The way I should choose

[Psalms 25:8-15]

Do you feel regret when you look back on the road you have walked by?  Have you ever thought ‘What if I had walked the other way, what would my life be like?  Wouldn't it have been better for my life?  Maybe I have walked the wrong way.’  When I look back at myself, I think,'If I hadn't wondered around in adolescence, what kind of pastor would I have become now?'  But what is the use of regretting the path that I have walked in the past.  Although it's no use, I don't think it's too bad to look back on the path we've been walking through and to take lessons from the past and think about which path we should take now and in the future.

In Psalms 25:12, the psalmist David said, “Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.”  When I think about the way he chose, I think it is “the way of the righteous”(1:6).  David said in Psalm 1 that there were only two paths in life: One is the way of the righteous, the other is the way of the wicked.  Here, the way of the righteous is the way of the Word.  He who walks on the way of righteous delights in the word of God and meditates on it day and night (v. 2).  David, who walked the way of the righteous, always took root deeply in the Word of God, and, like the tree planted in the stream, was always supplied with the water of God (v. 3).  Then, what is the way of the wicked?  The way of the wicked is the way of ignoring the word of God and following the counsel of the wicked.  The wicked don’t try to live good by judging the conscience in the light of God's Word, but live according to the rules of the world.  So he stands in the path of sinners (v. 1).  And he sits in the seat of scoffers who deny God (v. 1).  Such a person doesn’t take root in God's Word, so he cannot bear fruit.  The only thing he bears is like chaff which the wind drives away (v. 4).  In the end, the chaff is forced to plunge into the ground.  Even if it falls on the ground, there is no grain, so it cannot take root at all.  It blows again in the wind. In this way, the life of a wicked is always light, capricious and repeats the rise and fall.

Although we have two feet, we cannot walk on both paths at the same time.  We have to choose the path of the righteous or the path of the wicked.  We should always do our best to choose one path.  And we have to take the results of our choice boldly.  In life, the two ways are clearly divided.  What path do we choose to live?  With the words of Psalms 25:8-15, I want to meditate on three things about which way we should choose, hoping that we, like David, can choose the way God wants us to walk faithfully.

First, the way we sinners should choose is the good and upright way.

                Look at Psalms 25:8 – “Good and upright is the LORD; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.”  Here are two ways we sinners should choose and walk:

(1)   The first way is good way.

The good way is the way of the moral goodness.  In other words, the good way that we must walk is the way of forsaking evil and do good (34:14).  In other words, the word walking the good way is a life of forsaking sin and doing good.  This is what Rev. Tommy Tenny said in his book "God's eye view": ‘God wants to reveal His filling without hiding by using our emptiness.’  We must empty our sinful thoughts.  We must empty the heart that loves the world, the heart that hates others, and all evil thoughts.  Then God will fill our hearts with His words and His love.  Also, the good way is the way of compassion.  The word “good” in the phrase God is “good” (25:8) refers to God's compassion for the sinner (Calvin).  Choosing the way of compassion and walking that way means we don’t forsake the same sinners like us and take care of them just as God is good and doesn’t forsake such sinners like us.  In the end, the good way means to abandon sin but not sinners, but forgive and take care of them with love.  We must have compassionate heart toward sinners like Jesus came to call sinners.  And we have to be compassionate to them.  We should not guilty of judging and condemning others by our own standards.  Rather, we must live the life of forgiveness for the sins of others, just as God has forgiven our sins.  So David prayed, “For Your name's sake, O LORD, Pardon my iniquity, for it is great” (v. 11).  Isn't it amazing?  Even though David’s enemies persecuted David by dealing treacherously without cause (vv. 3-4), David confessed how great his sins were before God and asked God for forgiveness, rather than exposing his enemies’ sins.

(2)   The second way is upright way.

In Psalms 25:8, David said that the upright God instructs us, and that instruction is that we too must be upright like God.  Since David knew that God tried the heart and delighted in uprightness (1 Chron. 29:17), he lived uprightly before God who searched his heart.  So what does it mean to walk on the upright way?  Luke 1:6 says, “They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.”  The upright man obeys God's commandments.  He also leads sinners in the right way, just as God leads us in the right way.  In other words, he leads sinners to Jesus.  The reason is that only by the blood of Jesus can sinners be forgiven.

Second, the way we the humble should choose is the way of justice.

                Look at Psalms 25:9 – “He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way.”  Here, “the humble” means those who have been disciplined by God and humble in spirit (Calvin).  God disciplines His children when they sin with justice and makes them humble (Park).  In the end, David's heart, which recognized that he was a sinner who had committed a great sin before God, and asked God for forgiveness of his sins and repented to God, became humble.  When we repent, our hearts can be humble.  God makes us humble by His chastisement in His love when we don’t repent after we have sinned.  Then God teaches the way of justice to the humble heart so we can walk the way of justice.  This age in which we live is a world filled with lawlessness like the days of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. 9:9).  What way should we choose who are living in this time?  In God's goodness and uprightness, we must be humble and choose his righteous path as we are taught and humbled by His words.

Third and last, the way we who fear God should choose is the way of covenant.

                Look at Psalms 25:14 – “The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him, And He will make them know His covenant.”  David lived in the fear of God as he lived in an lawless age where the deceptions of his enemies were rampant (vv. 2, 3).  So he was able to choose the way of righteous (v. 12).  In a situation where there weren’t many people who feared God, God taught David the way to take when he was in the midst of actually sleeping in the weakness of his flesh rather than following the Lord (Calvin, Park).  It was the way of good, the way of compassion and the path of upright.  David, who faithfully walked these ways, had intimate relationship with God.  In other words, only those who have intimate fellowship with God can choose the way God wants them to walk.  The way God wants us to choose is the way of the covenant.  In other words, the way we must choose is the way of God's promise.  We must hold onto the word of God's promise and walk in faith the way of God’s promise he opens to us.  It is the way of the Lord, the way of lovingkindness and truth (v. 10).  Dr. Yoon-sun Park said this: ‘God's promise (covenant) about the salvation and blessing of the saints is known only to those who fear God.  It doesn't make sense to the hypocrites and those who aren’t chosen.’  Yes.  The hypocrites and those who aren’t chosen don’t fear God and cannot know or enjoy the blessings of God's promise (covenant).  But we are those who know the way of the Lord's promises and walk with patience in faith.  Therefore, as we fear God, like David, we must be in close fellowship with God.  In the midst of this, we must faithfully walk on the way of the covenant God shows us (v. 14).

The way we must walk is the way of the righteous, the way of good, the way of upright, the way of justice, and the way of covenant.  In a word, the way we must walk is the way the cross the Lord has walked.  The way of the cross is never wide.  The Bible says it's a narrow road.  We must choose to deny ourselves and take our own cross and walk the way Jesus walked.  We must choose this way and walk faithfully.  In order to do that, I hope and pray that our eyes are continually toward the Lord (v. 15).

With gratitude for such sinner like me has a privilege to walk the Lord's way by the grace of God,

James Kim

(Hoping to walk the narrow way of the cross all the way to the end)