Written by Dawn Rutan
As I’m reading through the Psalms again, one particular word caught my attention in Psalm 25—“all.” It occurs a few times, but the first one I noticed was verse 10, “All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness…” (ESV). Not just a few or some, but all. Even though I fully believe in the sovereignty of God, I sometimes find myself thinking that God has had to switch to plan B or plan Z in reaction to something that has happened. But the fact is that He knows the end from the beginning (including my sin!), so He’s never reactionary. He knows each step of the path He has planned for me and therefore I can trust that His path is indeed “steadfast love and faithfulness.”
Psalm 139:16 is a good reminder, “In Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 145:17 gives another clarification, “The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His works,” and yet it’s not always easy to trust His plans. I can only imagine the peace it would bring to always believe that He knows, He cares, and He’s got it under control. Matthew Henry’s commentary on Psalm 25 says,
All the paths of the Lord, that is, all his promises and all his providences, are mercy and truth. In all God’s dealings, his people may see his mercy displayed, and his word fulfilled, whatever afflictions they are now exercised with. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth; and so it will appear when they come to their journey’s end.
That brings me back to verse 5, “Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day long.” There’s another “all” that I need to remember. I know my patience is short, especially when it comes to waiting on God. I don’t want to wait even a few hours, much less days or weeks or years. Besides waiting for direction, I’m left waiting for an explanation from God, but that’s not likely to be forthcoming in this life. He’s more interested in building my faith than in answering my questions.
In The Wounded Woman: Hope and Healing for Those Who Hurt, the authors write:
Each and every difficulty is a test to determine our patience, courage, character, determination, and faith. Sometimes we handle our challenges well, sometimes we don’t… Without wounds, my faith remains untested. And without moving forward, my faith will be unrewarded.
The test that comes with my current path is not for God’s knowledge, but for my own understanding. And as I realize my weaknesses, I know my need for Him better. When I’m sufficient in my own strength, or believe that I am strong in a particular area, God can’t use that for His glory. But when the test reveals how short I fall, God has the opportunity to pick me up and reveal His own strength and character. It’s then that I remember verse 18, “Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins,” including the sin of thinking more highly of myself than I should and thinking too little of God.
“Indeed, none who wait for You shall be put to shame…” (v. 3). That’s the kind of all or nothing thinking that I need to embrace, as opposed to thinking that I’ve got it all together, or that God isn’t always steadfastly loving and faithful. If I expect God (and man) to act in ways I can understand and predict, I am sure to be disappointed repeatedly. But if I can trust that “All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,” no matter what they may look like to me, I can rest in His providence.
As is often the case, this is a lesson in progress, and I don’t know how well I’m learning it because the test isn’t over yet. In the meantime, here are a couple more “alls” to hold onto:
“The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down… The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him; He also hears their cry and saves them.” –Psalm 145:14, 17-18