August 9, 2025

Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 9 - Psalm 147:8-11; antiphon: Psalm 147:7

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 25:1-22; 1 Corinthians 3:1-23

“His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.” (Psalm 147:10-11)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Racing fans delight in the fastest car and the winning driver. Hockey fans delight in the forward with the best plays, most goals, and fastest time down the ice. Baseball fans delight in the swiftness of a base runner rounding third and heading for home plate. Now, when it comes to God, we expect him to play by our rules of the game. Only, he doesn’t. God doesn’t take a page out of our playbook. No. He writes a completely new book with completely different rules, ones based not on our righteousness and strength, but on his. Life is lived not on our goodness and power, but in his grace and mercy.

What brings God joy and delight? Psalm 147 reminds us that it’s not our strength, not our wisdom, not our goodness—not our anything—that causes God to delight in us. No. What brings God delight is when we hope—not in ourselves—but in his steadfast love. What brings the Lord pleasure is when we see that of ourselves we have no strength, but that all our strength is in the steadfast love of Jesus, crucified and risen. What brings the Lord great joy is when we delight in his work for us, not our own work for him. What puts a big smile across God’s face is when we look to him for righteousness instead of relying on our own self-righteousness. 

This is what it means to fear the Lord. Not that God is going to dive out from behind the bushes and jump scare us like some kind of cheap horror movie, but that he who could destroy us in our sin instead delivers us from sin. That we trust in him who chases us down like a sheepdog with his steadfast love, all the days of our lives. That he who could condemn us for our trespasses says in Christ, there is no condemnation. That he who could sentence us to eternal punishment takes all sin, all death, all punishment of the Law upon himself. In all of this, the Father delights in His Son, and through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus, the Father delights in you as well.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty Father, in Your Son, You loved us when not yet begun Was this old earth’s foundation! Your Son has ransomed us in love To live in Him here and above: This is Your great salvation. Alleluia! Christ the living, To us giving Life forever, Keeps us Yours and fails us never! (LSB 395:4)

Rev. Samuel Schuldheisz, pastor of Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Milton, WA.

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

Step back in time to the late Reformation and learn about a divisive yet inspirational figure: Matthias Flacius Illyricus. His contributions to Lutheranism still echo in our teachings today, from the Magdeburg Confession to parts of the Lutheran Confessions. Learning about Flacius’s life will help you understand more intricacies of the Reformation than ever before.