Glorious prospect of God's dealings.
"All the paths" etc. The spirit of this psalm is lowly but tranquil faith. Lowly, because of deep sense of sin (Psalms 25:7, Psalms 25:11, Psalms 25:18)and experience of sorrow (Psalms 25:2, Psalms 25:15-17); tranquil, because resting in God (Psalms 25:1, Psalms 25:6, Psalms 25:8, Psalms 25:12). Like a flower rooted in a rock-cleft, that shivers with every breeze, hut which you may tear to pieces but not uproot. This tenth verse contains an answer to the prayer of Psalms 25:4. Starting from his own experience, the psalmist is elevated to this glorious universal prospect of God's dealings. Consider
I. THE FEATURES CHARACTERISTIC OF GOD'S DEALINGS.
1. "Mercy;" or, "loving-kindness," as the same Hebrew word is often rendered. (In Proverbs 31:26 and some other places, "kindness.") Although it is a useful general rule to employ one English. word constantly to represent one Hebrew or Greek word, yet we could not afford to spare either of these words from our English Bible. Rules must not be pressed with pedantic strictness when they hurt in place of helping. Mercy, or loving-kindness, means goodness, and something more—a personal reference, inviting personal trust and thankfulness. You show goodness, large-hearted bounty, if you set up a public fountain where one is needed. But if you are journeying through the desert, and. share your own scanty supply with a traveller ready to die of thirst, that is mercy, loving-kindness. When Israel dwelt in Goshen, God's goodness was shown in every ripening fruit and bending ear of corn. But perhaps the poor slaves forgot to praise the bountiful hand which fed their oppressors as richly. But when a table was spread for them morning by morning in the desert, and water gushed out of the rock, Israel learned the lesson they were brought there to learn, and praised the Lord, "for he is good; his mercy endureth for ever." So with God's greatest Gift: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16; 1 John 3:9, 1 John 3:10). But it is in the personal reception of this universal gift that "whosoever believeth" really learns its value. The sense of personal sin and unworthiness is indispensable to any adequate sense of God's mercy (comp. Genesis 32:10).
2. Truth is the other great feature of God's character here set forth. These two are inseparable (Psalms 85:10). Neither apart from the other would furnish a gospel. God's mercy is the matter and motive of our faith; his truth its warrant and assurance (1 John 5:9-11). Among men one would rather trust a hard-hearted but incorruptibly truthful man, than one full of kind feeling but faithless. In God the two are as inseparable as the form and the colour which make to our view one image.
II. THESE GLORIOUS ATTRIBUTES OF GOD ARE CONSTANT, because he is unchangeable. They characterize all his dealings without exception, for God is always himself "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth." The psalmist adds, "unto such," etc. This twofold description of God's written Word corresponds with the two features we have been contemplating of the Divine character. "His covenant," including all his promises (2 Corinthians 1:20), is the expression of his mercy; "his testimonies," the utterance of his truth. Inseparable, like the glories of his nature. They also correspond with the twofold nature of faith—personal trust in God, and intelligent belief o! Divine truth. Why this limitation—"unto such," etc.? Are not God's mercy and truth his free gift to all men—the charter from which none may bar them? Surely, if they will receive them. Truth is not truth to one who refuses to believe it—treats it as a fancy or a lie. A promise is no promise to one who rejects it (1 John 5:10). Such limitation lies in the nature of things, not in any arbitrary appointment. All are included who are willing to be included. None are shut out but those who shut themselves out (1 Timothy 2:4-6). Does any child of God, sorely tried in mind, body, or estate, find it hard to hold fast this faith? Are you tempted to think some of God's ways unmerciful—that some of his promises fail? Rest assured this is your ignorance and weakness, not God's harshness or forgetfulness. This was Asaph's temptation, so pathetically recorded in Psalms 77:1-20; so triumphantly overcome. When "the end of the Lord" comes to be known, every one who has "kept his covenant and his testimonies" shall find that "hope maketh not ashamed;" and shall confess, "He hath done all things well."