Episode 4 - Psalm 25:4-5 - Doxology

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What’s up, guys!

This is Josh with Shepherd’s Cast and I want to welcome you to the podcast where I talk to you about the things that I find important. My content is meant to inform, educate, puzzle, or be funny. If it does something other than what I’ve just said, then Soli Deo Gloria, we will just call it providence. All of what I say is read from blog posts that I have written and can be found on my website with the link in the show notes.

So, anyway, yeah, here we go…

The Text

So, without any further pause, today we are going to be digging through Psalm 25:4-5. It says in the Psalm:

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, For you are the God of my salvation; For you I wait all day long. Psalm 25:4-5

In the Reformed tradition we are often known for highlighting our view of the Doctrine of God. We hold to a view that puts God in control of all things, including the freedom of our very will. Pastor and theologian R.C. Sproul is known for using the phrase “There are no maverick molecules in the entire universe” in order to describe the true sovereignty of God. What R.C. means when he says this is that there is not one thing that God is not control of. If there was even one molecule, this would show that God is, in fact, not sovereign over all things and the entire divine plan wouldn’t be trustworthy. You can probably illustrate this idea better on less philosophical grounds by asking “Can God make a rock so large He cannot pick it up?” The answer, of course, is no. Beyond the simple fact that it is out of the realm of possibilities, it is what we would call a “nonsense statement.” Put another way, it is an attempt to posit a logical question with an illogical conclusion.

We often refer back to different statements made by David in his doxology in the Psalms when defining the sovereignty of God. As an example, in Psalm 74 starting in verse 13 David begins by describing the power of God over nature. “You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.” At the very creation we see that God, with His might, divided the sea. Who else could we attribute this to? In Psalm 25, David is asking God to show him His paths, to make David to know His ways. Of course, we know and understand that David is asking God to teach him His ways, but the ESV rendering of the passage alludes to an almost divine enlightenment, or special revelation. As if David is asking for a change of mind in the making of understanding towards God’s ways. A continued pointing toward the sovereignty of God in all things, including the gaining of knowledge.

Something that I want to point out as we look deeper into Psalm 25, however, how this focus of the sovereignty of God leads to something called doxology. Author and pastor Sam Storms can be quoted saying “The ultimate goal of theology isn’t knowledge, but worship. If our learning and knowledge of God do not lead to the joyful praise of God, we have failed. We learn only that we might laugh, which is to say that theology without doxology is idolatry. The only theology worth studying is a theology that can be sung!” This leads us to the purpose of my podcast for today. And that is to determine… what exactly doxology is.

The literal definition of the word doxology describes it as something that is an expression of praise to God. It can be in song, prayer, or in blatant statement that describes God’s character. Not simply just “God is God,” rather, more something along the lines of “You are the God of my salvation.” It is a statement of truth that exhorts the God of the universe, that expresses His glory, that bellows forth from you in Spirit and in Truth as it says in John 4:23-24. In my experience, it is almost a “my cup runneth over” moment when Scripture pushes me to any form of doxology.

From the passage mentioned earlier, we can easily note this expression towards the end of those verses. “For You are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.” I want to pause for a moment and express that I know that in all actuality, by most definitions, the entirety of the Psalm would be considered a doxology as a song of worship to God. However, I wanted to use obvious examples in order to be able to see it more clearly in the future as we are studying through Scripture.

Another clear example of doxology in Scripture would be following Paul’s introduction in Ephesians. Ephesians 1:3 says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” Verse four continues to say “even as He chose us in Him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” This is not uncommon in Paul’s epistles following the introduction. It’s almost as if the writer gets caught up in the description and name of God, describing Him in such a way as to worship Him in letter.

I wanted to make sure that this was defined for my listeners, not simply to build your vocabulary of Christianese but to communicate my own convictions in my own study. Does scripture lead you to doxology? How often are the attributes of God falling dryly from your lips in expression when you discuss theology or talk about things with people involving your Christian walk? Likewise, how often is the love of your God expressed in your communication of who He is? How often is He worshipped from your expression of who He is? Why? Or maybe why not? Are you doing it because you want to or because people tell you that you should?

David had plenty to worry about as king. And, yet, even asking to know the truths of God pushed him to worshipping God. Likewise, Paul, in simply introducing himself in his letters could not help but to express worship for His God, exalting Him by merely defining the things that He had done. God, in the definition of His own name, expressed it in the form of who He is alongside the accolades of a savior from Egypt in Exodus 34. This tradition took hold in future explanations, not as an expression of accolades or the name of God, but in worship of who God is.

Final Word of the Day

I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this podcast. It is always a pleasure to bring the word of God to those who are seeking to know more about Him.

The final word of the day comes to us from a progressive pastor seeking to give some clout to one of her friends.

*If you wanna hear this you gotta check out my blog.*

A special thanks to Jesus Wannabeez for allowing me to use their newest track, Ephesians 6, in my intro and outro music. You can find a link to their Spotify in the show notes.

And, as always, do everything that you do to the glory of God. Forever and ever.

Amen.