Daily Devotional • September 1
Psalm 25
1 To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust;
do not let me be put to shame;
do not let my enemies exult over me.
3 Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;
let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.
6 Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!
8 Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right
and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
11 For your name’s sake, O Lord,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
12 Who are they who fear the Lord?
He will teach them the way that they should choose.
13 They will abide in prosperity,
and their children shall possess the land.
14 The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,
and he makes his covenant known to them.
15 My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 Relieve the troubles of my heart,
and bring me out of my distress.
18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
19 Consider how many are my foes
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
20 O guard my life and deliver me;
do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.
22 Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all its troubles.
Meditation
Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths. (Psalm 25:3a)
The 2024 Book of Occasional Services of the Episcopal Church includes an extraordinary offering entitled, “A Public Service of Healing.” Drawn from the largely private healing liturgies of the Book of Common Prayer (1979) this occasional liturgy becomes a communal plea for restoration—one in which the healing of the individual becomes part of the healing of the whole body.
As the hour of worship turns from the Liturgy of the Word to the offer of unction for the entire assembly, a “Litany for Healing” is prayed. It opens with a striking declaration addressed to God: “Your will for all people is health and salvation.” One sentence. Volumes of theology. Yes, it speaks profoundly about the nature of God, but it also exposes the aching chasm between God’s desire and our lived reality. What begins as communal prayer will become, inevitably, a personal reckoning.
God wants me to be whole. God longs for my health and salvation. And yet, I continue to act first in my own self-interest. I neglect both body and soul; I abandon my neighbor; I betray the trust God has placed in me. I have wandered “far in a land that is waste.”
God may indeed desire health and salvation for all, but how can I begin to recognize the miraculous if I do not know I am lost? How can I seek healing if I do not know what to ask or even what to hope for?
Job speaks to this bewilderment in his response to the so-called friends who urge him to “do the right thing.” In chapter 9, verse 2, he concedes: “Truly I know that this is so; but how can a mortal be just before God?” How can mortals find health and salvation? Job’s question lingers—not answered by effort alone, but by walking the way God reveals.
Knowing, embracing, and embodying the pathway of God is essential to the realization of God’s dream for wholeness, flourishing, and redemption.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
The Very Rev. Timothy Kimbrough is the director of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies and the Jack and Barbara Bovender Professor of the Practice of Anglican Studies at Duke Divinity School. He was previously dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Nashville, Tennessee.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
Holy Apostles Episcopal Church, Katy, Texas
The Diocese of Oji River – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
The Very Rev. Timothy E. Kimbrough, dean and rector of Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, is a seven-time deputy to General Convention. This year he will serve as vice chair of the convention’s Constitution Committee.
