Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Going Back" Thursday, 27 March 2014

Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Going Back" Thursday, 27 March 2014
But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.--Genesis 19:26
In 1960 there was a song which played incessantly on my new transistor radio. It was called, "Teen Angel." Here are some of the lyrics (without the chorus): 
"That fateful night the car was stalled upon the railroad track.
I pulled you out and we were safe but you went running back.
What was it you were looking for that took your life that night?
They said they found my high school ring clutched in your fingers tight."
At the time I thought that doesn't make much sense. Sure, Lot's wife foolishly looked back at the destruction of her home, but what person would risk her life to reclaim a class ring?
Apparently, going back for things which aren't really that valuable isn't as strange as I once thought.
For example, earlier this year two men died trying to reclaim a cell phone, which had been dropped in the Chicago River, and a few weeks ago a 14-year-old girl lost her life trying to reclaim a phone she had forgotten on some railroad tracks. That happened at about the same time a Texas man ran back into a burning building to try and rescue his phone from the flames.
You probably agree with me when I say, there are things worth dying for in this world, but a cell phone isn't one of them.
Which takes me to the spiritual question: why would God send His perfect Son into this world to give His life and rescue sinful humanity?
It doesn't make sense.
In numerous ways, over many centuries, we had shown we had no use for the Lord, His will, or His kindness and care. Each person in each generation had been born in sin and then had forged forward and committed new and terrible transgressions.
To make the Innocent pay the debts of the guilty, especially when the guilty are unappreciative, is unthinkable.
Still, Jesus came into this world to give His life as the ransom price, which would procure our release from sin, the devil, and death. This He did through complete commitment and total obedience to the Father. From the cradle, to the cross, to the open tomb, Jesus did all that was necessary to win our forgiveness and eternal freedom.
In truth, Jesus' sacrifice still doesn't make sense to me, and I certainly don't understand that level of love and commitment, but I'm glad He did what He did.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, Jesus' offering of Himself is more than I could expect or hope for. May I, in all I do, be appreciative of His sacrifice for sinners like me. In His Name I ask for this spirit of appreciation. Amen.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours, 
Pastor Ken Klaus 
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
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Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Deuteronomy 8:1 You shall observe to do all the commandments which I command you today, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers. 2 You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. 3 He humbled you, and allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth. 4 Your clothing didn’t grow old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years. 5 You shall consider in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so Yahweh your God disciplines you. 6 You shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. 7 For Yahweh your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of springs, and underground water flowing into valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey; 9 a land in which you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper. 10 You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land which he has given you. 11 Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you today; 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses, and lived in them; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 then your heart might be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; 15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who poured water for you out of the rock of flint; 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn’t know; that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end: 17 and lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.” 18 But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is today.
19 It shall be, if you shall forget Yahweh your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you today that you shall surely perish. 20 As the nations that Yahweh makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you wouldn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice.
9:1 Hear, Israel! You are to pass over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, “Who can stand before the sons of Anak?” 3 Know therefore today, that Yahweh your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them, and he will bring them down before you. So you shall drive them out, and make them perish quickly, as Yahweh has spoken to you.
4 Don’t say in your heart, after Yahweh your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, “For my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land”; because Yahweh drives them out before you because of the wickedness of these nations. 5 Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 6 Know therefore, that Yahweh your God doesn’t give you this good land to possess for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people. 7 Remember, and don’t forget, how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you left the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. 8 Also in Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry with you to destroy you. 9 When I had gone up onto the mountain to receive the stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 Yahweh delivered to me the two stone tablets written with God’s finger. On them were all the words which Yahweh spoke with you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly.
11 It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Yahweh gave me the two stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant. 12 Yahweh said to me, “Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten image for themselves!”
13 Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 14 Leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.”
15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. The two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God. You had made yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly out of the way which Yahweh had commanded you. 17 I took hold of the two tablets, and threw them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. 18 I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which Yahweh was angry against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time also. 20 Yahweh was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with fire, and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. I threw its dust into the brook that descended out of the mountain. 22 At Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah, you provoked Yahweh to wrath. 23 When Yahweh sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, “Go up and possess the land which I have given you,” you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you didn’t believe him, nor listen to his voice. 24 You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you. 25 So I fell down before Yahweh the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Yahweh had said he would destroy you. 26 I prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Lord Yahweh, don’t destroy your people and your inheritance, that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Don’t look at the stubbornness of this people, nor at their wickedness, nor at their sin, 28 lest the land you brought us out from say, ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’ 29 Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.”
10:1 At that time Yahweh said to me, “Cut two stone tablets like the first, and come up to me onto the mountain, and make an ark of wood. 2 I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.” 3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two stone tablets like the first, and went up onto the mountain, having the two tables in my hand. 4 He wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which Yahweh spoke to you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly: and Yahweh gave them to me. 5 I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they are as Yahweh commanded me. 6 (The children of Israel traveled from Beeroth Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest’s office in his place. 7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water. 8 At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, to stand before Yahweh to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day. 9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers; Yahweh is his inheritance, according as Yahweh your God spoke to him.) 10 I stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights: and Yahweh listened to me that time also; Yahweh would not destroy you. 11 Yahweh said to me, “Arise, take your journey before the people; and they shall go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give to them.”
12 Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 to keep Yahweh’s commandments and statutes, which I command you today for your good? 14 Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein. 15 Only Yahweh had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their offspring[a] after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. 17 For Yahweh your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t respect persons, nor takes reward. 18 He does execute justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the foreigner, in giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore love the foreigner; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear Yahweh your God; you shall serve him; and you shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name. 21 He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things, which your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of the sky for multitude.
Footnotes:
a. Deuteronomy 10:15 or, seed
Luke 4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”[a]
5 The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want. 7 If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”[b]
9 He led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
‘He will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;’
11 and,
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’”[c]
12 Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”[d]
13 When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time.
14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area. 15 He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
16 He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the broken hearted,[e]
    to proclaim release to the captives,
    recovering of sight to the blind,
    to deliver those who are crushed,
19     and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”[f]
20 He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’” 24 He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. 26 Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”
28 They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things. 29 They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. 30 But he, passing through the middle of them, went his way.
Footnotes:
a. Luke 4:4 Deuteronomy 8:3
b. Luke 4:8 Deuteronomy 6:13
c. Luke 4:11 Psalm 91:11-12
d. Luke 4:12 Deuteronomy 6:16
e. Luke 4:18 NU omits “to heal the broken hearted”
f. Luke 4:19 Isaiah 61:1-2
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