What your ears were made for...

Verse for the week:
“Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
    O Israel, if you would but listen to me!” Psalm 81.8

Prayer for the week: Almighty God, draw our hearts to you, guide our minds, fill our imaginations, control our wills, so that we may be wholly yours. Use us as you will, always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Bible reading for the day: Psalm 81.8-16

 ⁸ Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
    O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
⁹ There shall be no strange god among you;
    you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
¹⁰ I am the Lord your God,
    who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
    Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹ “But my people did not listen to my voice;
    Israel would not submit to me.
¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
    to follow their own counsels.
¹³ Oh, that my people would listen to me,
    that Israel would walk in my ways!
¹⁴ I would soon subdue their enemies
    and turn my hand against their foes.
¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,
    and their fate would last forever.
¹⁶ But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
    and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Prayer of the Day: Gracious and almighty Father,  you made my ears not for the strange god of myself nor any other, but to listen to  your voice alone. Thank you. Each moment, set Christ on the throne of my stubborn heart and mind so that the devil, the world, and my sinful self may be subdued and I may be fed with the finest wheat rather than their chaff. In Jesus’ name I ask this, amen.

Hymn: follow this link to a beloved classic that gives further voice to today’s conversation with the Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAigUNye_jI

“Thy will be done…”

What does this mean? The good and gracious will of God is surely done without our prayer, but we ask in this prayer that it may be done also among us.

When does this happen?  God’s will is done when he hinders and defeats every evil scheme and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful self, which would prevent us from keeping his name holy and would oppose the coming of his kingdom.

And his will is done when he strengthens our faith and keeps us firm in his Word as long as we live. This is his gracious and good will. (from The Small Catechism, by 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.