1 In you, LORD my God, I put my trust. 2 I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. 3 No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.~ Psalm 25:1-3 (NIV).
This is how one of my favorite scriptures, and perhaps my very favorite Psalm, begins. In earlier posts, I have touched on this Psalm and mentioned that it is very special to me. Tonight, however, I am going to reveal a little bit of what this Psalm means to me. Anyone who has walked with the Lord for any length of time will encounter some scriptures along the way that have deep and special value for them. It isn't usually a happy time, though, that causes them to become so special.
Adversity, pain, sorrow, brokenness--I could go on, but you get the idea. Yes, the entire Bible is our love letter from God, meant to be our roadmap, our instruction manual, our final authority on life and how to live it. But we are basically a stubborn lot; we seldom learn anything the easy way. So many times in life, it is those scriptures that we find ourselves clinging to for dear life, the ones that we use to hoist ourselves up out of the pitfalls we find ourselves in--those are the ones that have special meaning to us. And so it is with Psalm 25 for me. Let me explain how it came to be so personal to me.
When I was first saved, God showed me very
clearly that He was calling me to be an encourager. He often gave me
words of knowledge and scriptures to encourage others. He put the
desire in me to write, and use writing as a tool to be this encourager
He had called me to be. But the storms of life blew, I went through a divorce, and my world came crashing down around me. Instead of continuing to fulfill His purpose in me, I
wandered into a spiritual desert, away from the calling He had
put within me. I justified to myself that I couldn't encourage anyone,
since I was divorced. I fell for the lies of the enemy, and I began allowing his venom to poison my thinking.
As I wandered along in this wilderness, I lost sight of God's plan for me. I was a Christian, blood-bought and heaven-bound, but I was so full of pain. I had been hurt so much by life, and the damage was probably fairly obvious to others. Those were dark years, and at times I felt I was suffocating in the fog of depression and fear that surrounded me. God sent people along the way to help me find my way out of the bondage and help me realize I was free in Christ, and I accepted some help here and there. I was so severely depressed, though, that I lashed out at the very ones that were trying to help me, as is often the case with people in pain. It grieves me to admit this now, but though I was called to encourage I allowed my warped perception of my life to affect my ability to hear from God. Instead of lifting others up, I started inflicting damage with my words. And so, the writer's pen turned poisonous. It appeared that satan had won, and had disabled me from ever doing any good again.
When I realized that I had used for evil the gift of writing that God had placed in me, I was distraught, and was determined never to write again. One day, I was at an all time low as I turned to God in my prayer closet seeking direction, asking forgiveness, trying to figure out where to go from there. That day, in my daily Bible reading I came across Psalm 25. Suddenly it became alive, a Rhema word from God. His Spirit was a very real Presence in that little closet that morning. The words jumped out at me, and I realized I did have hope.
"In you, LORD my God, I put my trust, " I read. Yes, I do trust You, Lord I told Him. I knew He was all I had. I was drawn to read more: "I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me." Yes Lord, I prayed, please, PLEASE do not let the gift You gave me be used by the enemy ever again. Do not let him win!
"No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause." HOPE. The word "hope" went all the way through me in a flash. I hope in GOD, and HE will not let me be put to shame. There it was, the promise straight from God. Like a bolt of lightening, God's Spirit touched my heart. Tears sprang to my eyes when the truth suddenly came alive to me. I was sobbing as I continued reading:
I continued reading, and came across verse 15: "My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare." Not only would He forgive me and not let me be put to shame, but He would untangle the mess I was in and get me out of satan's trap. "Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish." Even though at that moment I couldn't imagine not having a troubled heart or being free from anguish, I took the words to heart and chose to believe them to be true.
I have never been the same since that day in my prayer closet. Things didn't get better overnight, but little by little, God's redemptive work began to unfold in my life. It was several years before I had the courage to write anything again, but I am happy to report that I am once again writing, pursuing God's purpose for my life as He gives me words of encouragement to share.
But there's one more wonderful thing that God did for me through Psalm 25. Not only did He touch my broken heart and start the healing process through His word, He did something very personal for me, something that I know He did to give me hope and show me that He was with me: Our praise team started learning a new song that week at practice. Perhaps you have heard it. It is Third Day's My Hope Is You. Years later, I still cannot sing that song without tears, and extreme gratitude to God for what He has done for me.
If you are hurting as you read this, let me encourage you to put your trust in God. Your hope is in Him, and Him alone.
"No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame." Psalm 25:3
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