The Lord Has Enlightened Us in the True Faith
Our thanks we bring in joy and praise
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The Mighty One, God the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him a mighty tempest.
He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
“Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge!
Psalm 50:1-6
Here we are in July already! I hope you are having a good Sunday and for many of you it will be a long holiday weekend. It seems I’m usually rather busy in the months of May and June. Our national Independence Day, the Fourth of July, is always a nice cap for this busy time of year for me. The rest of the summer’s weeks get hot, humid, and slow down…the dog days of summer they say.
Our congregation doesn’t dwell too much time and attention to patriotism and civil religion during our Divine Services at church on Sundays. That is a good thing in my opinion. However, we will often reference such things in the prayers of the church and maybe with a hymn or two from the Nation and National Songs section of our hymnal. There is much to be said on this topic and I will leave that for others today. However, I will say that it is good to thank God for the blessings He has given us and that we should pray as in the Lord’s Prayer for our daily bread. Our blessed Rev. Dr. Martin Luther teaches us this petition includes the blessings of not only food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, etc. but also of devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, and the like.
This year for our closing hymn, we sang Before You, Lord, We Bow (LSB 966). I had not realized this previously, but this one was written by none other than Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) whom you probably know wrote our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner (1814). I think it is pretty good. Anyways, here it is:
Before You, Lord, we bow,
Our God who reigns above
And rules the world below,
Boundless in pow'r and love.
Our thanks we bring
In joy and praise,
Our hearts we raise
To You, our King!
The nation You have blest
May well Your love declare,
From foes and fears at rest,
Protected by Your care.
For this bright day,
For this fair land--
Gifts of Your hand--
Our thanks we pay.
May ev'ry mountain height,
Each vale and forest green,
Shine in Your Word's pure light,
And its rich fruits be seen!
May ev'ry tongue
Be tuned to praise
And join to raise
A grateful song.
Earth, hear your Maker's voice;
Your great Redeemer own;
Believe, obey, rejoice,
And worship Him alone.
Cast down your pride,
Your sin deplore,
And bow before
The Crucified.
And when in pow'r He comes,
Oh, may our native land
From all its rending tombs
Send forth a glorious band,
A countless throng,
With joy to sing
To heav'n's high King
Salvation's song!
LSB 966
Our Old Testament readings in the Daily Lectionary this week continue with Joshua 7-24 and Judges 1-3. And if you have time, check out Acts 10-13 in the New Testament. For more details on the Church Year and the Daily Lectionary, see Lutheran Service Book pages 299-304.
Having just read about the fall of Jericho we’ll continue on and finish the Book of Joshua before starting Judges at the end of the week.
The Lutheran Study Bible (CPH) teaches:
The sin of one man, Achan, results in defeat and death for the Israelites at Ai. Likewise, the sin of one man, Adam, resulted in death spreading to all men, because all men have sinned. But one man, Jesus Christ, has brought righteousness and eternal life as a free gift that is received through faith (Rm 5:12–21). Guilty Achan is caught by the Lord, confesses before Joshua, and is stoned at the Valley of Achor. Since Adam and Eve hid in the foliage of Eden, people have imagined that they can keep their sins hidden from God. But “all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Heb 4:13). “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn 1:9).
The Book of Judges chronicles the moral decay that afflicted Israel and led to its oppression, at times recording events so shocking one can scarcely believe they appear in Sacred Scripture. Yet these historic examples have a blessed purpose: to warn us against the spiritual indifference and moral decay that would stalk our generation and the next. They show how important our duty is as God’s family to teach God’s Word. And what is the message of the Word? The Lord hears the cry of His people. He does not forget them but multiplies His mercy generation after generation. As you study Judges, call out to the Lord on behalf of your family, your children and grandchildren, that the Spirit of the Lord would rest on them and they would know their deliverer, Jesus.
A few highlights according to TLSB include:
After the sin of Achan has been punished and Joshua does all that the Lord commanded, Israel successfully destroys the city of Ai. This is an example of God’s judgment and sentence against all sin and sinners (Joshua ch 8).
When the kings in Canaan set out to destroy Gibeon for its covenant with Israel, Joshua honors that covenant and God delivers Gibeon. Joshua captures and destroys the kings, who tried to hide in a cave that later became their tomb (ch 10).
In the second of Joshua’s three farewell sermons, he addresses the leaders of Israel with warnings against serving other gods and reminds them of the Lord’s faithfulness and victories for Israel (ch 23).
As the Mosaic covenant is formally renewed at Shechem, Joshua and the people boldly profess their faithfulness to the God who redeemed them and gave them victory (ch 24).
The Israelites know who the Lord is, but they no longer experience His blessed presence among them. Despite Israel’s favored history, paganism is never far from the surface (Judges ch 2).
Othniel, the ideal judge, is God’s first champion to rescue Israel from a powerful foreign oppressor. God gave Othniel His Spirit and victory (ch 3).
Articles, Charts, & Maps in The Lutheran Study Bible
The Conquest of Canaan
The Twelve Tribes
Divine Warfare
This Week in the Church Year
Fourth Sunday after Trinity (One-Year) — 2 Jul
The Visitation (One-Year) — 2 Jul
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Three-Year) — 2 Jul
Isaiah — 6 Jul
Fifth Sunday after Trinity (One-Year) — 9 Jul
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Three-Year) — 9 Jul
Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy) is a short prayer found in the historic liturgy of the Church. It comes into English from Latin, itself a transliteration from the Greek…Κύριε, ἐλέησον.
Pronunciation: KEER-ee-ay il-AY-iss-on