September 9, 2024 

Today's Reading: Isaiah 35:4-7a

Daily Lectionary: 2 Kings 6:1-23; 2 Kings 6:24-8:2; Philippians 1:21-2:11

“Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not!’ Behold, your God…will come and save you.” (Isaiah 35:4)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

What I like about those words, “anxious heart” is that “anxious” is directly related to speed or haste. The “hasty heart.” And isn’t that how it is for us? Anxiety comes because we believe everything depends on us. We have trouble depending on other people, let alone on God. God seems distant from us, which causes us to feel like we have to work harder, and the harder we work (at school, at work, at relationships, at life), the more anxious we become. Everything speeds up, everything is now, and we find ourselves in the center of that swirling, self-involved storm. 

This is part of the point of the Sabbath command in the Old Testament. It is not only about resting our bodies from work; it’s about resting our bodies, minds, and souls from thinking that everything depends on us. No doubt, we have responsibilities and things we have to do. The various relationships into which God has put us have the requirement of loving service attached to them. But our worth and our identity are not in our work or our success. As soon as we think they are (and pastors are no more immune to this than anyone else!), our working and doing speed up, and anxiety comes crashing down on us. God wanted to make sure His people knew that all things depend on Him and not on them. They (and we) are not God. 

But now the Sabbath is not one day only, in which we rest from our work and hear God’s Word (although we certainly need that and received it yesterday). Now, the “Sabbath rest” of God is found entirely in Jesus, who fulfilled the Sabbath command when He rested on the seventh day from all His saving work that He had done. And you are always in Jesus, baptized into His Name. In Christ, you are completely surrounded by God’s rest, which is not simply taking a break from work but being protected from all the enemies of God’s people, particularly sin, death, and the devil. God has come to save you, to “pay you back,” not with punishment for sin, but with the blessing of Christ and His eternal life.   

Everything around you says to hurry, speed up, go faster, and do more. But rest and find peace in the promise of Jesus that everything depends on Him. Because you belong to Him, you can go about your daily work without anxiety, without a hasty heart. Be strong. Fear not. Your God has saved you and will keep you until the day when all things are restored and the dry deserts of anxiety give way to the refreshing springs of peace.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord Jesus, think on me, By anxious thoughts oppressed; Let me Your loving servant be And taste Your promised rest (LSB 610:2)

-Rev. Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

The new Guiding Word series takes you through all the books of the Bible in six volumes. Starting with the Books of Moses—Genesis through Deuteronomy—you will explore every passage of every chapter of each book with the help of maps, diagrams, links between the testaments, and clarification points.