For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I am the One who helps you."[Isaiah 41:13]
Years ago in South Florida, a little boy went for a swim in the large pond behind his house.
His mother, looking out the back window, saw what his young eyes had missed: an alligator swimming on an intersecting course with her son. She ran toward him screaming. Quickly, he turned and started to swim toward his mom.
The mother and the alligator got to the boy at the same time.
The mother lunged and grabbed his arms as the gator grabbed his legs. The gator's strength was met by a mother's determination to not let her boy go.
To make a long story short, the boy, with terrible wounds, did manage to survive. Later that afternoon a news crew covering the story went to the hospital and visited the boy. One of the questions was "Can I see your wounds?"
The lad lifted the sheets to give the reporter a glimpse of his legs. Then the boy asked the reporter a question. The lad said, "Would you like to look at my arms. I have marks on my arms too."
The boy showed off both of his black-and-blued forearms. With some pride in his voice he commented, "I've got these because my mother wouldn't let me go." That, my friends, is what a mother's love can do.
Now, having seen that kind of love, each of us must stand in awe of the love of the Lord, which brought the Savior into this earth for the purpose of rescuing lost and condemned humanity.
Misunderstood and maligned, criticized and condemned, Jesus' life ended on a Roman cross.
Unbelievably, but according to Old Testament prophecy -- and Jesus' own prediction -- three days after the Savior's lifeless body had been placed into a borrowed grave, He conquered death and showed to all the world He was alive.
And now, Jesus' nail-pierced hands, which defeated death almost 2,000 years ago, are now dedicated to holding you.
Yes, the world will grab you, try to kill you, rip and scar you, but the living Lord Jesus will not let you go. He will hold you safe and secure in His all-powerful hands.
It's a truth you can trust.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks that You have identified and conquered the powers which are dedicated to keeping me from You. Today, I ask that You will help me avoid all catastrophes from them and keep me always in the protection of Your gracious and saving hand. This I ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Years ago in South Florida, a little boy went for a swim in the large pond behind his house.
His mother, looking out the back window, saw what his young eyes had missed: an alligator swimming on an intersecting course with her son. She ran toward him screaming. Quickly, he turned and started to swim toward his mom.
The mother and the alligator got to the boy at the same time.
The mother lunged and grabbed his arms as the gator grabbed his legs. The gator's strength was met by a mother's determination to not let her boy go.
To make a long story short, the boy, with terrible wounds, did manage to survive. Later that afternoon a news crew covering the story went to the hospital and visited the boy. One of the questions was "Can I see your wounds?"
The lad lifted the sheets to give the reporter a glimpse of his legs. Then the boy asked the reporter a question. The lad said, "Would you like to look at my arms. I have marks on my arms too."
The boy showed off both of his black-and-blued forearms. With some pride in his voice he commented, "I've got these because my mother wouldn't let me go." That, my friends, is what a mother's love can do.
Now, having seen that kind of love, each of us must stand in awe of the love of the Lord, which brought the Savior into this earth for the purpose of rescuing lost and condemned humanity.
Misunderstood and maligned, criticized and condemned, Jesus' life ended on a Roman cross.
Unbelievably, but according to Old Testament prophecy -- and Jesus' own prediction -- three days after the Savior's lifeless body had been placed into a borrowed grave, He conquered death and showed to all the world He was alive.
And now, Jesus' nail-pierced hands, which defeated death almost 2,000 years ago, are now dedicated to holding you.
Yes, the world will grab you, try to kill you, rip and scar you, but the living Lord Jesus will not let you go. He will hold you safe and secure in His all-powerful hands.
It's a truth you can trust.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks that You have identified and conquered the powers which are dedicated to keeping me from You. Today, I ask that You will help me avoid all catastrophes from them and keep me always in the protection of Your gracious and saving hand. This I ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Isaiah 56:1 Here is what Adonai says:
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Isaiah 56:1 Here is what Adonai says:
“Observe justice, do what is right,
for my salvation is close to coming,
my righteousness to being revealed.”
2 Happy is the person who does this,
anyone who grasps it firmly,
who keeps Shabbat and does not profane it,
and keeps himself from doing any evil.
3 A foreigner joining Adonai should not say,
“Adonai will separate me from his people”;
likewise the eunuch should not say,
“I am only a dried-up tree.”
4 For here is what Adonai says:
“As for the eunuchs who keep my Shabbats,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant:
5 in my house, within my walls,
I will give them power and a name
greater than sons and daughters;
I will give him an everlasting name
that will not be cut off.
6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to Adonai
to serve him, to love the name of Adonai,
and to be his workers,
all who keep Shabbat and do not profane it,
and hold fast to my covenant,
7 I will bring them to my holy mountain
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.”
8 Adonai Elohim says,
he who gathers Isra’el’s exiles:
“There are yet others I will gather,
besides those gathered already.”
9 All you wild animals, come and devour,
yes, all you animals in the forest!
10 [Isra’el’s] watchmen are, all of them, blind;
they don’t know anything.
They are all dumb dogs, unable to bark,
lying there dreaming, loving to sleep.
11 Greedy dogs, never satisfied —
such are the shepherds, unable to understand;
they all turn to their own way,
each one intent on his own gain:
12 “Come, I’ll get some wine,
we’ll fill up on good, strong liquor!
Tomorrow will be like today;
in fact, it will be even better!”
57:1 The righteous person perishes,
and nobody gives it a thought.
Godly men are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous person is taken away
from the evil yet to come.
2 Yes, those who live uprightly
will have peace as they rest on their couches.
3 “But you, you witches’ children, come here,
you spawn of adulterers and whores!
4 Whom are you making fun of?
At whom are you laughing and sticking out your tongue?
Aren’t you rebellious children,
just a brood of liars?
5 You go into heat among the oak trees,
under every spreading tree.
You kill the children in the valleys
under the cracks in the rocks.
6 Your place is among the smooth stones in the vadi;
these, these are what you deserve;
you pour out drink offerings to them,
you offer grain offerings to them.
Should I calmly ignore these things?
7 You set up your bed on a high, lofty mountain;
you also went up there to offer sacrifices.
8 Behind door and doorpost
you set up your [lewd] memorial;
then, far from me, you uncovered your bed,
climbed up on it and opened it wide,
made an agreement with some of them,
whose bed you loved when you saw their hand beckoning.
9 You went to the king with scented oil;
you added to your perfumes;
you sent your envoys far away,
even down to Sh’ol.
10 Though worn out by so much travel,
you did not say, ‘All hope is gone’;
rather, finding your strength renewed,
you did not grow weak.
11 Of whom have you been so afraid,
so fearful that you lied?
But me you don’t remember,
you don’t give me a thought!
I have held my peace so long
that you no longer fear me.
12 I will expose your [so-called] ‘righteousness’;
and what you have done won’t help you.
13 When you cry, will those [idols] you gathered rescue you?
The wind will carry them all away,
a puff of air will take them off.
But whoever takes refuge in me will possess
the land and inherit my holy mountain.”
14 Then he will say,
“Keep building! Keep building! Clear the way!
Remove everything blocking my people’s path!”
15 For thus says the High, Exalted One
who lives forever, whose name is Holy:
“I live in the high and holy place
but also with the broken and humble,
in order to revive the spirit of the humble
and revive the hearts of the broken ones.
16 For I will not fight them forever
or always nurse my anger;
otherwise their spirits would faint before me,
the creatures I myself have made.
17 It was because of their flagrant greed
that I was angry and struck them;
I hid myself and was angry,
but they continued on their own rebellious way.
18 I have seen their ways, and I will heal them;
I will lead them and give comfort
to them and to those who mourn for them —
19 I will create the right words:
‘Shalom shalom to those far off
and to those nearby!’ says Adonai;
‘I will heal them!’”
20 But the wicked are like the restless sea —
unable to be still,
its waters toss up mud and dirt.
21 There is no shalom, says my God,
for the wicked.
58:1 Shout out loud! Don’t hold back!
Raise your voice like a shofar!
Proclaim to my people what rebels they are,
to the house of Ya‘akov their sins.
2 “Oh yes, they seek me day after day
and [claim to] delight in knowing my ways.
As if they were an upright nation
that had not abandoned the rulings of their God,
they ask me for just rulings
and [claim] to take pleasure in closeness to God,
3 [asking,] ‘Why should we fast, if you don’t see?
Why mortify ourselves, if you don’t notice?’
“Here is my answer: when you fast,
you go about doing whatever you like,
while keeping your laborers hard at work.
4 Your fasts lead to quarreling and fighting,
to lashing out with violent blows.
On a day like today, fasting like yours
will not make your voice heard on high.
5 “Is this the sort of fast I want,
a day when a person mortifies himself?
Is the object to hang your head like a reed
and spread sackcloth and ashes under yourself?
Is this what you call a fast,
a day that pleases Adonai?
6 “Here is the sort of fast I want —
releasing those unjustly bound,
untying the thongs of the yoke,
letting the oppressed go free,
breaking every yoke,
7 sharing your food with the hungry,
taking the homeless poor into your house,
clothing the naked when you see them,
fulfilling your duty to your kinsmen!”
8 Then your light will burst forth like the morning,
your new skin will quickly grow over your wound;
your righteousness will precede you,
and Adonai’s glory will follow you.
9 Then you will call, and Adonai will answer;
you will cry, and he will say, “Here I am.”
If you will remove the yoke from among you,
stop false accusation and slander,
10 generously offer food to the hungry
and meet the needs of the person in trouble;
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your gloom become like noon.
11 Adonai will always guide you;
he will satisfy your needs in the desert,
he will renew the strength in your limbs;
so that you will be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
12 You will rebuild the ancient ruins,
raise foundations from ages past,
and be called “Repairer of broken walls,
Restorer of streets to live in.”
13 “If you hold back your foot on Shabbat
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call Shabbat a delight,
Adonai’s holy day, worth honoring;
then honor it by not doing your usual things
or pursuing your interests or speaking about them.
14 If you do, you will find delight in Adonai —
I will make you ride on the heights of the land
and feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Ya‘akov,
for the mouth of Adonai has spoken.”
Romans 11:1 “In that case, I say, isn’t it that God has repudiated his people?” Heaven forbid! For I myself am a son of Isra’el, from the seed of Avraham,[Romans 11:1 2 Chronicles 20:7, Psalm 105:6] of the tribe of Binyamin. 2 God has not repudiated his people,[Romans 11:2 1 Samuel 12:22, Psalm 94:14] whom he chose in advance. Or don’t you know what the Tanakh says about Eliyahu? He pleads with God against Isra’el, 3 “Adonai, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I’m the only one left, and now they want to kill me too!”[Romans 11:3 1 Kings 19:10, 14] 4 But what is God’s answer to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt down to Ba‘al.”[Romans 11:4 1 Kings 19:18] 5 It’s the same way in the present age: there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 (Now if it is by grace, it is accordingly not based on legalistic works; if it were otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.) 7 What follows is that Isra’el has not attained the goal for which she is striving. The ones chosen have obtained it, but the rest have been made stonelike, 8 just as the Tanakh says,
“God has given them a spirit of dullness —
eyes that do not see
and ears that do not hear,
right down to the present day.”[Romans 11:8 Deuteronomy 29:3(4), Isaiah 29:10]
9 And David says,
“Let their dining table become for them
a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a punishment.
10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see,
with their backs bent continually.”[Romans 11:10 Psalm 69:23–24(22–23)]
11 “In that case, I say, isn’t it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?” Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary, it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy.[Romans 11:11 Deuteronomy 32:21] 12 Moreover, if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world — that is, if Isra’el’s being placed temporarily in a condition less favored than that of the Gentiles is bringing riches to the latter — how much greater riches will Isra’el in its fullness bring them!
13 However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work 14 in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them! 15 For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead!
16 Now if the hallah offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you — a wild olive — were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree, 18 then don’t boast as if you were better than the branches! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you.
____________________________
The Lutheran Hour
660 Mason Ridge Center Drive
St. Louis, Missouri 63141 United States
1-800-876-9880
www.lhm.org
____________________________
St. Louis, Missouri 63141 United States
1-800-876-9880
www.lhm.org
____________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment