The power of title humiliation
Title: The Power of Condescension (Psalm 25:1-9)
Isn't that saying to Elder Il-Sun Kim, the senior elder, "Elder Kim," today, sing the hymn 3 and close the worship service with the Lord's Prayer?
That's right. If you have to live according to the preacher's sermon, it would be a real sermon, but it just hurts my heart to not be able to do that.
The text here speaks of the power of humiliation.
In other words, the power of humiliation is when we look up to the Lord.
1 “My soul looks up to you, O LORD”
Here David says that my soul looks up to you.
This means that David himself is not being pushed to and fro like the unbelievers, but is focusing all his heart and mind only on God.
Among the portraits of Jesus, we see Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Isn't the figure of Jesus kneeling on a rock, holding hands in prayer and looking up, looking up to God?
Even in the prayers of the Pharisees and tax collectors, the power of being humble is seen in the way they look up to the Lord.
Matthew 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed by himself, saying, "God, I thank you that I am not like all fms, not like extortioners, nor like this publican. 12 I fast twice a week, and I tithe my income. is said
A Pharisee does not look up to the Lord.
He is the one who only reveals his own righteousness.
But what about tax collectors?
13 The tax collector, standing afar off, did not dare lift up his eyes to look at the sky, but beat his breast and said, “Have mercy on me, O God, for I am a sinner.”
The tax collector beats his chest, and I am a sinner. He is a humble man who knows his identity and looks up to the Lord. This is the one who has the power to be humbled.
14 So I tell you, this man, not that Pharisee, went down to his house justified. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
So how did David look up to the Lord?
1) You want to show caution.
4 “Show me Your ways, O LORD, and teach me Your ways; 5 Guide me and teach me in Your truth.
Here, the expression of the way of the Lord and the way of the Lord, the truth of the Lord, etc. have the same meaning and refer to the way God wants, His will, etc. This is to reveal what the Lord wants.
Calvin thought of David's prayer to teach the Lord's truth about this, not as a general meaning, but as an appeal containing David's conflict and will. According to him, David is not asking the Lord for the way now, like a sheep wandering because he does not know where he is going, but is entrusting him to lead his future life on the right path.
In other words, although he has tried to do the will of the Lord so far, he understood it as a petition to the Lord to lead him correctly so that he would not be caught up in his personal feelings or impulses in the future. That's right. How often do we do things our way? We must pray for this. Lord, do not let your personal feelings and impulses get you to do your work, and let your ways work according to your will. I believe you should pray.
Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways, says the LORD, 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. I hope you believe that those who fulfill the will of the Lord by relying on the word of the Lord are the authority of the lowly.