coming soon, June 2025
Devotion
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Psalm 56:3 This Psalm has a prefatory note, “A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.”
The narrative of the story is found in 1 Sam 21:10-15. David had reasons to be afraid, and in fear he made poor decisions aimed at self-preservation rather than trusting God. King Saul wanted him dead (1 Sam 20:30) so he decided to flee from King Saul to The Philistine city of Gath. Gath was Goliath’s hometown! Hardly a place where he would be welcomed and protected! He is seized and the Phillistine King begins to plan his execution. David was out of the frying pan and into the fire through his own efforts at selfpreservation. David writes Psalm 56 in response to being on death row in Gath. Perhaps he is writing this while being held captive to reassure himself or perhaps he is writing it after the events and is reflecting back on God’s deliverance. We aren’t told when it is composed. What we do understand from this Psalm is that even in the face of great fear, David was reminded to trust that the outcome is in God’s hands not the human hands that wished him harm. Should David have run to Gath? Probably not. He had many reasons to trust that God would protect him against Saul’s wrath. God had promised and anointed David the future King of Israel (1 Sam 16). Jonathan, Saul’s son, was pledged to be David’s friend and protect him from the King’s anger (1 Sam 18 & 20). God had preserved David through many fearful situations throughout his youth (1 Sam 17:34-37). Ultimately, God does deliver David from both Saul and the Philistines and in response he writes, “Whenever I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” Lesson learned. We pray: Dear Lord, We are daily confronted with the possibility of harm, illness, want, and loneliness. We naturally want to react in fear for our self-preservation.
Help us to remember your record of provision, care, comfort, and lovingkindness throughout our lives. Help us to trust your promises when we are tempted by fear to trust in anything other than you. Amen.
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And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26
Neil Young was searching for a heart of gold. Jesus is looking for hearts of stone. One of the most common metaphors in the Old Testament used to describe turning away from God is hardening of the heart. As the seat of human emotion and decisionmaking, a soft heart would yield to God’s will. A heard heart would resist God’s will and seek instead self-will. Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he refused to let Israel go free. Israel was many times described by Isaiah and the prophets as being hard-hearted for failing to follow Gods law. When Ezekiel is writing to the exiled Israelites, he offers them this comforting word from God, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” God is promising them a spiritual heart transplant. We see this promise partially fulfilled when the Israelites return from exile and resume temple worship and following the law. However, the heart transplant promise comes to full fruition in Jesus sending the Holy Spirit. We are told in the New Testament that, “God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5).” The lives of Jesus followers are transformed by the coming of the Holy Spirit. The world abounds in hard-hearted people in need of a transplant from the great physician. Only Jesus can take our hearts which are selfish and self-centered since the Adam and turn them into hearts that love God and love our neighbors. This beautiful promise from Ezekiel offers us comfort when we are feeling convicted of our sin and stubbornness.
Great Physician, change our hearts from stony, stubborn, self-centeredness. Give us hearts of flesh, that are alive to your will and to the needs of our neighbors
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Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Leviticus 19:2
Leviticus is not always a thrilling read. There are some pretty dry portions for modern Christians regarding the details of the priesthood, tabernacle worship, sowing only one kind of grain in a field, sewing only one kind of cloth in a garment, etc. There are some very detailed portions on animal butchering and what organs and fat portions are to be given as offerings. Luther is said to have visited the town butcher when translating Leviticus into German because that is the person who best knew the names of all the internal animal parts. But there are some real gems that encapsulate the themes of Leviticus with astounding clarity. Leviticus 19:2 is one such gem. In 19:2 Moses tells the entire congregation of Israel, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” Is this a command? Is it a declaration? Is it both? Are the people holy because they follow all the laws, or are they to follow the laws because God has made them holy? Since the bulk of Leviticus is detailed laws and punishments, we could very easily decide that this is a command like all the other commands, and that Israel will be holy if and only if they keep God’s commandments. But that would ignore the entire second half of the sentence, “For I the Lord your God am holy.” God is not holy because some humans follow a bunch of rules, he just is holy. His holiness is so complete that it spills out into his chosen people, and they become holy too. In the New Testament we have a similar statement from Jesus in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” In this way we understand that Leviticus 19:2 is more of a benediction or blessing spoken upon the congregation of Israel. It is a powerful word that accomplishes what it says. You are holy and will do holy works because I am your Lord and will make it so.
We pray: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen, make it so in our lives today.
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Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Hebrews 13:15
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The “him” in question is Jesus (v.12). So if we put Jesus’ name in the place of the pronouns in our verse we get, “Through Jesus then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge Jesus' name.” In the Old Testament, sacrifices were offered through a priest, at an altar, and were received by God. The author of Hebrews is flipping that script to make Jesus our priest, the communion table is the altar (v.10), with God still as the recipient of our praise offering. If you read through the book of Hebrews you will notice the author reinterprets all of the elements of Old Testament worship in light of Jesus. Hebrews shows how the system of Old Testament worship was a foreshadowing of the way Christians would worship.
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When we come to the communion table we are confessing that Jesus is present in the bread and in the cup for our benefit. Luther tells us in the Small Catechism, “That person is truly worthy and well prepared [for communion] who has faith in these words: ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins’.” God desires that we come to the table trusting in the name of Jesus. Our “sacrifice of praise” to God is to believe in the one whom God has sent (John 6:22-59). Nothing more is required, and with this “sacrifice” he is well and truly pleased.
Next time you approach the altar in our Sanctuary at Mt Olive, look up to our stained glass window. It incorporates elements of Jesus’ names such as Alpha, Omega, the Vine, and a Chi Rho. It also has the elements of wheat and grapes to represent the communion elements.
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Vouchsafe, O blessèd Lord,
That earth and hell combined
May ne’er about this Sacrament
Raise doubt within my mind.
(Thy Table I Approach)
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