Context No. 2648 of 4322 · Psalms

Psalms 25:1-16: in context

1To you, LORD, I lift up my soul. 2My God, I have trusted in you. Don’t let me be shamed. Don’t let my enemies triumph over me. 3Yes, no one who waits for you will be shamed. They will be shamed who deal treacherously without cause. 4Show me your ways, LORD. Teach me your paths. 5Guide me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. I wait for you all day long. 6LORD, remember your tender mercies and your loving kindness, for they are from old times. 7Don’t remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. Remember me according to your loving kindness, for your goodness’ sake, LORD. 8Good and upright is the LORD, therefore he will instruct sinners in the way. 9He will guide the humble in justice. He will teach the humble his way. 10All the paths of the LORD are loving kindness and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. 11For your name’s sake, LORD, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. 12What man is he who fears the LORD? He shall instruct him in the way that he shall choose. 13His soul will dwell at ease. His offspring will inherit the land. 14The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant. 15My eyes are ever on the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. 16Turn to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted.

David lifts his soul to God and asks to be taught his ways, to be guided in truth. And then he does something bold with his sin. He does not minimize it to make it forgivable; he names it plainly and prays, for your name's sake, LORD, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. He asks God not to remember the sins of his youth, and to remember him instead according to his steadfast love.

Notice the logic of the prayer: pardon my iniquity, for it is great. That is the opposite of how we usually plead. We tend to shrink our sin, to make it small enough to seem pardonable, please forgive me, it wasn't that bad. David does the reverse. He names the sin as great and asks pardon anyway, appealing not to the smallness of his offense but to the greatness of God's name and mercy. That is a deeper confidence. It does not depend on my sin being minor; it rests on God's mercy being large enough for a great sin honestly named. The bigger the debt, the more God's name is honored in forgiving it.

Do I shrink my sin to make it forgivable, or bring it to God named honestly as great, appealing to a mercy larger than it?

Sources

Psalm 25:11: For your name's sake, LORD, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
Psalm 25:7: Don't remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. Remember me according to your loving kindness.
Psalm 25:14: The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.