The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries with Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker emeritus of The Lutheran Hour Ministries "True Beauty" for Wednesday, October 12, 2016

The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries with Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker emeritus of The Lutheran Hour Ministries "True Beauty" for Wednesday, October 12, 2016

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."[1 Samuel 16:7]
In the eyes of most mothers, their newborns are beautiful.
That was not the case for Robert Hoge. When he was born, he was ugly. Now before you get upset and write to me telling me that all babies are beautiful, I want you to know the word "ugly" is taken from Hoge's own description and autobiography of himself. Having seen his picture, I can assure you he is not being overly judgmental on his appearance.
Hoge was ugly.
He was born with a large tumor in the middle of his forehead, which pushed his eyes to the side. His legs were mangled and, well, he was just unattractive.
Having heard her husband describe Robert's physical appearance, his mother, who had given birth to four other "normal" children, refused to see him. When it was time to take her baby home from the hospital, she decided to leave him there.
In her diary she wrote, "I wish he would go away or die or something."
But Hoge didn't go away or die. And the "something" which happened to him was this: his mother started to visit him in the hospital. When the two bonded, she asked Robert's siblings what they wanted to do with their baby brother. They all voted that Robert should be brought home, which is exactly what happened.
Hoge underwent numerous surgeries to remove that tumor and reconstruct his face.
Those are the changes that happened to Hoge's body, and they transformed his externals dramatically. And his internals -- his heart, mind and spirit -- what about those? Well, you should know those were just fine, and they never were ugly. In his autobiography, Hoge explains how he understands his mother's reaction and now teaches others how to deal with rejection and adversity.
He says his life is one "that has some sad parts in the middle but has a happy ending."
I pray the same may be said about our lives. You see, we have much in common with Hoge.
I say that because you and I were also born ugly. To the Lord, our soul's appearance had been disfigured by the ravages of sin. It would have been perfectly understandable for the perfect Lord to turn His back on His imperfect children.
But that the Lord did not do.
In spite of our sins, He desired to bring us to the haven of a heavenly home. To that end He sent His Son into the world. Here our Savior, the great Physician of sick souls, did all that was necessary to forgive and heal us. His life, death and resurrection were all done so we might be transformed into the beautiful beings God had always planned we would be.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks that Your beautiful love has overshadowed the ugliness of sinful souls. For sending Your Son to save us we give thanks. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries

Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Micah 4-5; Acts 21:18-40
Micah 4:1 But in the acharit-hayamim it will come about

that the mountain of Adonai’s house

will be established as the most important mountain.

It will be regarded more highly than the other hills,

and peoples will stream there.

2 Many Gentiles will go and say,

“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Adonai,

to the house of the God of Ya‘akov!

He will teach us about his ways,

and we will walk in his paths.”

For out of Tziyon will go forth Torah,

the word of Adonai from Yerushalayim.

3 He will judge between many peoples

and arbitrate for many nations far away.

Then they will hammer their swords into plow-blades

and their spears into pruning-knives;

nations will not raise swords at each other,

and they will no longer learn war.

4 Instead, each person will sit under his vine

and fig tree, with no one to upset him,

for the mouth of Adonai-Tzva’ot

has spoken.

5 For all the peoples will walk,

each in the name of its god;

but we will walk in the name of Adonai

our God forever and ever.

6 “When that day comes,” says Adonai,

“I will assemble the lame

and gather those who were dispersed,

along with those I afflicted.

7 I will make the lame a remnant

and those who were driven off a strong nation.”

Adonai will rule them on Mount Tziyon

from that time forth and forever.

8 You, tower of the flock,

hill of the daughter of Tziyon,

to you your former sovereignty will return,

the royal power of the daughter of Yerushalayim.

9 Why are you now crying out?

Don’t you have a king?

Has your counselor been destroyed,

that you are seized with pain like a woman in labor?

10 Be in pain! Work to give birth

like a woman in labor, daughter of Tziyon!

For now you will go out of the city

and live in the wilds till you reach Bavel.

There you will be rescued;

there Adonai will redeem you

from the power of your enemies.

11 Now many nations have gathered against you;

they say, “Let her be defiled,

let’s gloat over Tziyon.”

12 But they don’t know the thoughts of Adonai,

they don’t understand his plan;

for he has gathered them like sheaves

on the threshing-floor.

13 Get up! Start threshing, daughter of Tziyon!

“For I will make your horns like iron

and your hoofs like bronze.”

You will crush many peoples

and devote their plunder to Adonai,

their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

14 (5:1) Now gather yourself in troops,

you who are accustomed to being in troops;

they have laid siege to us.

They are striking the judge of Isra’el

on the cheek with a stick.

5:1 (2) But you, Beit-Lechem near Efrat,

so small among the clans of Y’hudah,

out of you will come forth to me

the future ruler of Isra’el,

whose origins are far in the past,

back in ancient times.

2 (3) Therefore he will give up [Isra’el]

only until she who is in labor gives birth.

Then the rest of his kinsmen

will return to the people of Isra’el.

3 (4) He will stand and feed his flock

in the strength of Adonai,

in the majesty of the name

of Adonai his God;

and they will stay put, as he grows great

to the very ends of the earth;

4 (5) and this will be peace.

If Ashur invades our land,

if he overruns our fortresses,

we will raise seven shepherds against him,

eight leaders of men.

5 (6) They will shepherd the land of Ashur with the sword,

the land of Nimrod at its gates;

and he will rescue us from Ashur

when he invades our land,

when he overruns our borders.

6 (7) Then the remnant of Ya‘akov,

surrounded by many peoples,

will be like dew from Adonai,

like showers on the grass,

which doesn’t wait for a man

or expect anything from mortals.

7 (8) The remnant of Ya‘akov among the nations,

surrounded by many peoples,

will be like a lion among forest animals,

like a young lion among flocks of sheep —

if it passes through, tramples and tears to pieces,

there is no one to rescue them.

8 (9) Your hand will be raised over your enemies;

all your adversaries will be destroyed.

9 (10) “When that day comes,” says Adonai,

“I will cut off your horses from among you

and destroy your chariots.

10 (11) I will cut off the cities of your land

and lay waste your strongholds.

11 (12) I will cut off sorceries from your land;

you will no longer have soothsayers.

12 (13) I will cut off your carved images

and standing-stones from among you;

no longer will you worship

what your own hands have made.

13 (14) I will pull up your sacred poles from among you

and destroy your enemies.

14 (15) I will wreak vengeance in anger and fury

on the nations, because they would not listen.”

Acts 21:

18 The next day Sha’ul and the rest of us went in to Ya‘akov, and all the elders were present. 19 After greeting them, Sha’ul described in detail each of the things God had done among the Gentiles through his efforts.

20 On hearing it, they praised God; but they also said to him, “You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Judeans, and they are all zealots for the Torah. 21 Now what they have been told about you is that you are teaching all the Jews living among the Goyim to apostatize from Moshe, telling them not to have a b’rit-milah for their sons and not to follow the traditions.

22 “What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. 24 Take them with you, be purified with them, and pay the expenses connected with having their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to these rumors which they have heard about you; but that, on the contrary, you yourself stay in line and keep the Torah.

25 “However, in regard to the Goyim who have come to trust in Yeshua, we all joined in writing them a letter with our decision that they should abstain from what had been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled and from fornication.”

26 The next day Sha’ul took the men, purified himself along with them and entered the Temple to give notice of when the period of purification would be finished and the offering would have to be made for each of them. 27 The seven days were almost up when some unbelieving Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the Temple, stirred up all the crowd and grabbed him. 28 “Men of Isra’el, help!” they shouted. “This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone things against the people, against the Torah and against this place! And now he has even brought some Goyim into the Temple and defiled this holy place!” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus from Ephesus in the city with him and assumed that Sha’ul had brought him into the Temple.)

30 The whole city was aroused, and people came running from all over. They seized Sha’ul and dragged him out of the Temple, and at once the gates were shut. 31 But while they were attempting to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman battalion that all Yerushalayim was in turmoil. 32 Immediately he took officers and soldiers and charged down upon them. As soon as they saw the commander, they quit beating Sha’ul.

33 Then the commander came up, arrested him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Everyone in the crowd shouted something different; so, since he couldn’t find out what had happened because of the uproar, he ordered him brought to the barracks. 35 When Sha’ul got to the steps, he actually had to be carried by the soldiers, because the mob was so wild — 36 the crowd kept following and screaming, “Kill him!”

37 As Sha’ul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “Is it all right if I say something to you?” The commander said, “You know Greek! 38 Say, aren’t you that Egyptian who tried to start a revolution a while back, and led four thousand armed terrorists out into the desert?” 39 Sha’ul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city; and I ask your permission to let me speak to the people.”

40 Having received permission, Sha’ul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When they finally became still, he addressed them in Hebrew:

-------

CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
BE AN AMBASSADOR OR DONATE
The Lutheran Hour Ministries
660 Mason Ridge Center
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141, United States
-------