“All the paths of the LORD are mercy [steadfast love] and truth [faithfulness], to such as keep His covenant and His testimonies” (Psalm 25:10).
Dear Praying Friends:
Aware of his sins and folly, David has begged God to “show [him] His ways and teach [him] His paths” (4). He wants to know how God intends to treat his people and how he wants us to treat others. God answered immediately by revealing that his ways are, in sum, love and truth. These two words appear together sixteen times in the Old Testament, ten of them in the psalms (for example, Psalms 85:10; 89:14; 100:5; and 138:2).
That is, God deals with us out of his unconditional love and complete fidelity to his revealed will - promises, commands, and teaching - and he wants us to relate to others in the same way.
As we have seen, all the psalms point to Christ, some more clearly than others. Here, David anticipates the coming of Jesus Christ, of whom John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 18).
“Grace” is another way of saying “unconditional love.” In Jesus, we see the character of God beautifully revealed, and in him we see the ways that we are to imitate our Lord.
But Jesus embodies something else, something essential for our life: He is himself the Way, in that he is the way - the only - way to God the Father (John 14:6). As we daily rely on him by faith, we receive God's life and love, and, through the Spirit, the power to manifest God’s love and truth to others.
“The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
Yours in his love and faithfulness,
Wright