Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Collective Amnesia" Wednesday, 11 June 2014 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will ponder all Your work, and meditate on Your mighty deeds.(Psalm 77:11-12)
Many of you will remember the uprising of the people, which took
place in China 25 years ago. The revolt, which centered in Tiananmen Square, had the peaceful leaders of the people demanding the government offer more freedom to the nation's populace. The regime responded with the military, which was not afraid to use violence. If you remember nothing else, you may recall a man, shopping bag in hand, who put his life on the line and singlehandedly faced down an entire column of tanks. (The video is online.)
Now, my friends, you should know, the current leaders of China, would not allow their citizenry to read the previous paragraph. My words would be censored and pulled from the devotion as being dangerous and "inappropriate publicity."
In the years immediately following the uprising, China's leadership showed the people videos of a peaceful military being attacked by crowds of aggressive traitors. When it became obvious the people weren't accepting the official rewrite of history, the government changed its tactics. Rather than trying to change history, it just made history go away.
Today you won't find Tiananmen Square being mentioned in any of the country's textbooks; you won't find it referred to on Facebook or Twitter. That is why, if you mention the events of 25 years ago to a Chinese teenager, he will respond with a vacant -- an unknowing stare.
Although it's certainly not official government policy, there are times when our nation also seems to forget some of her history. More specifically, many people seem to assume the blessings we have, the successes we have enjoyed, the victories our forces have won, were all the product of our own brilliance, hard work, and gumption.
Now while there is no doubt that our nation has had many individuals who possessed those skills, we dare not forget the hand of the Lord and the blessings He has continued to shower upon us.
Rather than developing collective amnesia for the Lord's handiwork, it would be far better for our people to join with Asaph, the Psalmist, who wrote the words which serve as our text, far better for us to echo him and say, "I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will ponder all Your work, and meditate on Your mighty deeds."
Yes, we ought to remember God's deeds, His wonders, and His work. We ought to recall what His Son did for us on Calvary's cross and at His empty tomb, even as we remember how the Lord has, and still does, bless our fields, our industry, and our borders.
Then, having remembered, we should give thanks and ask Him to bless our future as well.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, forgive our forgetfulness and lack of faithfulness. Send the Holy Spirit upon our hearts, so we may remember that every good and perfect gift comes from You. 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:
Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you will receive my words,
and store up my commandments within you;
2 So as to turn your ear to wisdom,
and apply your heart to understanding;
3 Yes, if you call out for discernment,
and lift up your voice for understanding;
4 If you seek her as silver,
and search for her as for hidden treasures:
5 then you will understand the fear of Yahweh,
and find the knowledge of God.[a]
6 For Yahweh gives wisdom.
Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
7 He lays up sound wisdom for the upright.
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;
8 that he may guard the paths of justice,
and preserve the way of his saints.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
equity and every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter into your heart.
Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will watch over you.
Understanding will keep you,
12 to deliver you from the way of evil,
from the men who speak perverse things;
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness,
to walk in the ways of darkness;
14 who rejoice to do evil,
and delight in the perverseness of evil;
15 who are crooked in their ways,
and wayward in their paths:
16 To deliver you from the strange woman,
even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;
17 who forsakes the friend of her youth,
and forgets the covenant of her God:
18 for her house leads down to death,
her paths to the departed spirits.
19 None who go to her return again,
neither do they attain to the paths of life:
20 that you may walk in the way of good men,
and keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will dwell in the land.
The perfect will remain in it.
22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land.
The treacherous will be rooted out of it.
3:1 My son, don’t forget my teaching;
but let your heart keep my commandments:
2 for length of days, and years of life,
and peace, will they add to you.
3 Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you.
Bind them around your neck.
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor,
and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart,
and don’t lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
7 Don’t be wise in your own eyes.
Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.
8 It will be health to your body,
and nourishment to your bones.
9 Honor Yahweh with your substance,
with the first fruits of all your increase:
10 so your barns will be filled with plenty,
and your vats will overflow with new wine.
11 My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline,
neither be weary of his reproof:
12 for whom Yahweh loves, he reproves;
even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.
13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
the man who gets understanding.
14 For her good profit is better than getting silver,
and her return is better than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies.
None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand.
In her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness.
All her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her.
Happy is everyone who retains her.
19 By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth.
By understanding, he established the heavens.
20 By his knowledge, the depths were broken up,
and the skies drop down the dew.
21 My son, let them not depart from your eyes.
Keep sound wisdom and discretion:
22 so they will be life to your soul,
and grace for your neck.
23 Then you shall walk in your way securely.
Your foot won’t stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid.
Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.
25 Don’t be afraid of sudden fear,
neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes:
26 for Yahweh will be your confidence,
and will keep your foot from being taken.
27 Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in the power of your hand to do it.
28 Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again;
tomorrow I will give it to you,”
when you have it by you.
29 Don’t devise evil against your neighbor,
since he dwells securely by you.
30 Don’t strive with a man without cause,
if he has done you no harm.
31 Don’t envy the man of violence.
Choose none of his ways.
32 For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh,
but his friendship is with the upright.
33 Yahweh’s curse is in the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.
34 Surely he mocks the mockers,
but he gives grace to the humble.
35 The wise will inherit glory,
but shame will be the promotion of fools.
4:1 Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction.
Pay attention and know understanding;
2 for I give you sound learning.
Don’t forsake my law.
3 For I was a son to my father,
tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.
4 He taught me, and said to me:
“Let your heart retain my words.
Keep my commandments, and live.
5 Get wisdom.
Get understanding.
Don’t forget, neither swerve from the words of my mouth.
6 Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you.
Love her, and she will keep you.
7 Wisdom is supreme.
Get wisdom.
Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.
8 Esteem her, and she will exalt you.
She will bring you to honor, when you embrace her.
9 She will give to your head a garland of grace.
She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”
10 Listen, my son, and receive my sayings.
The years of your life will be many.
11 I have taught you in the way of wisdom.
I have led you in straight paths.
12 When you go, your steps will not be hampered.
When you run, you will not stumble.
13 Take firm hold of instruction.
Don’t let her go.
Keep her, for she is your life.
14 Don’t enter into the path of the wicked.
Don’t walk in the way of evil men.
15 Avoid it, and don’t pass by it.
Turn from it, and pass on.
16 For they don’t sleep, unless they do evil.
Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness,
and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light,
that shines more and more until the perfect day.
19 The way of the wicked is like darkness.
They don’t know what they stumble over.
20 My son, attend to my words.
Turn your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from your eyes.
Keep them in the center of your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
and health to their whole body.
23 Keep your heart with all diligence,
for out of it is the wellspring of life.
24 Put away from yourself a perverse mouth.
Put corrupt lips far from you.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead.
Fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Make the path of your feet level.
Let all of your ways be established.
27 Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left.
Remove your foot from evil.
Footnotes:
a. Proverbs 2:5 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
John 19:23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24 Then they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it will be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says,
“They parted my garments among them.
For my cloak they cast lots.”[a]
Therefore the soldiers did these things. 25 But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.
28 After this, Jesus, seeing[b] that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.” 29 Now a vessel full of vinegar was set there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop, and held it at his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.
31 Therefore the Jews, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32 Therefore the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him; 33 but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs. 34 However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. 35 He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe. 36 For these things happened, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “A bone of him will not be broken.”[c] 37 Again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they pierced.”[d]
38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked of Pilate that he might take away Jesus’ body. Pilate gave him permission. He came therefore and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred Roman pounds.[e] 40 So they took Jesus’ body, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. In the garden was a new tomb in which no man had ever yet been laid. 42 Then because of the Jews’ Preparation Day (for the tomb was near at hand) they laid Jesus there.
Footnotes:
a. John 19:24 Psalm 22:18
b. John 19:28 NU, TR read “knowing” instead of “seeing”
c. John 19:36 Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:20
d. John 19:37 Zechariah 12:10
e. John 19:39 100 Roman pounds of 12 ounces each, or about 72 pounds, or 33 Kilograms.
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