Psalms in Our Time

Psalm 25: Show me thy ways, O Lord

This twentieth-century version of a meditative psalm is well set to one of the earliest English psalm tunes, written for this same psalm in the first English psalter.

Show me thy ways, O Lord, and teach thy paths to me;
guide thou my footsteps in thy truth, teach me to follow thee.
For thou the very God of my salvation art;
anew each day I look to thee, to make thine own my heart.

Thy tender mercies, Lord, remember thou, I pray;
thy loving-kindnesses recall, for from of old are they;
my youthful sins forget, as mercy is with thee;
as thou art merciful and good, O Lord, remember me.

The Lord is good indeed, and faithful he abides;
he in the way of righteousness repentant sinners guides.
He teaches humble souls his justice to discern;
he leadeth humble souls that they his way of life may learn.

All the Lord's ways are love; he faithful is and true
to those who keep his covenant, his precepts's path pursue.
I wait for thee, O God; to thee, O Lord, I call;
Redeemer be to Israel from their distresses all.

Text: J. Rossie Brown, 1954 (posthum.)

Meter: 6,6,8,6 (Short Meter, Double length)
Rhyme scheme: abcb

In suffering, perhaps also in bewilderment about what he should do, the psalmist sees a life sometimes blessed by God and often blighted by his own actions. Therefore his trust can only be in God. This psalm moves from an expression of repentance1 to focus on God's word as guide2 and God as the source of material blessings3.

This version comes from the Murrayfield Psalms4. Its language, while deliberately archaic, is clear; the trust and repentance of the psalmist is reflected faithfully.

"Old 25th": Anglo-Genevan Psalter, 1558

Incipit: dmrmfs|mmdfrd|mrdsfmrm; 13234 53314 21321
Melodic scheme: Through-composed

This tune appeared in the first English psalter for Psalm 25, as the name suggests, and has been associated with that psalm ever since. Rejoice in the Lord, 1985, like many late twentieth-century hymnals, restored the practice of including a section of psalm versions; Erik Routley, its editor, apparently tried to associate the old "proper" psalm tunes with new texts for the same psalm.5 Here there was no difficulty, since the tune is in "short meter"6, one of the three most common meters, which Brown used relatively often7.

Use:

We have several good hymns based on the first verse of this song. This version merits notice because of its expression of repentance (we need God's ways because our own have failed) and its strong sense of community (making it eminently a congregational hymn.)

We have a dearth of songs expressing our need for a continual attitude of personal repentance. This would admirably fill that void. It is equally appropriate in personal devotion and public worship; as an opening song, a closing song, or song before sermon. The stately and linear tune is physiologically effective as an opening song: it encourages full-throated, harmonious singing.

Notes:

1Compare, e.g., Psalm 130.
2Compare, e.g., Psalm 1 and Psalm 119.
3Compare, e.g., Psalm 136.
41954, published posthumously by the Church of Scotland. The copyright is held by the Kirk Session, Murrayfield Parish Church, Edinburgh (where Dr. Brown was pastor), which has generously authorized the online version at CCEL. See also Earth is eternally the Lord's.
5See also his Psalm 98.
6Or 6,6,8,6 (Iambic); see the Metrical Indexes at CCEH.
7Preface to Murrayfield Psalms, online at CCEL.

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Copyright © 2002,2003,2004, Stephen Hutcheson
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These studies are created by members of the West Allen Church of Christ in Allen, Texas