Friday in the 5th week of Pentecost Recently I've been in the habit of copying a devotional reading from somewhere, usually Higher Things, and then pasting in the daily lectionary readings at the end. Well, as far as I know there isn't a daily devotional out there on the web that is actually based on those readings. It is my intention, starting today, to present a daily comment on the readings of the lectionary that we are using at Messiah Lutheran Church in Danville. Wish me luck :-)

Daily readings
Numbers 13:1-3, 21-30
Romans 2:25-3:8
Matthew 18:21-35

Caleb and the spies in the promised land, Paul confusing me about circumcision, and the parable of the unforgiving servant. Which should I comment on?

Well, the story of the spies is always good for a comment on trusting the Lord. The Israelites didn't trust the Lord to take them into the promised land and it cost them a generation in the wilderness. The applicability to our own lives is obvious I think. Lack of trust in God is never a good thing and always causes us problems.

The passage from Romans is beyond me for the most part. Except for this bit here that I pretty much do understand I think:

Romans 3:5But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8And why not do evil that good may come?--as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

Here Paul is answering a question and a temptation that I have encountered in my own life far too often. The idea being that since we are saved by grace through faith and not by any works of our own, then hey, really it can't matter too much if I fall into some sin or not. Which ends up being an excuse for me to do what I know I ought not to do! Which, as Paul points out, is not right thinking at all.

Finally we have Matthew 18:21-35 which is the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. This is another case where the scripture speaks to my own weakness. All too often I look at my own sins and minimize them, "They really aren't so bad are they Lord?" Then I look at my brothers and sisters and the world in general and boy are those people evil! How can I possibly forgive the horrible things that have been done to me? I forget that it is my own sin that caused the death of Christ, not just those others who are so despicable. In this parable Jesus tells us that failing to forgive others shows that we really do not understand the depth of our sin.

I have awakened far too early this morning. Everything above I wrote yesterday, now I'm sitting here at 5:00 am and wondering what in the world I'm doing out of bed! I found myself laying in bed at 4:30 am, praying to God. Not because I'm holy but because I am not holy. I was there praying and unable to sleep because I was desperate to not be the horrible sinner that I know I am. It took some time but eventually the Lord managed to remind me that He died for me, that even though all of the desires of my heart are toward evil, that He stood in my place, and that He gives me His own body and blood in the sacrament for the forgiveness of sins.

I drank a bit too much last night and when I woke this morning in my bed, still feeling the effects of the brandy, I found it hard to focus my thoughts. Temptations and semi-dreams were swirling through my mind. I was thinking on things that a Christian ought not to think on. When I realized what I was doing, I tried to pray. I could not do it in my own words because all of my thoughts were evil and full of sin. The Lord then reminded me that He has taught me a prayer. I slowly and carefully said the Lord's prayer.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

To pray the Lord's prayer is to pray a perfect prayer, one composed by the Lord Himself. I thank the Lord that He has provided this simple and complete prayer for us, for those times when we are so sunk in despair and sin that we cannot turn toward Him in any way, cannot ask for help or forgiveness because we cannot think of what to say, in those times we have the words of Christ to use.

After praying the Lord's prayer this morning I was then able to pray extemporaneously in a more personal manner. But without the Lord's prayer I could never have managed it. Thank you Lord Jesus for that most perfect prayer you taught us to pray!  ¶ 7/14/2006 05:45:00 AM