Psalm | Psalm 25:1-14 (with Nick Locke)

Opening Song:
25 by Red Rocks Worship

Lyrics:
To you, Lord, I lift my soul
I will trust the one who steadies me
I will wait and have no shame
As you make me to know your ways
All my days are yours
Take me by the hand and lead me in your truth
Teach my soul to rest only in you
For you are the one who saves all the lengths of my days
My hope rests only in you
Forever I will fix my eyes
On the rock who stands much higher
You defend, you call me friend
You have marked me with your righteousness
Your presence is my home
Take me by the hand and lead me in your truth
Teach my soul to rest only in you
For you are the one who saves all the lengths of my days
My hope rests only in you
You are good Lord
Steadfast is your love
You are good Lord
Steadfast is your love
You are good Lord
Steadfast is your love
You are good Lord
Steadfast is your love
Take me by the hand and lead me in your truth
Teach my soul to rest only in you
For you are the one who saves all the lengths of my days
My hope rests only in you, only in you

Passage:
1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
3 Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

4 Make me to know your ways, O LORD;
teach me your paths.
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.

6 Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!

8 Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11 For your name’s sake, O LORD,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
12 Who is the man who fears the LORD?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
13 His soul shall abide in well-being,
and his offspring shall inherit the land.
14 The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.
(Psalm 25:1–14 ESV)

Musical Reflection:
I Need Thee Every Hour (NEED) by Robert Lowry

Reflection Notes:
Each stanza of this familiar hymn was written by Annie Hawks as part of a poem. When she showed the composition to her pastor, Robert Lowry, he added the refrain and set the text to music for their congregation to enjoy. The musical lines always tend upward before falling back down, an apt parallel to the textual pleas reaching up to God.

Prayer:
I am spent, O my Christ, breath of my life. Perpetual stress and surge, in league together, make long, O long, this life, this business of living. Grappling with foes within and foes without, my soul has lost its beauty, blurred your image. Did ever oak such buffeting from winds or ship receive from waves as I do now? Labor to labor, task succeeds to task. . . . Friendship has bowed and illness wasted me. . . . Do not forsake me, my Strength, I beseech you. When the storms beat hard I may have betrayed you, but let me return to you now.
-Gregory of Nazianzus