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Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
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"Reason to Rejoice"
JSaturday, June 24, 2017
1 Thessalonians 5:16 - Rejoice always!
This past week I was talking to a lady about the list of things for which I am most grateful.
Even as I was speaking, I could see her sit up a little straighter, and set her jaw a little firmer. When I finished, with a tough tone in her voice and a steely look in her eye, she said, "I have absolutely nothing for which to be thankful."
This was amazing since this 81-year-old lady was very well off; she still lived on her own; she only went to the hospital when she was calling on her younger friends; and when she did visit them, she drove a very expensive, late-model luxury car.
Now I know some of you may find yourself in agreement with that lady. If that's the case, I've got something in my hand that will change your mind and put things into perspective.
And what can perform such a miracle? Nothing less than a copy of the health history form I got from my doctor. You know, the papers you have to fill out before you see a physician for the first time. Well, that's the form he gave me for this devotion. Now you may be having a bad year, but let me ask you what the doctor asked me.
"Do you have blood pressure or related problems, liver problems, gallbladder problems, yellow jaundice, hepatitis, heart trouble, kidney disease, stomach problems, indigestion, ulcers, bleeding tendency, excessive bruising, any part of your body paralyzed or numb, broken bones in the face, neck, jaw or back, back problems, excessive scarring?"
Folks, that's just part of column one in a document that runs four pages and is twelve columns wide.
You may have some of those things I just listed, but you don't have all of them. This means if you can't give thanks for what you've got, you can give thanks for the things you don't have. Unfortunately, giving thanks just doesn't come easy to many of us.
Look at the story of the children of Israel. Through some mighty miracles, God had freed them from slavery and then He had destroyed Pharaoh's chariots. This should have made God's people thankful. It should have, but the 15th chapter of Exodus says, "And the people murmured against Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?'" (Exodus 15:24).
God took care of that problem, and the people left God alone until the very next chapter. Chapter 16 says the children of Israel murmured against Moses (saying), "For You have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger" (see Exodus 16:1-3). God took care of that, and the people were pleased until chapter 17 where it says that the people murmured against Moses, and said, "Wherefore is this that You have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst" (see Exodus 17:1-3).
You get the idea. They came to God when they wanted something; they complained when He didn't give them what they wanted; and then they ignored Him until they wanted something else.
We who no longer have our sins counted to us because of the Savior's intercession ought to learn from their mistakes. Because of the Christ, we have been forgiven; we have been freed from the terrors of hell; and we have the promise of eternal life in the mansions our Savior will bestow.
And that, my friends, is plenty cause for which to give thanks.THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, when the Holy Spirit gives me a new heart, may a great part of it be reserved for the giving of thanks to my gracious Lord. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.
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In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
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Song of Solomon 6:
[Chorus]
1 Where has your darling gone,
you most beautiful of women?
Which way did your darling turn,
so that we can help you find him?
[She]
2 My darling went down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to pasture his flock in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
3 I belong to the man I love, and he belongs to me;
he pastures his flock among the lilies.
[He]
4 You are as beautiful as Tirtzah, my love,
as lovely as Yerushalayim,
but formidable as an army
marching under banners.
5 Turn your eyes away from me,
because they overwhelm me!
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down Gil‘ad.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
that have just come up from being washed;
each of them is matched,
and none of them is missing.
7 Your cheeks are like a pomegranate
split open behind your veil.
8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
as well as young women beyond number;
9 but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,
her mother’s only child,
the darling of the one who bore her.
The daughters see her and call her happy;
the queens and concubines praise her.
10 “Who is this, shining forth like the dawn,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun” —
but formidable as an army
marching under banners?
[She]
11 I had gone down to the nut orchard
to see the fresh green plants in the valley,
to see if the vine had budded,
or if the pomegranate trees were in bloom.
12 Before I knew it, I found myself
in a chariot, and with me was a prince.
[Chorus]
7:1 (6:13) Come back, come back, girl from Shulam!
Come back, come back to where we can see you!
Why are you looking at the girl from Shulam
as if she were dancing for two army camps?
[He]
2 (1) How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
you daughter of princes!
The curves of your thighs are like a necklace
made by a skilled craftsman.
3 (2) Your navel is like a round goblet
that never lacks spiced wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat
encircled by lilies.
4 (3) Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
5 (4) Your neck is like a tower of ivory,
your eyes like the pools in Heshbon
by the gate of Bat-Rabbim,
your nose like a tower in the L’vanon
overlooking Dammesek.
6 (5) You hold your head like the Karmel,
and the hair on your head is like purple cloth —
the king is held captive in its tresses.
7 (6) How beautiful you are, my love,
how charming, how delightful!
8 (7) Your appearance is stately as a palm tree,
with its fruit clusters your breasts.
9 (8) I said, “I will climb up into the palm tree,
I will take hold of its branches.”
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes,
your breath as fragrant as apples,
10 (9) and your mouth like the finest wine.
[She]
May the wine go straight to the man I love
and gently move the lips of those who are asleep.
11 (10) I belong to my darling,
and his desire is for me.
12 (11) Come, my darling, let’s go out to the country
and spend the nights in the villages.
13 (12) We’ll get up early and go to the vineyards
to see if the vines have budded,
to see if their flowers have opened,
or if the pomegranate trees are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
14 (13) The mandrakes are sending out their fragrance,
all kinds of choice fruits are at our doors,
fruits both new and old, my darling,
which I have kept in store for you.
8:1 I wish you were my brother,
who nursed at my mother’s breast;
then, if I met you outdoors, I could kiss you,
and no one would look down on me.
2 I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house,
and she would instruct me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
fresh juice from my pomegranates.
3 His left arm would be under my head
and his right arm around me.
4 I warn you, daughters of Yerushalayim,
not to awaken or stir up love
until it wants to arise!
[Chorus]
5 Who is this, coming up from the desert,
leaning on her darling?
[He]
I awakened you under the apple tree.
It was there that your mother conceived you;
there she who bore you conceived you.
[She]
6 Set me like a seal on your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
passion as cruel as Sh’ol;
its flashes are flashes of fire,
[as fierce as the] flame of Yah.
7 No amount of water can quench love,
torrents cannot drown it.
If someone gave all the wealth in his house for love,
he would gain only utter contempt.
[Chorus]
8 We have a little sister;
her breasts are still unformed.
What are we to do with our sister
when she is asked for in marriage?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build on her a palace of silver;
and if she is a door,
we will enclose her with panels of cedar.
[She]
10 I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers;
so in his view I am like one who brings peace.
11 Shlomo had a vineyard at Ba‘al-Hamon,
and he gave the vineyard to caretakers;
each of them would pay for its fruit
a thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard is mine; I tend it, myself.
You can have the thousand, Shlomo,
and the fruit-caretakers, two hundred!
[He]
13 You who live in the garden,
friends are listening for your voice.
Let me hear it! —
[She]
14 — Flee, my darling!
Be like a gazelle or young stag
on the mountains of spices!
23 “But when he was forty years old, the thought came to him to visit his brothers, the people of Isra’el. 24 On seeing one of them being mistreated, he went to his defense and took revenge by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t understand. 26 When he appeared the next day, as they were fighting, and tried to make peace between them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers! Why do you want to hurt each other?’ 27 the one who was mistreating his fellow pushed Moshe away and said, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me, the way you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’[Acts 7:28 ] 29 On hearing this, Moshe fled the country and became an exile in the land of Midyan, where he had two sons.
30 “After forty more years, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flames of a burning thorn bush. 31 When Moshe saw this, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to get a better look, there came the voice of Adonai, 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.’ But Moshe trembled with fear and didn’t dare to look. 33 Adonai said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have clearly seen how My people are being oppressed in Egypt, I have heard their cry, and I have come down to rescue them, and now I will send you to Egypt.’[Acts 7:34 ]
35 “This Moshe, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ is the very one whom God sent as both ruler and ransomer by means of the angel that appeared to him in the thorn bush. 36 This man led them out, performing miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moshe who said to the people of Isra’el, ‘God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers’[Acts 7:37 ] 38 This is the man who was in the assembly in the wilderness, accompanied by the angel that had spoken to him at Mount Sinai and by our fathers, the man who was given living words to pass on to us.
39 “But our fathers did not want to obey him. On the contrary, they rejected him and in their hearts turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aharon, ‘Make us some gods to lead us; because this Moshe, who led us out of Egypt — we don’t know what has become of him.’[Acts 7:40 ] 41 That was when they made an idol in the shape of a calf and offered a sacrifice to it and held a celebration in honor of what they had made with their own hands. 42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars[Acts 7:42 ] — as has been written in the book of the prophets,
‘People of Isra’el, it was not to me
that you offered slaughtered animals
and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness!
43 No, you carried the tent of Molekh
and the star of your god Reifan,
the idols you made so that you could worship them.
Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Bavel
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Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
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