Psalms 25:5

Psa 25:5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou [art] the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Ver. 5. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me] i.e. Assidue doce et urge. David was a great proficient in God’s school, and yet he would learn more; so sweet is divine knowledge. Four times together here prayeth David to be further instructed. See Moses in like manner holily encroaching upon God, Exo 33:12-13; Exo 33:16; Exo 33:18, as if his motto had been that of Charles V, Ulterius, More yet.

For thou art the God of my salvation] Perfect, therefore, that which concerneth me. "Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever; forsake not the works of thine own hands," Psa 138:8. Thou hast written me down in thy book of preservation with thine own hand. Oh read thine own handwriting, and save me, said Queen Elizabeth in her troubles.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa_25:5

Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me.

Guiding and teaching

A short but expressive prayer. All need it. We need it when we are surrounded with gloom, when we are tempted, and when we find bur path very rough.

I. The petition for guidance. We need it because--

1. We are ignorant of the future.

2. The way is dark.

3. We need thus to pray, from a deep conviction that we dare not go alone.

4. Because we are so weak. The Psalmist asks that God will lead him according to His own revealed will. In Thy truth.

II. The petition for instruction. How much we need to learn. How little we know after all these years. We dont know our bodies, still less our souls. We know not about time, how precious it is, but yet less of eternity. How little we know of life or of men, Therefore we need to pray, Lord, teach me. (William Scott.)

On Thee do I wait all the day.

How to spend the day with God

Who can truly say this? Who among us lives such a life of communion with God? This waiting is that of patient expectation and constant attendance. God was keeping David in suspense. He could not tell what was the mind and will of God. But he waits continually on Him. And so, in like circumstances, must we.

I. What is it to wait upon God?

1. It is to live a life of desire towards Him. Our desire should be, not only towards the good things God gives, but towards God Himself.

2. It is to live a life of delight in God. Desire is love in motion, as a bird upon the wing. Delight is love at rest, as a bird upon the nest.

3. It is a life of dependence on God, as the child waits on the father.

4. It is a life of devotedness to God, as the servant waits on his master.

5. And it is to make His will our rule; for our practice or for our patience, as the will of His providence may ordain.

II. This we must do every day, and all day long.

1. Every day. Servants in the courts of princes have their weeks or months of waiting appointed them, and are tied to attend only at certain times; but Gods servants must never be out of waiting. Sabbath days and weekdays, idle days and busy days, days of prosperity and of adversity.

2. Toto die,--or all the day through. By casting our daily care upon Him. By managing our daily business for Him. Receiving our daily comforts from Him. Resisting our daily temptations, and doing our daily duties, in the strength of His grace. Application: Consider this need of waiting on God at particular times. At family worship. When teaching your children. At shop or business. At meal times. On friendly visits. God waits to be gracious to those who wait on Him. (Matthew Henry.)

Waiting on God

I. Illustrate the spirit and meaning of this verse.

1. It does not mean that David was incessantly occupied with religious exercises.

2. The words are quite consistent with a knowledge of many transgressions.

3. The words involve a figurative meaning. This waiting is the spirit of trust, of loving obedience, of hope and confidence, of a most intimate friendship, of the deepest reverence.

II. In what way would a day be spent by one who sincerely uttered these words?

1. The day would be begun with God.

2. One who has begun the day with God will remember His presence, and seek His favour through the day. What is wanted of all of us is to carry the habit of religion into our ordinary pursuits. (W. G. Barrett.)

Prolonged waiting upon God

The thoughtless rush before God, in which we expect to get all we covet and away again, is worse than sacrilege. The unapproachable glories cannot be known in the twinkling of an eye. One of Ruskins pupils once said to him, The instant I entered the gallery at Florence I knew what you meant by the supremacy of Boticelli. In an instant, did you? was the somewhat withering reply. It took me twenty years to find it out. If we wait before God for a lifetime we shall only just begin to feel His enchantments. (Thomas G. Selby.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 25:5. Lead me in thy truth — In the true and right way prescribed in thy word, which is often called truth; or, through, or, because of, thy truth; because thou art faithful, lead and guide me as thou hast promised to do. For thou art the God of my salvation — Who hast saved me formerly, and hast engaged to save me, and from whom alone I expect salvation. On thee do I wait all the day — In the midst of all my concerns, however important, I am always desiring and expecting thy teaching and direction, being continually disposed and determined to comply with thy will, as far as it is made known.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25:5 Biblical hope does not mean wishing for an event to turn out favorably. Hope trusts the Lord’s will and gives the courage to face disappointments (33:22; 130:5).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Constantly, and against all tentations.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 5. On thee do I wait] This is the line in which ו vau, the sixth letter in the order of the alphabet, is lost; for the line begins with א aleph, אותך othecha, "on thee." But four of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. have ואותך veothecha, "AND upon thee." This restores the lost ו vau, which signifies "and." The Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Arabic, AEthiopic, and Anglo-Saxon, preserve it.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

At the same time, we ought to observe the argument which David here employs to enforce his prayer. By calling God the God of his salvation, he does so in order to strengthen his hope in God for the future, from a consideration of the benefits which he had already received from him; and then he repeats the testimony of his confidence towards God. Thus the first part of the argument is taken from the nature of God himself, and the duty which, as it were, belongs to him; that is to say, because he engages to maintain the welfare of the godly, and aids them in their necessities, on this ground, that he will continue to manifest the same favor towards them even to the end. But as it is necessary that our confidence in God should correspond to his great goodness towards us, David alleges it, at the same time, in connection with a declaration of his perseverance. For, by the expression all the day, or every day, he signifies that with a fixed and untiring constancy he depended upon God alone. And, doubtless, it is the property of faith always to look to God, even in the most trying circumstances, and patiently to wait for the aid which he has promised. That the recollection of the divine blessings may nourish and sustain our hope, let us learn to reflect upon the goodness which God has already manifested towards us, as we see that David did in making this the ground of his confidence, that he had found in his own personal experience God to be the author of salvation.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(5) Lead me in thy truth.—Better, make me walk in—i.e., make me to have an actual experience of the Divine faithfulness in my passage through life.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. Lead me &c.] R.V., Guide me in thy truth: not, as at first sight would seem to be the meaning, into a fuller knowledge of revealed truth. Jehovah’s truth, so often coupled with His lovingkindness, means His faithfulness; and the sense is either ‘guide me in virtue of thy faithfulness’; or ‘let me live in the experience of thy faithfulness’ (Psa_26:3).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me,.... Meaning the word of God, the Scriptures of truth; and the Gospel, which is the word of truth, and truth itself, Joh 17:17; and the sense is, either that God would lead him by his Spirit more and more into all truth, as contained in his word; or that he would lead him by it and according to it, that he might form his principles and his conduct more agreeably to it, which is the standard and rule of faith and practice: which leading is by teaching; and reasons urged for granting all the above petitions follow,

for thou art the God of my salvation; who, in infinite wisdom, contrived scheme and method of it in his Son, and by him effected it, and by his Spirit had made application of it to him: and since the Lord had done such great things for him, he hoped the requests he had made would be granted: he adds,

on thee do I wait all the day; or continually, in public and in private, attending to all the duties of religion, yet not trusting in them, but in the Lord; and therefore he entreated he might not be ashamed of his hope and expectation for deliverance and salvation.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Lead me in thy truth - In the way which thou regardest as truth, or which thou seest to be true. Truth is eternal and unchanging. What God sees and regards as truth is true, because he sees things as they are; and when we have the divine estimate of anything, we understand what the thing is. It is not that he makes it to be true, but that he sees it to be true. Such is the perfection of His nature that we have the utmost assurance that what God regards as truth is truth; what He proclaims to be right is right. It is then His truth, as He adopts it for the rule of His own conduct, and makes it known to His creatures to guide them.

And teach me - Since this would be understood by the psalmist, it would be a prayer that God would teach him by His law as then made known; by His Spirit in the heart; by the dispensations of His providence. As applicable to us, it is a prayer that He would instruct us by all the truths then made known, and all that have since been revealed; by His Spirit in its influences on our hearts; by the events which are occurring around us; by the “accumulated” truth of ages; the knowledge which by all the methods He employs He has imparted to people for their guidance and direction.

For thou art the God of my salvation - The word “salvation” is not to be understood here in the sense in which it is now commonly used, as denoting deliverance from sin and future ruin, but in the more general sense of “deliverance” - deliverance from danger and death. The phrase is synonymous with “preservation,” and the idea is that the psalmist regarded God as his preserver; or that he owed his protection and safety in the time of danger to Him alone.

On thee do I wait - That is, I rely on Thee; or, I am dependent on Thee. He had no other source of reliance or dependence.

All the day - Continually, always. He was really dependent upon Him at all times, and he felt that dependence. It is always true that we are dependent upon God for everything; it is not true that we always feel this. It was a characteristic of the piety of the psalmist that he did feel this.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In thy truth, i.e. in the true and right way prescribed in thy word, which is oft called truth, as Psa 119:30; Joh 8:45,46; 16:13, &c. Or, by or because of thy truth, i.e. because thou art faithful, do thou lead or guide me as thou hast promised to do.

The God of my salvation, i.e. who hast saved me formerly, and hast engaged to save me, and from whom alone I expect salvation.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 5. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, i.e., teach me evidently, that I may not be deceived; so teach me, that I may not only know thy will, but do it. Here's his prayer, but what grounds hath he to expect audience? For thou art the God of my salvation, q.d., thou Lord, wilt save me, and therefore do not refuse to teach me. On thee do I wait all the day, i.e., the whole day, and every day. Other arguments are couched in the following verses, but what answer?

Ver. 5. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me. The same request as in the last verse. The little child having begun to walk, asks to be still led onward by its parent's helping hand, and to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth. Experimental teaching is the burden of this prayer. Lead me according to thy truth, and prove thyself faithful; lead me into truth that I may know its preciousness, lead me by the way of truth that I may manifest its spirit. David knew much, but he felt his ignorance and desired to be still in the Lord's school; four times over in these two verses he applies for a scholarship in the college of grace. It were well for many professors if instead of following their own devices, and cutting out new paths of thought for themselves, they would enquire for the good old ways of God's own truth, and beseech the Holy Ghost to give them sanctified understandings and teachable spirits. For thou art the God of my salvation. The Three One Jehovah is the Author and Perfector of salvation to his people. Reader, is he the God of your salvation? Do you find in the Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and in the Spirit's quickening all the grounds of your eternal hopes? If so, you may use this as an argument for obtaining further blessings; if the Lord has ordained to save you, surely he will not refuse to instruct you in his ways. It is a happy thing when we can address the Lord with the confidence which David here manifests, it gives us great power in prayer, and comfort in trial. On thee do I wait all the day. Patience is the fair handmaid and daughter of faith; we cheerfully wait when we are certain that we shall not wait in vain. It is our duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in worship, in expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our faith will be tried faith, and if it be of the true kind, it will bear continued trial without yielding. We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously he once waited for us.

Ver. 5. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me. The soul that is unsatiable in prayer, he proceeds, he gets near to God, he gains something, he winds up his heart higher. As a child that seeth the mother have an apple in her hand, and it would fain have it, it will come and pull at the mother's hand for it; now she lets go one finger, and yet she holds it, and then he pulls again; and then she lets go another finger, and yet she keeps it, and then the child pulls again, and will never leave pulling and crying till it hath got it from its mother. So a child of God, seeing all graces to be in God, he draws near to the throne of grace begging for it, and by his earnest and faithful prayers he opens the hands of God to him; God dealing as parents to their children, holds them off for awhile; not that he is unwilling to give, but to make them more earnest with God; to draw them the nearer to himself. William Fenner.

Ver. 5. On thee do I wait all the day. We must wait all the day. 1. Though it be a long day, though we be kept waiting a great while, quite beyond our own reckoning; though when we have waited long, we are still put to wait longer, and are bid, with the prophet's servant, to go yet seven times 1Ki 18:43, before we perceive the least sign of mercy coming...2. Though it be a dark day, yet let us wait upon God all the day. Though while we are kept waiting for what God will do, we are kept in the dark concerning what he is doing, and what is best for us to do, yet let us be content to wait in the dark. Though we see not our signs, though there is none to tell us how long, yet let us resolve to wait, how long soever it may be; for though what God doth we know not now, yet we shall know hereafter when the mystery of God shall be finished...3. Though it be a stormy day, yet we must wait upon God all the day. Though we are not only becalmed, and do not get forward, but though the wind be contrary, and drive us back; nay, though it be boisterous, and the church be tossed with tempests, and ready to sink, yet we must hope the best, yet we must wait, and weather the storm by patience. It is some comfort that Christ is in the ship; the church's cause is Christ's own cause, he has espoused it, and he will own it; he is embarked in the same bottom with his people, and therefore why are you fearful? ... To wait on God, is1. To live a life of desire towards God; to wait on him as the beggar waits on his benefactor, with earnest desire to receive supplies from him, as the sick and sore at Bethesda's pool waited for the stirring of the water, and attended in the porches with desire to be helped in and healed... 2. It is to live a life of delight in God, as the lover waits on his beloved. Desire is love in motion, as a bird upon the wing; delight is love at rest, as a bird upon the nest; now, though our desire must still be so towards God, as that we must be wishing for more of God, yet our delight must be so in God, as that we must never wish for more than God...3. It is to live of dependence on God, as the child waits on his father, whom he has confidence in, and on whom he casts all his care. To wait on God is to expect all good to come to us from him, as the worker of all good for us and in us, the giver of all good to us, and the protector of us from all evil. Thus David explains himself Ps 62:5, "My soul, wait thou only upon God, " and continue still to do so, for "my expectation is from him." ...

4. It is to live a life of devotedness to God, as the servant waits on his master, ready to observe his will, and to do his work, and in everything to consult his honour and interest. To wait on God is entirely and unreservedly to refer ourselves to his wise and holy directions and disposals, and cheerfully to acquiesce in them, and comply with them. The servant that waits on his master, chooseth not his own way, but follows his master step by step. Thus must we wait on God, as those that have no will of our own but what is wholly resolved into his, and must therefore study to accommodate ourselves to his. Condensed from Matthew Henry, on "Communion with God."

Ver. 5. On thee do I wait all the day. On thee, whose hand of bounty, whose bosom of love, yea, whose bowels of mercy are not only opened, but enlarged to all humble penitents. On thee do I wait, wait to hear the secret voice of thy Spirit, speaking peace unto my conscience, wait to feel the reviving vigour of thy grace, quickening mine obedience; wait to see the subduing power of the Holy Spirit quelling my rebellious sin; wait to feel the cheering virtue of thy heavenly comforts, refreshing my fainting soul; for all these thy blessings, O thou God of my salvation, on thee do I wait all the day. "All the day:" being never so satisfied with thy goodness, as not more eagerly to long after thy heavenly fulness; wherefore now refresh my faintings, quench not my desires; but the more freely thou givest, let me the more eagerly covet; the more sweet is thy mercy, let be the more eager my longings, that so my whole life on earth may be a continual breathing after that eternal fellowship and communion with thee in heaven; thus, thus, let me wait, even all my life, all the day. Robert Mossom.

Ver. 5.

1. Sanctification desired.

2. Knowledge sought.

3. Assurance enjoyed.

4. Patience exercised.

Ver. 5. Thou art the God of my salvation. A rich and overflowing text.

Ver. 5. (last clause). How to spend the day with God. Matthew Henry.

Psalms 25:6*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Lead… in thy truth— “Truth,” here, may be taken either in the sense of doctrine or of faithfulness. The former gives the sense of Psa_25:4, the latter the experience of divine faithfulness in keeping covenant and promise, and is the more probable sense, according to the connexion.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me. "Thy truth" would seem to mean here "the true, right path the "way of godliness." The prayer is that God will both teach this to the psalmist and "lead him in it cause him, i.e. , to walk in it, and never stray from it, so long as he lives. For thou art the God of my salvation. Thou art the God from whom alone I obtain salvation, and to whom alone, therefore, I am bound to pray for everything on which salvation depends as, for instance, light and guidance. On thee do I wait all the day. In prayer for these blessings, I wait on thee all the day long.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

His truth is the lasting and self-verifying fact of His revelation of grace. To penetrate into this truth and to walk in it (Psa 26:3; Psa 86:11) without God, is a contradiction in its very self. Therefore the psalmist prays, as in Psa 119:35, οδήγησόν με ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ σου (lxx Cod. Alex.; whereas Cod. Vat. ἐπὶ τὴν..., cf. Joh 16:13). He prays thus, for his salvation comes from Jahve, yea Jahve is his salvation. He does not hope for this or that, but for Him, all the day, i.e., unceasingly,

(Note: Hupfeld thinks the accentuation inappropriate; the first half of the verse, however, really extends to ישׁעי, and consists of two parts, of which the second is the confirmation of the first: the second half contains a relatively new thought. The sequence of the accents: Rebia magnum, Athnach, therefore fully accords with the matter.)

for everything worth hoping for, everything that can satisfy the longing of the soul, is shut up in Him. All mercy or grace, however, which proceeds from Him, has its foundation in His compassion and condescension.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

5. Make me walk in thy truth and teach me, for thou (art) the God of my salvation; for thee have I waited all the day. The obvious meaning of this verse, interpreted according to New Testament and modern usage, would be that of a prayer for divine instruction in religious truth or doctrine. But the usage of the Psalms, and the preceding context, are in favour of explaining truth to mean the veracity of God, or the faithful performance of his promises. See Psa 30:10 (9), Psa 71:22; Psa 91:4. The teaching asked is then experimental teaching, or the actual experience of God's faithfulness.—The God of my salvation, or my Saviour God. See above, on Psa 18:47 (46). —I have waited. This is no new or untried exercise of faith, to be attempted for the first time, but one with which I have been long familiar.—All the day, continually, always.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Direct me Heb. הדריבני, adreza moy in Old French.

I hope for You all day long That is this world, which is day for the nations of the world and night for Israel.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.