Exercise Integrity at the Moment of Decision

Meditations on the Psalms 

August 8, 2022

Exercise Integrity at the Moment of Decision

 

Lead me by your truth and teach me,

for you are the God who saves me.

All day long I put my hope in you.

Psalm 25:5

Like Psalm 9, Psalm 25, in its original form, was written in the acrostic poetic form with the first verse beginning with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet; each succeeding verse began with the next letter in the alphabet. The careful composition of the psalm suggests David, the traditionally accepted author, wrote the psalm as an aid to discipleship. (This is similar in purpose to such things as the ACTS acrostic for prayer: Adoration; Confession; Thanksgiving; Supplication.)

In the orthodox tradition, this psalm is used as a prayer at the beginning of a workday. The opening lines, “O Lord, I give my life to you. I trust in you, my God!” are in the same form as the versicle used so often in the church today:

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

In his acrostic form, the psalmist moves from calling out to God, to a plea for mercy coupled with a confession of sin. Affirming the character of God, he then affirms the character of God’s disciples. In his closing plea for deliverance, the psalmist affirms his belief that staying in a right relationship with God will be his protection: “May integrity and honesty protect me, for I put my hope in you” (Psalm 25:21).

My Takeaway: David crafted Psalm 25 as an aid to his spiritual growth so that he would learn to exercise integrity at every moment of decision. John Wesley called this scriptural holiness, walking in harmony with God. Like David and John Wesley, we too can learn to exercise integrity at the moment of decision by grounding our lives in God’s Word.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2022 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.