In this beautiful Psalm we find the confluence of three metaphors or images that capture that heart of the faithful life: Learning, Walking, Remembering.
Learning
This Psalm reminds us that faith is learned. Unlike the philosopher Plato who said that knowing is a matter of remembering what we have always known but have forgotten, as Christians we must learn a new way of life.
Jesus called his followers disciples – mathētai, “learners” -- from which our English word “mathematics” is derived. (This always makes me think of the line from the old hymn, “Lowly and humble, a learner of Thee.”)
Even though we are created in the image of God, living according to that image is not something we know how to do instinctively or naturally. It needs to be learned. And learning almost always involves “unlearning” – learning to break those habits and relinquish patterns that alienate us from God, others and our truest selves.
Walking
Biblical faith is not a theory we formulate or a vision we acquire, but a road we travel. And learning, discipleship, has the sense of being shown the way. The great Hasidic theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel said that the best English translation of the Hebrew word “Torah” (usually rendered “law” or “instruction”) is “Way.” “Stand at the crossroads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it,” the prophet Jeremiah said (Jer 6:16) Jesus called his disciples, not to contemplate, but to follow. The Book of Acts calls the Christian life “The Way.”
So, our Psalm invites us to walk the “paths of the Lord” which “are steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 25:10)
Remembering
Without memory we could not learn. We lose our way when we forget where we have come from or where we are meant to be going.
Psalm 25 is an acrostic poem. Each of its twenty-two verses begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This is a memory device. It is a Psalm that is meant to be memorized, to be taken in and carried with us.
The memory of who God is, how God has commanded us to live, and how we have failed to do so, are vital components of our faith. Even more important is the memory that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. This is also a prayer to God, not only that we may remember, but that we may be remembered. “Do not remember the sins of my youth [but] according to your steadfast love remember me.” (Psalm 25:7)
Paul Miller