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Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour "Help Is on the Way! " for Monday, May 22, 2017
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John 14:15-17 - Jesus said to him, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."
To all those who put their faith in Jesus, help is always on the way. In fact, help is always with you: the very Holy Spirit of God, Jesus' Gift to you for your comfort, for your encouragement, for you strength and fortitude in times of trouble. The Holy Spirit's job is to bring the things of Christ to you, to make them yours, to be the Giver of His life in your life. In fact, if you trust in Jesus today, if you believe in Him, that too is the power of the Spirit in your life.
And another thing, the Holy Spirit doesn't want you to make a fuss about Him. If you want to make a fuss about something, make a fuss about Jesus. If you want to know more about the Spirit's comfort and power, get to know Jesus by the power of His Spirit through God's Word and Sacraments. The Spirit's job is to take the things of Jesus and make them known to you.
It kind of reminds me of the attitude of Tenzing Norgay. Do you know who that was? He was one of the first two men to reach the summit of Mount Everest. You might know the name of Edmund Hillary, the New Zealander who made the climb, too. But Norgay not only made the climb, he saved Hillary's life on that climb as well.
It was 1953, Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand beekeeper/explorer, and his Sherpa guide from Nepal, Tenzing Norgay, reached the summit together, attaining instant international fame.
On the way down from the 29,000-foot peak, Hillary slipped and started to fall. As he was cascading to certain death, I'm sure he hoped that help would be on the way. But help was already there! Tenzing Norgay immediately dug in his ice axe and braced the rope linking them together, saving Hillary's life.
At the bottom the international press made a huge fuss over the Sherpa guide's heroic action. Through it all Tenzing Norgay remained calm, very professional, very uncarried away by it all. To all the shouted questions he had one answer: "Mountain climbers always help each other."
No fuss, but here's an even bolder truth today -- greater than a sidekick like Tenzing Norgay -- is the Holy Spirit for those who trust in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is not just help on the way; He is help for all who trust in the Way, the Truth, and the Life: Jesus Christ. He comforts, helps, empowers, and strengthens Christ's people in faith towards God, and fervent love towards neighbor. Come Holy Spirit, bring me that confidence in Jesus!
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for sending me the comfort that comes by the power of the Holy Spirit through the blessing of Your Word. Amen.
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2 (1) Adonai my God, in you I take refuge.
Save me from all my pursuers, and rescue me;
3 (2) otherwise, they will maul me like a lion
and tear me apart, with no rescuer present.
4 (3) Adonai my God, if I have caused this,
if there is guilt on my hands,
5 (4) if I paid back evil to him who was at peace with me,
when I even spared those who opposed me without cause;
6 (5) then let the enemy pursue me
until he overtakes me
and tramples my life down into the earth;
yes, let him lay my honor in the dust. (Selah)
7 (6) Rise up, Adonai, in your anger!
Arouse yourself against the fury of my foes.
Wake up for me; you commanded justice.
8 (7) May the assembly of the peoples surround you;
may you return to rule over them from on high.
9 (8) Adonai, who dispenses judgment to the peoples,
judge me, Adonai, according to my righteousness
and as my integrity deserves.
10 (9) Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and establish the righteous;
since you, righteous God,
test hearts and minds.
11 (10) My shield is God,
who saves the upright in heart.
12 (11) God is a righteous judge,
a God whose anger is present every day.
13 (12) If a person will not repent,
he sharpens his sword.
He has bent his bow, made it ready;
14 (13) he has also prepared for him
weapons of death, his arrows,
which he has made into burning shafts.
15 (14) Look how the wicked is pregnant with evil;
he conceives trouble, gives birth to lies.
16 (15) He makes a pit, digs it deep,
and falls into the hole he made.
17 (16) His mischief will return onto his own head,
his violence will recoil onto his own skull.
18 (17) I thank Adonai for his righteousness
and sing praise to the name of Adonai ‘Elyon.
8:1 (0) For the leader. On the gittit. A psalm of David:
2 (1) Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious
is your name throughout the earth!
The fame of your majesty
spreads even above the heavens!
3 (2) From the mouths of babies and infants at the breast
you established strength because of your foes,
in order that you might silence
the enemy and the avenger.
4 (3) When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and stars that you set in place —
5 (4) what are mere mortals, that you concern yourself with them;
humans, that you watch over them with such care?
6 (5) You made him but little lower than the angels,
you crowned him with glory and honor,
7 (6) you had him rule what your hands made,
you put everything under his feet —
8 (7) sheep and oxen, all of them,
also the animals in the wilds,
9 (8) the birds in the air, the fish in the sea,
whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
10 (9) Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious
is your name throughout the earth!
John 7:
30 At this, they tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him; because his time had not yet come. 31 However, many in the crowd put their trust in him and said, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?”
32 The P’rushim heard the crowd whispering these things about Yeshua; so the head cohanim and the P’rushim sent some of the Temple guards to arrest him. 33 Yeshua said, “I will be with you only a little while longer; then I will go away to the One who sent me. 34 You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come.” 35 The Judeans said to themselves, “Where is this man about to go, that we won’t find him? Does he intend to go to the Greek Diaspora and teach the Greek-speaking Jews? 36 And when he says, ‘You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come’ — what does he mean?”
37 Now on the last day of the festival, Hoshana Rabbah, Yeshua stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking! 38 Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!” 39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who trusted in him were to receive later — the Spirit had not yet been given, because Yeshua had not yet been glorified.)
40 On hearing his words, some people in the crowd said, “Surely this man is ‘the prophet’”; 41 others said, “This is the Messiah.” But others said, “How can the Messiah come from the Galil? 42 Doesn’t the Tanakh say that the Messiah is from the seed of David[John 7:42 ] and comes from Beit-Lechem,[John 7:42 ] the village where David lived?” 43 So the people were divided because of him. 44 Some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.
45 The guards came back to the head cohanim and the P’rushim, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” 46 The guards replied, “No one ever spoke the way this man speaks!” 47 “You mean you’ve been taken in as well?” the P’rushim retorted. 48 “Has any of the authorities trusted him? Or any of the P’rushim? No! 49 True, these ‘am-ha’aretz do, but they know nothing about the Torah, they are under a curse!”
50 Nakdimon, the man who had gone to Yeshua before and was one of them, said to them, 51 “Our Torah doesn’t condemn a man — does it? — until after hearing from him and finding out what he’s doing.” 52 They replied, “You aren’t from the Galil too, are you? Study the Tanakh, and see for yourself that no prophet comes from the Galil!” [John 7:52 ] 53 Then they all left, each one to his own home.
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