We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk. You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author. Thank you!
2 Samuel 23:1-7
1Now these are the last words of David:
The oracle of David, son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man whom God exalted,
the anointed of the God of Jacob,
the favourite of the Strong One of Israel:
2 The spirit of the Lord speaks through me,
his word is upon my tongue.
3 The God of Israel has spoken,
the Rock of Israel has said to me:
One who rules over people justly,
ruling in the fear of God,
4 is like the light of morning,
like the sun rising on a cloudless morning,
gleaming from the rain on the grassy land.
5 Is not my house like this with God?
For he has made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and secure.
Will he not cause to prosper
all my help and my desire?
6 But the godless are all like thorns that are thrown away;
for they cannot be picked up with the hand;
7 to touch them one uses an iron bar
or the shaft of a spear.
And they are entirely consumed in fire on the spot.
Devotional Thought
Have you ever thought about what you would like your last words to be? Like David’s, would they be words of hope and trust in God? Or would they be something else, perhaps something more selfish or worldly, maybe even words of anger or hopelessness? David was far from a perfect king. Yet, he was a repentant king who sought after God’s righteousness and tried to lead his people in the ways of the Lord. Nearing death, David could have complained about the fact that he didn’t get to build God’s temple or that he didn’t get to see some of the promises made by God come to fruition. But instead, he focused on the positives and made a choice to trust that God would stay true to God’s word. As we think about our own lives and what may come out of our mouths in our last days, I am prone to think that most likely the words we would speak would reflect the relationships we had, the kinds of people we were, and the kinds of things we did as we lived each day. Let’s make each day one of trust in God and full of hope for what God has promised already. Then, it won’t matter if we don’t have an opportunity to say these last words—our lives would have been a beautiful revelation of God’s love for all to have seen and heard.
Prayer
Dear God, make us an instrument of your grace and love to the people we come in contact with today. Help us to live a life of faithfulness and hope today. Help us to make choices that reveal your Kingdom come today. And may you be praised! Amen.
Rev. Dr Rob A. Fringer
NTC Principal