David is a good mentor for us. He was experienced in fighting fear and unbelief in the face of overwhelming situations and issues. And as God did for David, he will instruct sinners like us in the way we should choose as we fear him and trust him. And as we do, we too will discover that “all the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness.”

I’m feeling my great need for God’s wisdom and guidance keenly these days. This has been a season of life where the Lord, in his wise providence, has been pleased to call me to a confluence of various difficult, confounding, confusing, and in some cases deeply painful issues and events. Each one exceeds my capacities; collectively, they feel overwhelming.

It’s not that I actually need the Lord’s wisdom and guidance more now than at other times. It’s just that the more troubling, perplexing, and overwhelming a situation feels, the more desperately I feel my need for him. I know from past experience and the repeated testimony of Scripture that this kind of desperation is a mercy. But the emotional experience doesn’t feel like a mercy. It feels demanding, which presses me to pray more (part of the mercy).

And what I find myself praying regularly in this season are portions of Psalm 25. In fact, I’ve memorized it so I always have this prayer with me when I need it (something anyone can do in a couple of weeks by just following a simple routine). It’s become one of my favorite psalms because of the way David pleads with God for wisdom and guidance at one of the (many) desperate moments of his life when “the troubles of [his] heart [were] enlarged” (Psalm 25:17).

David’s Desperate Situation

Few of us can identify with the kind of mortal danger King David was in. Being a king in the Middle East three thousand years ago was not for the faint of heart. There were always treacherous enemies without and traitors looming within, gunning for your position, prestige, and power. Seeming friend and foe conspired in order to undermine and destroy you.

Most kings dealt with such enemies (and their families and friends) with brutal ruthlessness. But not David. Beginning with King Saul, his predecessor who for years tried his best to assassinate him, David determined not to take vengeance on his internal enemies. Because if he did, how could he claim that his trust was in God’s power, not in his own? We can only imagine how this emboldened his enemies, who didn’t have such spiritual scruples. Resolving to let God take care of his enemies took great faith and great courage.

But David didn’t always feel full of faith and courage. We have a portion of his prayer journals to show it, of which Psalm 25 is one poetic entry. And this psalm is a veritable clinic on how to pray for the wisdom and guidance to navigate a difficult, confounding, even dangerous situation. He begins by describing his situation, but listen carefully to what he says.

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. (Psalm 25:1–3)

What’s David asking for? Of course, he’s asking for God to protect his life, but he’s also asking for more, something deeper than that. When he prays, “Let me not be put to shame,” and declares by faith that “none who wait for you shall be put to shame,” he is asking God to protect the glory of his name in protecting him. If David, while trusting God, is overthrown by a treacherous tyrant, who will then say, “O my God, in you I trust”?

We may not be able to identify with the reason David felt desperate, but we sure can identify with desperation. And as we pray in our desperate situations, what are we asking God for? Is there a deeper reason than just our desired outcome?

What David Needs

Then David pleads with God for what he needs. But remember the context: David is aware that his life is in the balance.

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 the day long.

Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O Lord! (Psalm 25:4–7)

What’s missing in these lines are any mention of his enemies. In this psalm, David is not obsessed with the source of his problem; he’s fixated on the Source of his solution. So, he makes two requests.

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