Walk With God - Psalms 24-26

Psalms 25:8-10 (ESV)
Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

In Hebrew poetry the lines of the poem are connected to another line in the poem by what is referred to as parallelism.   Parallelism is referring to how one line of the Hebrew poem compares, contrast, or compliments the other line.  We can learn much about what the author (God) wants us to learn by this comparison of one line to the other.   The above portion of Psalm 25 is synthetic parallelism.   That means each line “builds” upon the previous line.   The writer (David) starts out by telling us that God is “good and upright.”    He then continues by saying, “therefore He (God) instructs inners in the way.”    King David is building on the first line by telling us “how” God is good and upright.  He is good and upright because he instructs sinners in the way.    But, David does not stop there.   He goes on to explain more about the sinner and more about the way.   We read that the sinner must be “humble” to receive this good and upright instructions from the Lord.  We then learn that this “path” that the humble sinner is on comes from the Lord, in His “steadfast love and faithfulness.”  The instruction is not only good and right, but it flows from God’s immutability (cannot change what He started or who He is).   Finally, we receive the last line where David tells exactly what a humble sinner looks like.  It is those “who keep His covenant and His testimonies.”    As we read the lines of the poem we get more and more learning as to what God (through David’s writing) wants us to learn.   God will guide and direct the obedient and humble sinner who walks in His ways because He is loving, faithful, good and upright.    We can see that the walk of the sinner is relying completely on the character of God.   Our success in life is determined by our faith in the character of God.