July 10: Devotion

I Am Baptized

Baptism … now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 3:21 ESV)

Make the sign of the cross as you say, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

I Believe …

You shall have no other gods.

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.

Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.

Honor your father and mother.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Bible Reading – Psalm 11

To the choirmaster. Of David.

11 In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
    “Flee like a bird to your mountain,
²for behold, the wicked bend the bow;
    they have fitted their arrow to the string
    to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
³if the foundations are destroyed,
    what can the righteous do?”^[^a^]

⁴The Lord is in his holy temple;
    the Lord's throne is in heaven;
    his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
⁵The Lord tests the righteous,
    but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
⁶Let him rain coals on the wicked;
    fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
⁷For the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
    the upright shall behold his face.[1]

Sometimes we are overwhelmed by the feeling of hopelessness in this life. That’s where David’s counselor was when he said, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” He is poetically throwing up his hands in defeat. He is saying there is nothing solid, everything is up in the air, and everything is uncertain.

Perhaps you’ve been there.

What are the foundations that we rely on so heavily? Luther identified three foundational structures in this world. They are the State, the Church, and the Family. Perhaps we might look at these things today and think that these are all in chaos even today. And, if they are, what can we do about it? Maybe the best thing to do is just to withdraw from the world. Like the medieval monks, we could hide from the breakdown of society, it’s injustices and corruption, behind our privacy fences and closed garage doors. Just make faith a private matter – just between you and God.

But the psalm responds to this hopeless lament with this statement. The LORD is in his holy temple. That statement is a confession of faith. It is a defiant claim that though we feel that all of our security and stability is rocked and uncertain in this world, God is faithful. He is not dismayed. Indeed, he will use these events for his own purpose – testing the righteous and punishing the wicked.

The LORD is in his holy temple – and today that temple is his people, the Church. He is with us in the midst of the decay of society when we feel undermined and unstable. He has promised he will never leave us or forsake us so that we can face this life in confidence that no matter what happens the end for us is secure. In fact, we have greater confidence than David did because Christ had not yet risen from the dead when he wrote this psalm. We know that this world might kill and destroy us in a wide variety of ways – the foundations might be shaking all around us – but we live even if we die, and one day we will rise to God’s glory.

Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer

The Sixth Petition: “And lead us not into temptation.”

Father in heaven, You tempt no one. Please guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory through Jesus, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Prayer

Pray for those who are sick, injured, grieving, dying, lonely, bullied, and experiencing injustice.

Benediction

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 1:24-25 ESV)

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July 10: Devotion

I Am Baptized

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