Image by Dick Conrad via Flickr
Suggested Reading: Psalm 25:4-5
God is the only one who can show us His ways. He is the only one who can teach us His paths. We know that Jesus is the “Way.” No one comes to the Father except by Him. Therefore, it makes sense to speak to God if we desire to learn about His ways and His paths, just as David did here. He is the Truth, and for that reason He is the only one who can guide us in His truth.
Jeremiah wrote that someone who trusts in man will be like a fruitless bush in a wasteland. Sure enough, God does give us earthly teachers, but we should always remember that the truth is found in God alone and we should daily search the Scriptures as the Bereans did to ensure that what we hear is indeed the truth. Our trust must never be in man, irrespective of religious titles.
David says that he is asking God to show him, to teach him and to guide him since God alone is his Saviour and he has placed all his hope in God alone. “The help of man is worthless,” he says in Psalm 108:12b. Even if a man does help us, it is only because God enabled him. Many people helped David as he spent years running from the deranged King Saul, but David realized that God alone is our true Helper who will stick with us when things get tough just as He is with us when when things go well. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Although David often thanked those who helped him, he never lost sight of where his help comes from. And many after him echoed this knowledge. The pilgrims sang in the second psalm of Ascents, “Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1b-2).They didn’t look to the mountains, they looked to the One who created the mountains. Likewise, we shouldn’t be looking to man, but to the One who created man. He is infinitely more capable of helping us.
As the hymn, Abide with Me, says, “When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O Abide with me…”There is no where else to go since He alone has the words of eternal life (see John 6:68) and He alone is the Helper of the helpless. May we remember to follow David’s example by seeking God to teach us, to guide us and to help us. May our hope too be in God alone.
Show me your ways, LORD,
teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
Related articles
- Our Victory comes from God Alone (mythoughtsonscripture.wordpress.com)
- Psalm 54: “Save me, Lord, by your great name” (eardstapa.wordpress.com)
