What is the meaning of Psalm 25:16?

Turn to me

• David looks heavenward, convinced that God truly sees and hears. “Turn, O LORD, and deliver me” (Psalm 6:4) echoes the same appeal: an urgent request for God’s face, not His back.

• Scripture pictures God’s attentive nearness: “The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous” (Psalm 34:15).

• When believers call, they expect response because relationship is covenantal (Psalm 18:6; James 4:8).

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and be gracious

• Grace is undeserved favor; David counts on God’s character, not his own merit. “Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and loving devotion” (Psalm 25:6).

• The plea parallels “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion” (Psalm 51:1).

• Hebrews 4:16 invites every believer to “approach the throne of grace with confidence,” anchoring this Old-Testament cry in New-Testament promise.

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for I am lonely

• Isolation hurts more than physical hardship. David was often cut off—from Saul’s court, from family, from loyal friends (1 Samuel 23:14-15).

• God meets the solitary: “God settles the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:6).

• Paul felt the same abandonment: “At my first defense no one came to my support… but the Lord stood by me” (2 Timothy 4:16-17).

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and afflicted

• Affliction is pressure—external and internal. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all” (Psalm 34:19).

• Jesus prepared His followers: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

• Affliction drives trust deeper; suffering saints learn to say, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn Your statutes” (Psalm 119:71).

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summary

Psalm 25:16 is a fourfold cry: look at me, pour out grace, cure my aloneness, and lift my burdens. The verse teaches that believers can speak candidly to a responsive God, confident of His gaze, His mercy, His companionship, and His deliverance.