His Soundness and the Sore of Our Sin

Verse for the week: “Do not remember against us our former iniquities;
    let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
    for we are brought very low.”  Psalm 79.8

Prayer for the week: Dear heavenly Father, preserve your beloved, rebellious children from loving the sound of our own words. Dig out ears for us that we may hear your Word for us in Christ crucified and raised for our forgiveness, life, and salvation; through the same, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Bible reading for the day: Isaiah 1.1-9 (The time of “Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah was approximately 750-701 B.C.)

¹The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

² Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
    for the Lord has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
    but they have rebelled against me.
³ The ox knows its owner,
    and the donkey its master's crib,
but Israel does not know,
    my people do not understand.”

⁴ Ah, sinful nation,
    a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
    children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
    they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
    they are utterly estranged.

⁵ Why will you still be struck down?
    Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
    and the whole heart faint.
⁶ From the sole of the foot even to the head,
    there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
    and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
    or softened with oil.

⁷ Your country lies desolate;
    your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
    foreigners devour your land;
    it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
⁸ And the daughter of Zion is left
    like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
    like a besieged city.

⁹ If the Lord of hosts
    had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
    and become like Gomorrah.

Prayer for the day: Gracious and almighty Father, but for Christ, there is no soundness in me. Were it not for his forgiveness for me and for all your beloved, wayward children, we should be but the bruises and raw wounds of our accumulated sin. But with his wounds we are healed… for our transgressions he was pierced… He is our peace. Thank you, Lord. Each hour, dig out ears for me that I may hear what you have spoken Lord… that I may fear, love, and trust you above myself and all others. In Jesus’ name I ask this, amen.

Hymn: follow this link to a beloved newer hymn that gives further voice to today’s conversation with the Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuvfMDhTyMA&ab_channel=mattmaherVEVO

“What does baptism mean for daily life?”

It means that my sinful self – with all its evil deeds and desires – should be drowned through daily repentance and sorrow for sin and day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever.

St. Paul writes in Romans 6: “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.”  (from The Small Catechism, Martin Luther)

Benediction: For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
    he adorns the humble with salvation.   Psalm 149.4

 

*This is now our congregation’s 99^th year in the Word. In 2025, we are reading from Genesis to Revelation, with a few interludes along the way.