Thursday of Lent 3 – March 28, 2019 – Psalm 84:5
Blessed are those whose strength
is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
The story is told in our parish
which happened many years ago. A man was near death. In the middle of the night
the family asks, “Should we summon the pastor?” “No need,” said the man, “I
know the road; I’ve read the signs.”Whether this story is true, or not, I do
not know. Yet it conveys a profound truth. We walk by faith and not by sight.
We travel through life by faith trusting in and guided by Christ.
God's Word is the evidence for
our faith. We know God cannot lie. Whatever God says -- if it is not already
evident to our physical senses -- will eventually come to pass. For whatever
God says comes to pass. God only had to speak and the universe was created.
By faith we learn to put what God
says in His Word ahead of what circumstances and physical senses might tell us.
God does not ask you to deny what your physical senses tell you, but to believe
His Word above all other evidence. God simply wants you to believe that He
tells the truth.
When we trust what God has said,
impossible things become possible. As we keep our focus on God and His Word, we
can be fully convinced, like Abraham, that God is able to do all He has said.
For faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17).
Lord, Thee I love with all my heart; I pray Thee, ne’re from me
depart,
With tender mercy cheer me.
Earth has no pleasure I would share, Yea, hav’n itself were void
and bear
If Thou, Lord, were not near me.
And should my heart for sorrow break, My trust in Thee can nothing
shake.
Thou art the portion I have sought; Thy precious blood my soul has
bought.
Lord, Jesus Christ, my God and
Lord, my God and Lord, Forsake me not! I trust Thy Word.[1]
Keep watch over Your church, O Lord, with Your unfailing love;
and, since it is grounded in human weakness and cannot maintain itself without
Your aid, protect it from all danger, and keep it in the way of salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy
Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen[2]
[1] Lord,
Thee I Love with All My Heart stanza 1 Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia
Publishing House, St. Louis
[2]Collect
for Thursday of Lent 3, http://www.liturgies.net/Lent/LentenCollects.htm
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