August 31, 2024 

Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 15 - Psalm 51:7, 10-12; antiphon: Psalm 51:2

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 16:29-17:24; 2 Corinthians 10:1-13:14; 2 Corinthians 9:1-15

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow… Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” (Psalm 51:7, 10-12)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Psalm 51 is a prayer of a broken man. David has nowhere to hide; his sin is exposed. He has nowhere to turn except to the one he has sinned against. David knows he has a gracious and merciful God, and so it’s to God he turns with pleas for forgiveness and restoration.  

Can you relate to David and his prayer? Are we as honest and as utterly broken over our sin as David? When we are caught red-handed and the darkness of our heart is exposed, where do we turn? Where do we go? We, too, turn to David’s Lord. We find God’s tender answer to our pleas for forgiveness in Jesus. After all, He is the one in whom all the prayers for mercy find their “amen.”  

Jesus knows our struggles and our failings, and He did something about it. He shed his blood so that “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” (Ephesians 1:7). Jesus also knows how we are prone to question, “Am I really forgiven? I don’t feel like it.” The Devil loves to create doubt in us as well, “How can God forgive you? Look what you’ve done! Again!”   

God does not want his children to live in doubt. His forgiveness is real, complete, and certain. He wants you to be certain, too, so that you might live in the joy of his gracious love, so he gives you the Gift of Baptism.  

In Baptism, we find all of David’s pleas before God answered in the promises of your Baptism. By the water of your Baptism, God has washed you and made you clean from all your sins (Titus 3:5; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Acts 22:16). You have been born again from above by water and the Spirit, making you a new creation with a new heart (John 3:3-5). Through your Baptism, you are joined to Christ, and so He is present with you always. He has wrapped you in the garments of salvation; you are clothed with Christ (Isaiah 61:10; Galatians 3:27). In your Baptism, you now live walking in newness of life – God upholding you by His Spirit (Romans 6:4). What grace! What love! For you! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

In Baptism we now put on Christ – Our shame is fully covered With all that He once sacrificed And freely for us suffered. For here the flood of His own blood Now makes us holy, right, and good Before our heav’nly Father. (LSB 596:4)

-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.