“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.” -Psalm 25:4
The beauty of simplicity characterizes David’s prayer in this verse. As a parallelism, it emphasizes the point. We need God’s help to know the way of the Lord. It is too high for us, too clean, and too good. Contrary to the assertions of some during the Renaissance, our intellect was bent and broken by the Fall. On our own, the best we can do is “…seek God, and perhaps feel [our] way toward him and find him… [as he] is actually not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27). But to know his ways and understand his paths, we need his help. So, David prays for instruction and guidance toward the Truth.
Fortunately, in his grace, the Truth (i.e., Logos or Word) became a man to make us know his ways and teach us his paths. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” -John 1:1,14
Scott, really enjoy your posts every day, thanks for sending these out. I was struck by the phrase that our “intellect was bent and broken by the Fall”. I would love to explore this concept more as I think it’s very insightful. Do you have other sources/material that you would point to for me to explore?
Thank you for reading, Russ. Depending on what you are wanting to explore specifically–that is broad topic–You might start with someone like Francis Schaeffer and explore his work Escape from Reason, or you could dive right into the church fathers and reformers–Augustine and Aquinas to Calvin and Luther–on the nature of the fall and its effects on the human intellect. (e.g., Aquinas had a pretty high view of the human intellect while others differed. May with some more clarity about your interest could allow me to direct you more specifically. Blessings! SP
Thank you!