The Lord Looses His Arrow Now

Verse for the week: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?”  Psalm 22.1

Prayer for the week: Ride on, ride on, O Christ. Ride on the donkey, the cross, on the devil’s back. In low estate ride on to die… to triumph over captive death and conquered sin now and forever. Amen.

Bible reading for the day: Isaiah 49.1-7  (The Lord humbled Israel through the Exile to Babylon (587-539 BC) and now calls them and all nations to listen to him)

^49.1 Listen to me, O coastlands,
    and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The Lord called me from the womb,
    from the body of my mother he named my name.
² He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
    in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
    in his quiver he hid me away.
³ And he said to me, “You are my servant,
    Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
⁴ But I said, “I have labored in vain;
    I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
    and my recompense with my God.”

⁵ And now the Lord says,
    he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
    and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
    and my God has become my strength—
⁶ he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

⁷ Thus says the Lord,
    the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
    the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
    princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

Prayer for the day: Gracious and almighty Father, from coast to coast, Gentile to Jew, you call me and all people to listen to Christ, who spent all his strength in the labor of the cross to rescue us from the darkness of our sinful selves. Thank you, Lord. Our ears are thick, your Word is sharp… piece all the way to the marrow Lord… that your salvation may reach us to the end of the earth, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Hymn: follow this link to a hymn that gives further voice to today’s conversation with the Lord.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GH0aLQwhRY&ab_channel=MartijndeGroot

“What does baptism mean for daily living?”

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

In Romans 6, St. Paul writes: “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.” Romans 6.4  (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther)

Benediction: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
    Praise the Lord!   Psalm 106.48

 

*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.