Psalm 25:3 No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame
Ever have those days when it seems like failure could be your middle name? I was having one of those days when I came upon a quote from Elisabeth Elliot. “Fears arise when we imagine everything depends on us.” Don’t you love it when God finds a way to speak to your troubled soul?
I realized the more responsibility I felt for a particular situation, the greater my anxiety. If I had done something differently, if I had kept my mouth shut, if I would have had more grace… none of this would have happened. No wonder I felt like a failure. Although my shortcomings may have contributed to the conflict, my self-assessed importance had become greatly exaggerated.
When we depend more upon ourselves than God to fix our circumstances, we become magnets for hopelessness.
David writes in Psalm 25, “No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame.” He cries out for God to show him his ways, teach him his paths and guide him in truth. He confesses his hope rests in the Lord all day long. All. Day. Long. This “man after God’s heart,” is so occupied with trusting in God’s “loving and faithful ways” (v.10) that he has no time to ruminate on his own failures. Or wallow in shame and self-pity.
This doesn’t mean David ignores his failures. The remedy for taking on too much responsibility is not irresponsibility. He acknowledges his sin and asks God to forgive him…three different times in this twenty-two-verse psalm (v. 7;11;18). David was painfully aware of where he missed the mark. He just didn’t let it define him. And neither should we.
Friend, are you overwhelmed with a sense of failure? Hopelessness? Shame? God doesn’t want you to be. He wants you to bring the mess—whatever it might be—to him. Trust him to turn it around as only he can. Don’t let your middle name be fear but faith. Not defeated but delivered. Not self-reliant but Spirit-reliant.
God’s promise extends to all who hope in him. And that means you and me.