PSALM 25:4-5

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

TO PONDER

One of the things that really impresses me about King David, who wrote this psalm, is his amazing understanding of God’s grace and the relationship God wanted to have with him. David was no saint and he was well aware of his failings. He had learned through his life that when he gave in to living to please himself things would invariably go wrong and people would suffer – both others and himself. But he also experienced wonderful joy, peace and fulfilment when he gave himself over to God’s purposes for him. David therefore wanted to know more and more, what God’s purposes were – for all people in general, but also specifically for himself.

I would like to share a few verses from further down in the psalm (vs 8 to 11):

"Good and upright is the Lord; therefore, he instructs sinners in His ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great."

Can I suggest that getting to know God’s “ways” for our lives is going to take a little effort. Have you ever had the experience of trying to explain something a little complicated to someone, but they were distracted either by something happening nearby or by something they were doing that they thought was more important. You were wasting your time unless that person gave you their full attention. I suspect that God feels the same frustration with us when trying to get his message through to us. However, His love for us is so great that He never gives up (which I am sure we would do rather quickly).

So, if we are to get to know God’s plans and purposes for us, we are going to have to take time out from our busy lives and spend time sitting at Jesus’s feet (or maybe a better illustration would be sitting in a quiet corner with Jesus while we shared a coffee (or our favourite drink) together). And there would have to be no distractions – our full attention would be on the wonderful spiritual food being provided by Jesus.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we often pray to You asking for Your guidance for ourselves, our families and our communities, and then run off to busy ourselves with our lives and not give You the time to reveal your answers to us. We apologise and ask for Your help in setting aside regular time to spend with You to be fed Your spiritual food. Amen

Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping