Reflections

September 16, 2024 

Today's Reading: Isaiah 50:4-10

Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 35:1-7, 16-25; Zephaniah 1:1-3:20; Colossians 3:1-25

“He who vindicates me is near…” (Isaiah 50:8)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

In the words of Isaiah the prophet, we hear our Lord, the Man Jesus, who suffers as the holy and righteous Servant of God. As a man, He hears the Word of God, learns it, grows in the knowledge of it, and obeys it (see Luke 2:52). He does not exercise His human will in rebellion to His Father’s (and His) divine will. He goes willingly to the suffering and death that is the wages of human sin. He gives His back to those who strike and His face to those who pull out the beard. He does not hide from disgrace and spitting. The Lamb goes uncomplaining forth.  

But He doesn’t do this for Himself. He does it for you. His knowledge, earned in the flesh by His life, suffering, and death, is for all the unrighteous, for those who do not do the will of God, who do not want to hear His Word, and who rebel against Him. “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53:11).

He knows His Father and has full human trust in Him. So He knows that He will not be left in the humiliation of the cross or ashamed in His trust. The Father raises Him from the dead and vindicates Him. So we, too, have been given Jesus’ holy confidence in the Father: “Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty?” (Isaiah 50:9a). Paul says it this way: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Romans 8:31-34).

The One who has been vindicated in righteousness, the Holy One whom the Father would not let see decay in the grave, now stands alive forever, interceding for you by His death and resurrection. If this is how God has helped you, neither sin nor death nor anything else can condemn you as guilty. Nothing in all creation will be able to separate you from the love of God that is Christ Jesus, our Lord. If God is for you, who can be against you?

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O Lord God, You have justified and vindicated us in Christ. Cause all those who walk in darkness to trust You, the Light of the world, and keep us forever in that same faith. Amen.

-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.

September 15, 2024 

Today's Reading: Mark 9:14-29

Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 34:1-4, 8-11, 14-33; Nahum 1:1-3:19; Colossians 2:8-23

“But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.” (Mark 9:27)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Between predictions of His death and resurrection, Jesus’ divine glory is displayed on the mountain, and Jesus gives life to an apparently dead boy in the valley. This is beyond the disciples; it comes only from firm belief and prayer. Jesus is the true believer and the doubtless pray-er, but He is in the midst of an unbelieving generation. Apparently, the other nine disciples had been waiting at the foot of the mountain for Jesus, Peter, James, and John to return. While they were gone, a man brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus, but since Jesus wasn’t there, either the man or the disciples decided to try the exorcism on their own. 

Jesus comes down the mountain, and the disciples, the crowd, and the scribes are arguing with each other. Jesus says, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” (Mark 9:19) When Moses came down from the mountain and found the people worshiping a golden calf in place of Yahweh, God said that Israel was a stiff-necked, stubborn, idolatrous people (Exodus 32:7-10). People have not changed from that generation to this. We still alternate between pride and helplessness; we still waver between trust in God and the gods we make with our own hands or in our own minds. “I believe; help my unbelief!” There is no cure except death and resurrection. We have been this way since childhood— from conception. 

So Jesus goes to Gethsemane to pray, to weep, and to bear all the unbelief of all generations. This is how long He puts up with us: to death on a cross, to the grave. This devil, this death, this sin; they can only be driven out by death and resurrection, just as He says. And He gives a glimpse of it with this boy. “And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.” (Mark 9:26-27). So the Jesus who died and rose stretches His hand out to those dead in sin and pulls them up from the water by His Word, and we arise to live in new life before Him forever. “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him” (Romans 6:8). I believe; help my unbelief! 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, our support and defense in every need, continue to preserve Your Church in safety, govern her by Your goodness, and bless her with Your peace; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

-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.

September 14, 2024 

Today's Reading: John 12:20-33

Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 33:1-25; Jonah 1:1-4:11; Colossians 1:24-2:7

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:32)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

The cross looks like defeat, but faith sees the victory of Jesus over sin and death. The cross looks like helplessness, but faith sees the power of God for salvation. The cross looks like humiliation, but faith sees the exaltation of Jesus and His coronation as King. “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.” The death of Jesus on the cross is a result of sin. And since everyone who has ever lived on the earth (except Him) is a sinner, the cross is where He draws all sinners to Himself. He “came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:17-18). 

The Greeks said to Philip, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (John 12:20). In response, Jesus spoke of His coming death as His glorification and said, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also” (12:26). The servants of Jesus are with Him in His death: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4). 

Jesus gathered you to Himself on the cross by your baptism so that you would be always with Him, not only in death but even more– in His resurrection. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5). This is the mystery and contradiction of the holy cross: here, Jesus wins victory in defeat, power in weakness, and exaltation in humiliation. “Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle; sing the ending of the fray. Now above the cross, the trophy, sound the loud triumphant lay; tell how Christ, the world’s redeemer, as a victim won the day. … Faithful cross, true sign of triumph, be for all the noblest tree; none in foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit thine equal be; symbol of the world’s redemption, for the weight that hung on thee” (LSB 454:1, 4)!  

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Merciful God, Your Son, Jesus Christ, was lifted high upon the cross that He might bear the sins of the world and draw all people to Himself. Grant that we who glory in His death for our redemption may faithfully heed His call to bear the cross and follow Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

-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.

September 13, 2024 

Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 17 - Psalm 31:14-16; antiphon: Psalm 31:24

Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 32:1-22; Hosea 1:1-14:9; Colossians 1:1-23

“But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’” (Psalm 31:14)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

What does it mean to have a God? We confess that the First Commandment requires us to “fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” So whatever it is in which we put our trust is our God. Whatever we fear can easily become our God. What we love with our time, money, and energy is our God. Let’s not try to get out from under this judgment of God’s law. We are no different from the Israelites, who made another God when Moses did not show up for a month. When we do not find the answers we want or think we need, when our money, the government, or our families seem more immediate, and we turn to them most quickly when we are in trouble, then we have our gods exposed. 

But the God who delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt refused to let the people have any other gods. No other god made everything that exists. No other god delivered them from slavery. No other god would bring them into the land that Yahweh had promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. “I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God” (Exodus 6:7). God does not want us to make other gods for ourselves, not so much because we should choose Him out of all the gods there are, but because there are, in reality, no other gods. “Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any” (Isaiah 44:8).

So the only God there is sends the only Son in order to gather all of us god-makers back to Himself. Idolaters are as idolaters do, and so the only true God gets crucified as a false god. But the resurrection demonstrates that He alone is God. “Ask ye, who is this? Jesus Christ it is, of Sabaoth Lord, and there’s none other God” (LSB 656:2). And the Spirit of this Jesus preaches the true God back into our ears and hearts by His Word, and creates a true fear, love, and trust. And now we rejoice with all the believers in the true God, and we pray with the psalmist: “But I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’” 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O God, Your dwelling is with us in Christ. Dwell with us always, that we may be Your people, and that You may be with us as our God (Revelation 21:3). Keep us as Your people until the final day, when we say, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him! Let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation (Isaiah 25:9)! Amen.

-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.

September 12, 2024 

Today's Reading: Catechism: Table of Duties: What hearers owe their pastor

Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 31:1-21; Philippians 4:1-23

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Along with the rest of these passages in this part of the Table of Duties, or the “House Table,” this is a difficult word. We live in an age where it’s everyone for him- or herself, where we do not trust leaders of any kind to do what is good and right for us. Even if we know that not every leader of a certain type is represented when individuals fail, still we have heard a lot of stories about leaders, including pastors, failing to live up to their office or their promises. So why would we obey them and submit to them? 

Here, the author of this letter is clearly talking about pastors, since it says that “they are keeping watch over your souls.” And just as it is no advantage or benefit for children to disobey their parents, so there is no advantage for Christians to refuse to hear their pastors. Pastors, like parents, are no less sinful than hearers or children. They do indeed fail, just as parents, children, and all Christians fail. When pastors fail, it can be much more public, which is why James says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways” (James 3:1-2). It is also why three of Paul’s letters in the New Testament are addressed to pastors. 

But the fact that pastors are sinners does not remove the obligation to hear the Word they preach, and obey and submit to their preaching of that Word. Just as we must obey our parents, who are sinners, so hearers obey the word and promises attached to the Office of the Holy Ministry. Our confidence and certainty, however, are not tied to the person who may fail in his office or promises. We are bound to the Office into which God has put men and the promises He has attached to that Office. And God does not fail! In spite of pastors’ failings, God will deliver to you forgiveness of sins through the Office of the Ministry. God will deliver to you the certainty of His own promises in Christ. And that’s good news, not only for hearers but also for pastors, who will have to give an account to God of their ministry. God keeps pastors faithful in their Office and keeps hearers faithful to the Word delivered through that Office! 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O God, Your Son sent apostles, and the apostles sent others after them to preach Your Word and administer Your Sacraments. Grant us grace to hear Your Word and receive Your Sacraments in faith, so that together we may all come to eternal life. Amen.

-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.

September 11, 2024 

Today's Reading: Philippians 3:1-21

Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 29:1-24; Philippians 3:1-21

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:8a)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

When it comes to salvation, there is Jesus, and there is everything else. We can divide everything into categories: is this Jesus? Or is this something else? If it is something else, it cannot save me, and it has no life in it. Daily, weekly, we are brought back to this reminder that “all the vain things that charm [us] most” are empty. When we put our trust in something other than Jesus – otherwise known as an idol – it will always fail us. People fail us, the government fails us, money fails us, we fail ourselves. So, write it all off now. Count it as loss. Consider it “rubbish” (which is a polite word for what goes in the toilet). 

All of it together is nothing compared to the far better thing that Jesus is your Lord. He has purchased you not with the perishable, empty things of this world, like gold and silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death. And that purchase price is confirmed by His resurrection, which makes that gain eternal. The goal is to be found in Jesus, having His righteousness, which will lead to resurrection, whatever suffering might come to us in this life. 

Paul had a pretty good claim to boast in his own righteousness: everything in his life, his genealogy, his belonging to the covenant, his blamelessness under the law as a Pharisee. But even that would not put him with Christ, and therefore with God’s eternal life. There was, for Paul, Jesus on one side and everything else on the other. One meant a righteousness of his own in which he could boast, and the other meant life and resurrection. He realized that the only one worth boasting about was Jesus. “Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ, my God.” 

Is this thing, whatever it is, something other than Jesus? Then I will lose it anyway. Is this Jesus? God will not only give me Him and His righteousness through faith, but He will give every other good thing along with Him (Matthew 6:33). “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32)?  

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast Save in the death of Christ, my God; All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood (LSB 425:2)

-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.

September 10, 2024

Today's Reading: James 2:1-10, 14-18

Daily Lectionary: 2 Kings 9:1-13, 10:18-29; 2 Kings 13:1-18:8; Philippians 2:12-30

“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:17)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

St. James reminds us that there are no exceptions under the Law of God. Just as Jesus Himself says that even lust is adultery, and even hatred is murder (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28), so James says that there are no exceptions to the command, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” You could keep the whole thing, but if you stumble at even one point, if you fail to love even one person, you are guilty of the entire Law. The Law is whole, not divided. So, a failure to love one person is, before God, the same as failing to love everyone. Love, like the Law, cannot be divided up.

Our failures to love are failures of faith. There is no true faith that does not produce works. We cannot claim to have faith if it does not show itself in works. The reason such faith is dead and cannot save is not because it does not have works, but because it is not faith. As Paul tells us in Ephesians, the one who walks around in sin and trespasses is dead in those sins. But the one who has been saved by grace through faith alone walks around in good works (Ephesians 2:1-2, 8-10). Being dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus always produces love for those around us.

Of course, we still fail at love because we still have an unbeliever living in our flesh. The Old Adam refuses to believe, and so refuses to love. Jesus, however, completely trusts His Father, and so loved, and loves, completely. He loved us so completely that He would not leave us dead in our sin. “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7). 

Until our sinful flesh dies completely, we live as two because both Law and Gospel are entire: a living believer in the Father through Christ, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and a dying unbeliever, dead in sin, refusing to love. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin” (Romans 7:24-25).

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O grant that nothing in my soul May dwell, but Thy pure love alone; Oh, may Thy love possess me whole, My joy, my treasure, and my crown! All coldness from my heart remove; My ev’ry act, word, thought be love (LSB 683:2)

-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.

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.

September 8, 2024

Today's Reading: Mark 7:24-30, 31-37

Daily Lectionary: 2 Kings 5:9-27; Philippians 1:1-20

“And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’” (Mark 7:34)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Jesus puts His fingers in the deaf ears of the man and touches the man’s garbled tongue with His holy saliva, and He looks up to heaven and sighs. It is a word that can also mean “groaning.” Just as Jesus weeps at the grave of His friend Lazarus, here He groans at ears and a tongue that do not do what He made them to do.

It was not always this way, of course. In the beginning, there was no sighing, no groaning. But it was not long before groans and sighs show up. The noun shows up in the Greek translation of the Old Testament already in Genesis 3! In the curse that follows sin, God says to Eve that He would multiply her pain and groaning (Genesis 3:16, Septuagint). Groaning goes with sin, with the burden of our sin and the sins of others that weigh us down. Sighing is the nature of the whole creation. In Romans 8, St. Paul says that the whole creation groans together, and not only the creation but we groan also (8:22-23). If you’ve ever gotten to the end of a day, or a week, or a semester, or a year and found yourself sighing; if you’ve ever found yourself grieving, struggling, guilty, or ashamed, and you groan or sigh because you can’t see a way out or a light at the end of the tunnel, you know the nature of this creation. It is hard to hear the Word of God, and it’s hard to speak God’s promises, even to yourself. Things are not the way they’re supposed to be. 

But Jesus knows, too. Just as God heard the groaning of Israel in slavery (Exodus 2:24; 6:5) and their sighing under their oppressors (Judges 2:18), God has heard your sighs and groans. Not only are all things made through Him, but He entered this world in a body made for Him. And though He is without sin, He, too, groans because He is in the midst of it. It is all around Him, and it is not the way He wants it to be. He groans and weeps and suffers and dies. He rises from the dead, and as a sign of that resurrection, He puts His fingers in the deaf man’s ears and loosens his tongue with a touch. So He opens your ears to hear again His promises and your tongue to sing His praise. This, too, is a sign of the coming resurrection, when, as God promises through Isaiah, “the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isaiah 51:11).

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O Lord, let Your merciful ears be open to the prayers of Your humble servants and grant that what they ask may be in accord with Your gracious will; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

-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.

September 7, 2024 

Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 16 - Psalm 28:1-2, 6-7; antiphon: Psalm 28:8

Daily Lectionary: 2 Kings 4:38-5:8; Ephesians 6:1-24

“The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed.” (Psalm 28:8)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. What separates those who have faith in God and those who do not? If you look just at the outside of someone’s life, you may not see much of a difference, especially when it comes to having difficulties or experiencing suffering. Believers and unbelievers alike face hard times in their lives and even great tragedy. Being a Christian doesn’t give us a pass from heartbreak or disaster, but we do know who to put our trust in when we are overwhelmed with hardship. We turn in faith to God and call on his name.  

In this psalm, we find David at his rope’s end; he feels himself sinking under the weight of his struggles. He doesn’t turn inward to find inner strength; he has none. He doesn’t turn to other people or things to give him hope or peace. No, David turns to the one who will not let him down, no matter how bad things may seem. He turns to the Lord, who is his rock and his refuge. That’s what faith does, and that’s who faith trusts: the one true God who promises to hear us and never abandon those who belong to him. David is teaching us what faith looks like in the middle of the whirlwinds and storms of life.  

David is not only a portrait of every believer but a foreshadowing of our Lord Jesus. He, too, was not exempt from suffering, even though he was God. He, too, felt abandoned at the grimmest time of his earthly life – being crucified and dying on a Roman cross. He cried out, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). And yet, Jesus never loses faith. He endures in faith and finally calls out in his dying breath, “Into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46) That’s faith talk. That’s what faith does, even in the darkest of times when you feel God is nowhere in sight.  

David prayed, and he invites us to pray in the thick of our struggles through the words of this psalm, “The Lord is my strength and my shield, in him my heart trusts, and I am helped” (Psalm 28:7). We may not see it, and we may not feel it, but faith prays and trusts in the Lord who is our saving refuge. David’s prayer and ours finally finds its “amen” in Jesus. “Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever” (Psalm 28:9). Our Good Shepherd has laid down his life for us and will carry us through life and into the joys of heaven! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus, refuge of the weary, Blest Redeemer, whom we love, Fountain in life’s desert dreary, Savior from the world above: Often have your eyes, offended, Gazed upon the sinner’s fall; Yet upon the cross extended, You have borne the pain of all. (LSB 423:1) 

-Rev. Darrin Sheek, pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Anaheim, CA.

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.