In Psalms, chapter twenty-five, verse four, like Moses in Exodus thirty-three, verse thirteen, the psalmist longed intensely to know God’s ways. Believers can be familiar with something about God’s acts, such as salvation and miracles, like Psalms hundred and three, verse seven, but never really know God personally, intimately, or understand His ways, such as the role of testing, hardship, waiting on the Lord, humility, brokenness, prayer, and fasting, faith, wisdom, guidance, perseverance, purity issues, and so forth about spiritual authority and maturity.
The basic principles for knowing God’s ways in this psalm are the following: We must sincerely desire to follow the righteous ways of God and the truth of His Word, as in verse four. In verse nine, humbly submit to God, commit ourselves to godly living, as in verse ten, and fear the Lord, as in verses twelve through fourteen.
Since sin is a barrier to knowing God and His ways, we must forsake sin and be cleansed and forgiven, as in verses four through eight. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me,” in Psalms sixty-six, verse eighteen, and First John two, verses one through six.
Adversity is not necessarily a sign of God’s disfavor, as in Psalms thirty-four, verse nineteen. Knowing God and His ways may lead us into suffering and loss that we would not otherwise encounter, as in Acts fourteen, verse twenty-two, and chapter twenty, verses twenty-two to twenty-three. The ultimate example of this truth is Jesus Himself, who followed God’s will perfectly yet suffered sorrow, betrayal, and the cross. The believer abiding by God’s will must expect the same, as in Matthew ten, verse twenty-four.
True believers will undergo various trials they would never expect. Remember, saints of God do not make trials but only endure them.