Dear Friends,
We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk. We give thanks to Rev. Dr Joseph Wood, Principal and Senior Lecturer in Theology and Church History, for writing this devotional.
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!
Psalm 25: 1-10 (CEB)
I offer my life to you, Lord.
2 My God, I trust you.
Please don’t let me be put to shame!
Don’t let my enemies rejoice over me!
3 For that matter,
don’t let anyone who hopes in you
be put to shame;
instead, let those who are treacherous without excuse be put to shame.
4 Make your ways known to me, Lord;
teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth—teach it to me—
because you are the God who saves me.
I put my hope in you all day long.
6 Lord, remember your compassion and faithful love—
they are forever!
7 But don’t remember the sins of my youth or my wrongdoing.
Remember me only according to your faithful love
for the sake of your goodness, Lord.
8 The Lord is good and does the right thing;
he teaches sinners which way they should go.
9 God guides the weak to justice,
teaching them his way.
10 All the Lord’s paths are loving and faithful
for those who keep his covenant and laws.
Devotional Thought:
Have you ever experienced an epiphany, a moment of realisation or understanding that was so profound it caused you to stop and say, “wow”? Or to put it another way, have you experienced what some call an “Aha!” moment, when suddenly something that was confusing started to make sense?
I have had a few of these experiences in my life. Some of them happened in a classroom (like when I finally understood Algebra). Some of them happened on the football pitch (like when I learned how to bend it like Beckham). But the most profound epiphany experiences I have had happened at unexpected times and in unexpected places.
One day God spoke to me in a way I had never experienced before. I was walking down a river path, listening to the water ripple and the birds sing and I came across a small footbridge. It was old and tattered, but it had an inscription on it that said, “You are never closer to God than when you are in the heart of a wood.” An overwhelming sense of the loving presence of God rushed over me when I read that line: the heart of a wood. Joseph Wood, me, my heart. In that moment of my life, I needed a revelation from God. I needed to know His love for me. And He showed up. It was a moment I will never forget.
Verse 4 in Psalm 25 says: “Make your ways known to me, Lord; teach me your paths.” That day, on a river path, God made His ways known to me. God revealed to me that His faithful love is rooted deep within my heart. God is never far away.
So how are you doing today? Do you need an epiphany, a revelation from God? With the Psalmist, may you take a moment this day and pray, “Make your ways known to me Lord, teach me your paths.”
Prayer
Creator God, thank you for reminding us that you are never far away. May your love be revealed today in ways that are profound, that make us stop and say, “wow”. Make your ways known to us Lord, teach us your paths, this day, and every day. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord we pray. Amen.
Rev. Joseph Wood, PhD
Principal and Senior Lecturer in Theology and Church History
Director, Australasian Centre for Wesleyan Research (ACWR)ORCiD: 0000-0003-0155-0584