, and give us patience to know that YOU know what is best for us. Amen
* The New Student Bible, NRSV. Augsburg Fortress, 1990.
Encounters With Christ 