The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries with Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker emeritus of The Lutheran Hour Ministries "Pilgrim's No-progress" for Saturday, October 8, 2016

The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries with Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker emeritus of The Lutheran Hour Ministries "Pilgrim's No-progress" for Saturday, October 8, 2016

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.[Jeremiah 29:11]
There was a whole gaggle of runners lined up for the Lehigh Valley Marathon in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Many of those runners were in attendance because this was a chance for them to post a time that would get them an invitation to participate in the prestigious Boston Marathon, which was to be held on September 11.
Understandably, anyone who had such aspirations and had, long before, committed themselves to an intensive training regimen, wanted to do their best.
The day of the race, the weather cooperated and things started out smoothly.
Yes, things started smoothly, but they didn't continue smoothly.
Somewhere around the 11k mark of the race, the runners encountered a rather large difficulty. Both figuratively and literally, their forward progress was halted by a very slow moving freight train.
Although the Norfolk Southern Railroad had promised no trains would pass the marathon route from 7 to 10 a.m., somebody gave permission for the train to proceed. The anxious runners kept running in place for the first minute of the train, then the second minute, as well as the third, fourth and fifth.
Do you remember when I said some runners literally ran into the train? That statement was accurate. Some of the marathoners jumped into one side of an open freight car and came out on the other.
Those who were not so brave (or foolhardy) had to wait about ten minutes for the train to pass. For some of them that wait marked the end of their Boston Marathon aspirations.
I can only imagine their frustration and disappointment.
You know, over the years I have seen the same sort of thing happen to church members. To all outward appearances they were good and solid church people. Everything was going fine for them until something unexpected cut across their path and brought them to a screeching halt.
The "train" that stopped them may have been a death, an illness, a disappointment in another person, a sorrow that rocked their spiritual world. Rather than running the race the Lord would have them do, they grew bitter against God and gave up their dream of heaven.
How sad. That is certainly not what the Lord wanted to happen.
Those who count Jesus as their Savior can rest assured that no matter what may happen to them, the Lord remains in control. By inspiration Isaiah shared the wishes of the Lord who said, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10).
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, trials and tests are sure to come our way. At such times may we be turned to You who will help us survive and succeed. This we ask in the Name of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible Readings: Hosea 5-8 Romans 15:1-13
Hosea 5:1 “Hear this, cohanim!

Pay attention, house of Isra’el!

Listen, house of the king!

For judgment is coming to you.

You have become a snare for Mitzpah

and a net spread on Tavor.

2 The rebels have deepened their slaughter,

and I am rejected by all of them.

3 “I know Efrayim;

Isra’el is not hidden from me;

for now, Efrayim, you are a whore;

Isra’el is defiled.”

4 Their deeds will not allow them

to return to their God,

for the spirit of whoring is in them,

and they don’t know Adonai.

5 Isra’el’s arrogance will testify in his face;

Isra’el and Efrayim will stumble in their crimes;

Y’hudah too will stumble with them.

6 With their flocks and herds

they will go in search of Adonai.

But they won’t find him;

he has withdrawn from them.

7 They have betrayed Adonai,

by fathering foreign children.

Now within the month the invaders

will devour their lands.

8 “Blow the shofar in Giv‘ah,

a trumpet at Ramah;

sound an alarm at Beit-Aven:

‘Behind you, Binyamin!’

9 Efrayim will be laid waste

when the day for punishment comes;

I am announcing to the tribes of Isra’el

what will surely happen.

10 The leaders of Y’hudah are like men

who move boundary stones;

I will pour my fury out

upon them like water.

11 Efrayim is oppressed, crushed by the judgment,

because he deliberately sought out futility.

12 Therefore I am like a moth to Efrayim

and like rottenness to the house of Y’hudah.

13 When Efrayim saw his sickness

and Y’hudah his wound,

Efrayim went to Ashur

and sent envoys to a warring king;

but he can’t heal you

or cure your wound.

14 For to Efrayim I will be like a lion,

and like a young lion to the house of Y’hudah —

I will tear them up and go away;

I will carry them off, and no one will rescue.

15 I will go and return to my place,

till they admit their guilt and search for me,

seeking me eagerly in their distress.”

6:1 Come, let us return to Adonai;

for he has torn, and he will heal us;

he has struck, and he will bind our wounds.

2 After two days, he will revive us;

on the third day, he will raise us up;

and we will live in his presence.

3 Let us know, let us strive to know Adonai.

That he will come is as certain as morning;

he will come to us like the rain,

like the spring rains that water the earth.

4 “Efrayim, what should I do to you?

Y’hudah, what should I do to you?

For your ‘faithful love’ is like a morning cloud,

like dew that disappears quickly.

5 This is why I have cut them to pieces by the prophets,

slaughtered them with the words from my mouth —

the judgment on you shines out like light.

6 For what I desire is mercy, not sacrifices,

knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

7 “But they, just like men, have broken the covenant,

they have been faithless in dealing with me.

8 Gil‘ad is a city of criminals,

covered with bloody footprints;

9 just as bands of robbers wait to ambush someone,

so does a gang of cohanim.

They commit murder on the road to Sh’khem!

Their conduct is an outrage!

10 In the house of Isra’el

I have seen a horrible thing;

whoring is found there in Efrayim,

Isra’el is defiled.

11 For you, too, Y’hudah,

a harvest will come!

“When I restore the fortunes of my people,

7:1 when I am ready to heal Isra’el,

the crimes of Efrayim confront me,

along with the wickedness of Shomron.

For they keep practicing deceit;

thieves break in, bands of robbers raid outside.

2 They never say to themselves

that I remember all their evil.

Now their own deeds surround them;

they are right in front of me.

3 They make the king glad with their wickedness,

and the leaders with their lies.

4 They are all adulterers,

like an oven heated by the baker,

who doesn’t stoke the fire

from kneading time till the dough has risen.

5 “On their king’s special day

the leaders inflame him with wine,

and he joins hands with scorners,

6 who ready themselves like an oven

while they wait for their chance.

Their baker sleeps through the night;

then in the morning it bursts into flame.

7 They are all as hot as an oven,

and they devour their judges.

All their kings have fallen;

not one of them calls out to me.

8 “Efrayim mixes himself with the peoples,

Efrayim has become a half-baked cake.

9 Foreigners have eaten up his strength,

but he doesn’t know it;

yes, gray hairs appear on him here and there,

but he doesn’t know it.

10 The pride of Isra’el testifies in his face,

but in spite of all this they haven’t returned

to Adonai their God or sought him.

11 Efrayim behaves like a silly, foolish dove —

going to Egypt, then to Ashur for help.

12 Even as they go, I will spread my net over them;

I will bring them down like birds from the sky;

I will discipline them, as their assembly was told.

13 Woe to them! for they have strayed from me.

Destruction to them! for they have wronged me.

Am I supposed to redeem them,

when they have spoken lies against me?

14 They have not cried out to me from their hearts,

even though they wail on their beds.

They assemble themselves for grain and wine,

yet turn away from me.

15 It was I who trained and strengthened their arms,

yet they plot evil against me.

16 They return, but not upward;

they are like an unreliable bow.

Their leaders will die by the sword

because of their angry talk.

They will become a laughingstock

in the land of Egypt.

8:1 “Put the shofar to your lips!

Like a vulture [he swoops down] on the house of Adonai,

because they have violated my covenant

and sinned intentionally against my Torah.

2 Will they cry out to me,

‘We are Isra’el, God, we know you’?

3 Isra’el has thrown away what is good;

the enemy will pursue him.

4 They make kings, but without my authority;

they appoint leaders, but without my knowledge.

With their silver and gold they make themselves idols,

but these can lead only to their own destruction.

5 Your calf, Shomron, has been thrown away;

my fury burns against them.

How long will it be until they are able

to make themselves clean?

6 Here is what Isra’el produces:

a craftsman makes something — it’s a non-god;

the calf of Shomron will be broken to pieces.

7 For they sow the wind,

so they will reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no ears,

so it will yield no flour;

and if it does yield any,

foreigners will swallow it up.

8 Isra’el is swallowed up;

now they are among the Goyim

like a vessel nobody wants.

9 For they have gone up to Ashur;

like a wild donkey, alone by itself,

Efrayim has bargained for lovers.

10 But even if they bargain among the Goyim,

now I will round them up.

Soon they will start to feel the burden

of these kings and leaders.

11 For Efrayim keeps building altars for sin;

yes, altars are sinful for him.

12 I write him so many things from my Torah,

yet he considers them foreign.

13 They offer me sacrifices of flesh and eat them,

but Adonai does not accept them.

Now he will recall their crimes and punish their sins —

they will return to Egypt.

14 For Isra’el forgot his maker and built palaces;

and Y’hudah made more fortified cities;

but I will send fire on his cities,

and it will consume their strongholds.”

Romans 15:1 So we who are strong have a duty to bear the weaknesses of those who are not strong, rather than please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please his neighbor and act for his good, thus building him up. 3 For even the Messiah did not please himself; rather, as the Tanakh says, ‘The insults of those insulting you fell on me.’[Romans 15:3 Psalm 69:10(9)] 4 For everything written in the past was written to teach us, so that with the encouragement of the Tanakh we might patiently hold on to our hope. 5 And may God, the source of encouragement and patience, give you the same attitude among yourselves as the Messiah Yeshua had, 6 so that with one accord and with one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

7 So welcome each other, just as the Messiah has welcomed you into God’s glory. 8 For I say that the Messiah became a servant of the Jewish people in order to show God’s truthfulness by making good his promises to the Patriarchs, 9 and in order to show his mercy by causing the Gentiles to glorify God — as it is written in the Tanakh,

“Because of this I will acknowledge you among the Gentiles

and sing praise to your name.”[Romans 15:9 2 Samuel 22:50, Psalm 18:50(49)]

10 And again it says,

“Gentiles, rejoice with his people.”[Romans 15:10 Deuteronomy 32:43]

11 And again,

“Praise Adonai, all Gentiles!

Let all peoples praise him!”[Romans 15:11 Psalm 117:1]

12 And again, Yesha‘yahu says,

“The root of Yishai will come,

he who arises to rule Gentiles;

Gentiles will put their hope in him.”[Romans 15:12 Isaiah 11:10]

13 May God, the source of hope, fill you completely with joy and shalom as you continue trusting, so that by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh you may overflow with hope.

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