The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries with Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour Ministries "Why Wait? Just Wait and See!" for Monday, October 3, 2016

The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries with Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour Ministries "Why Wait? Just Wait and See!" for Monday, October 3, 2016

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and You will not hear? Or cry to You "Violence!" and you will not save? ... And the LORD answered me: "Write the vision; make it plain ... For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end -- it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. ... The righteous shall live by his faith.[Habakkuk: 1:2; 2:2a-3, 4b]
Why wait? We are an impatient people aren't we? We can't seem to find the strength to wait for anything today. When we want something, we've got to have it right now. I remember several years ago, when I was a pastor leading a congregation, I decided to do a little experiment about waiting. Usually, the congregation would sing a hymn or sing a song right before the sermon, and I would step back into the sacristy, out of sight, to prayerfully get ready to preach the message for that day. Usually, while they were singing the last verse, I would emerge from the room and take my place in the pulpit. That way when they were done singing, I was ready to start preaching. You know, no wasted time at all: one thing finishes, another thing ready to go. And they were used to that kind of promptness too. So, on this day I stayed out of sight. I didn't come out of the room. I took 30 seconds to emerge and take my place before my people. And boy was it good that I did because there were already sending elders to come to check on me. There were people worried; others fidgeting, and others wondering why I was taking so long. And folks, it was only 30 seconds. Actually, I think it was even a bit shorter than that.
We don't like to wait, especially when we have expectations. We don't like to wait, especially if we think that we deserve something, that we should have something already. We're a "take matters into our own hands" type of people, for good and for ill. And we don't like to wait for things when justice is involved, when pain must be overcome. We want satisfaction: relief now.
Well, that kind of living can get you and me in a lot of trouble, especially if we are unwilling to wait on the Lord, to trust in His Word when things don't seem to be going as they should. That's what's going on in the verses from the prophet Habakkuk today. Habakkuk knew the people of God were living in rebellion to God's ways and that they should be punished, but why did God have to do it through an even more evil nation like the Babylonians. The prophet couldn't make heads or tails of what God was up to.
Have you ever felt like that? Are there times when God seems to be silent when you are yearning for a clear word from Him about what you are facing? Are there moments when you wonder if things will ever get better in your life or in this world? Well, today, learn the lesson from Habakkuk who lays it on the line saying, "The just will live by faith!" That's right -- by faith -- trusting in God alone because He is the One who can be trusted, even when things don't seem right at the time; trusting in God, yes, even when we find ourselves waiting on Him.
In a world that is hell-bent on racing to the next thing with lightning speed, and impatiently unwilling to wait for anything, even if the waiting is the right thing to do, Habakkuk reminds us to wait on the Lord with faith, to trust Him in the meantime, and to follow Him in His Word, no matter what, because He promises deliverance and He always fulfills His promises to His people! Why wait? Well, with the Lord you can wait and see because you won't believe what's ultimately coming for those who trust in Him!
THE PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to trust in Your Word, in Your promises, especially when things appear to be out of sorts. And, give me strength to always wait on You with faith! Amen!
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz
Speaker of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible Readings: Isaiah 56-58 Romans 11:1-18

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.

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