This post began being written Thursday evening, in time for you to know why there was no Daily Devotional Thought posted on Friday. Unfortunately, it is just now being completed--other things came up.
I will not be posting daily devotional thoughts until next Thursday, December 17th. I will be enjoying some vacation time with my family. Until then, for an Old Lutheran Quote, a New Lutheran Quote, and a Patristic Quote each day, and other fine pastoral thoughts, check out Pastor Weedon's Blog. Feel free to also browse the other blogs I've highlighted in the sidebar there to the left. But remember, I want you back here reading this blog next Thursday!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Daily Devotional Thought--From the New Testament
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Advent means "coming," and is about things to come. During Advent we are prepared for the arrival of future realities, having an anticipation instilled within us. And this anticipation, this preparedness, turns us away from the fleeting things of this world so that we would have as our object, our goal, things that last, things that are eternal, even holy things.
"This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives lives as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away" (1 Corinthians 7:29-31).
Of course, St. Paul isn't neglecting his own teaching of wives and husbands loving one another by submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5). Scripture interprets Scripture, and helps us avoid that faulty conclusion of these somewhat confounding words of the apostle.
But St. Paul does mean what he writes; and what he is writing of is real freedom. In fact, it's the same freedom we learn by observing the Advent season of preparation.
We know that some things are temporary--they come and they go. Other things, of course, are here to stay--they are eternal. God's Word teaches us that "the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever" (Isaiah 40:8). God's Word, which promises the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting to those who are in Christ, endures while the fleeting things of this veil of sorrows (our broken world) are, well, fleeting, temporary, and eventually, gone.
The eternal promises of God's Word show us what our lasting and eternal inheritance will be. This Word produces in us an anticipation of, and a focus on, those eternal things, those lasting things, those holy things. Those promised future realities enable us to turn away from the temporary, material, and often times sinful, things of this world, for we know that better things--lasting things--are coming, for Christ is coming, and he will bring with him the promised new creation where fruit is produced in season and out, death is turned into life, grief is replaced with the joy of eternal reunion, and while Christian wives and husbands and family members will be a part of the eternal reward, we will enjoy an eternal union--an everlasting marriage--with the bridegroom, Jesus Christ himself, and have a seat at the marriage feast of the lamb.
Those who look for Christ are those who are free. Faith in promised things, coming things, eternal things, allows us to live free from the ways of the world--and that is what this season of preparation is all about.
May your Advent season be continually blessed with anticipation of eternal things to come in Christ. Amen.
Advent means "coming," and is about things to come. During Advent we are prepared for the arrival of future realities, having an anticipation instilled within us. And this anticipation, this preparedness, turns us away from the fleeting things of this world so that we would have as our object, our goal, things that last, things that are eternal, even holy things.
"This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives lives as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away" (1 Corinthians 7:29-31).
Of course, St. Paul isn't neglecting his own teaching of wives and husbands loving one another by submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5). Scripture interprets Scripture, and helps us avoid that faulty conclusion of these somewhat confounding words of the apostle.
But St. Paul does mean what he writes; and what he is writing of is real freedom. In fact, it's the same freedom we learn by observing the Advent season of preparation.
We know that some things are temporary--they come and they go. Other things, of course, are here to stay--they are eternal. God's Word teaches us that "the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever" (Isaiah 40:8). God's Word, which promises the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting to those who are in Christ, endures while the fleeting things of this veil of sorrows (our broken world) are, well, fleeting, temporary, and eventually, gone.
The eternal promises of God's Word show us what our lasting and eternal inheritance will be. This Word produces in us an anticipation of, and a focus on, those eternal things, those lasting things, those holy things. Those promised future realities enable us to turn away from the temporary, material, and often times sinful, things of this world, for we know that better things--lasting things--are coming, for Christ is coming, and he will bring with him the promised new creation where fruit is produced in season and out, death is turned into life, grief is replaced with the joy of eternal reunion, and while Christian wives and husbands and family members will be a part of the eternal reward, we will enjoy an eternal union--an everlasting marriage--with the bridegroom, Jesus Christ himself, and have a seat at the marriage feast of the lamb.
Those who look for Christ are those who are free. Faith in promised things, coming things, eternal things, allows us to live free from the ways of the world--and that is what this season of preparation is all about.
May your Advent season be continually blessed with anticipation of eternal things to come in Christ. Amen.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Daily Devotional Thought--From the Old Testament
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
From today's Old Testament reading:
In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
"We have a strong city;
he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.
Open the gates,
that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26:1-4)
Here in Texas, a man's (or a woman's) truck can be a sign of his (or her) toughness. Truck-maker, Chevrolet, utilized American songwriter Bob Seger's well-known song "Like a Rock," to market Chevrolet Silverado as the best-selling, longest lasting truck on the road. I can still remember the commercials.
Like a rock...I was strong as I could be.
Like a rock...nothing ever got to me.
Truth is, we long for a rock because we know we aren't very strong, no matter what image we attempt to portray.
Truth is, we desire to have the protection of a solid rock because lots of things get to us.
Truth is, we aren't at all like a rock--apart from Christ.
Which is why we can joyfully sing the song of Judah in our text. For people who long for the protection of something stronger them themselves, Jesus Christ is strong rock on which we can stand tall.
If Advent is doing its job, we are looking for a rock outside of ourselves, and what good news it is to know that Jesus Christ is that rock--the very foundation of our confession--the source of salvation, and the protection of those who are week and weary.
Truth is, in Christ the solid Rock, we are strong indeed, and the trials of this world can not penetrate us. For our Rock is a Mighty Fortress! Amen.
From today's Old Testament reading:
In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
"We have a strong city;
he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.
Open the gates,
that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26:1-4)
Here in Texas, a man's (or a woman's) truck can be a sign of his (or her) toughness. Truck-maker, Chevrolet, utilized American songwriter Bob Seger's well-known song "Like a Rock," to market Chevrolet Silverado as the best-selling, longest lasting truck on the road. I can still remember the commercials.
Like a rock...I was strong as I could be.
Like a rock...nothing ever got to me.
Truth is, we long for a rock because we know we aren't very strong, no matter what image we attempt to portray.
Truth is, we desire to have the protection of a solid rock because lots of things get to us.
Truth is, we aren't at all like a rock--apart from Christ.
Which is why we can joyfully sing the song of Judah in our text. For people who long for the protection of something stronger them themselves, Jesus Christ is strong rock on which we can stand tall.
If Advent is doing its job, we are looking for a rock outside of ourselves, and what good news it is to know that Jesus Christ is that rock--the very foundation of our confession--the source of salvation, and the protection of those who are week and weary.
Truth is, in Christ the solid Rock, we are strong indeed, and the trials of this world can not penetrate us. For our Rock is a Mighty Fortress! Amen.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Daily Devotional Thought--From the Psalms
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Today's Psalm is #11:
The Lord Is in His Holy Temple
To the choirmaster. Of David.
11:1 In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,“Flee like a bird to your mountain,
2 for behold, the wicked bend the bow;
they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
3 if the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”
4 The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord's throne is in heaven;his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
5 The Lord tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
6 Let him rain coals on the wicked;
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the Lord is righteous;he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.
From Reading the Psalms with Luther:
The 11th Psalm is a psalm of prayer. It laments over the heretics and false interpreters of the Scriptures who lead the people away from the true ground of faith and bring them to their mountains, that is, their great high holiness of works. To that end, the heretics and false interpreters of the Scriptures mock the true Teacher and say, "What shall the righteous do?" But the psalm ends with the comfort that God will certainly see this. The false teachers will be condemned and the righteous will remain. This prayer can thus be an example for us. This psalm belongs in the Second Commandment and the First Petition, as all Psalms of prayer.
And so we pray:
Lord Jesus, You cam into this world to reveal to us the will of Your Father and to teach us the way everlasting. Behold how Your sacred Word is denied and corrupted in these perilous days. Have mercy upon us, save us from the snares of unbelief and the seductive teachings of the world, and grant us to abide in Your Word that, made free from error and sin, we be found Your disciples indeed. Amen.
Today's Psalm is #11:
The Lord Is in His Holy Temple
To the choirmaster. Of David.
11:1 In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,“Flee like a bird to your mountain,
2 for behold, the wicked bend the bow;
they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
3 if the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”
4 The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord's throne is in heaven;his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
5 The Lord tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
6 Let him rain coals on the wicked;
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the Lord is righteous;he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.
From Reading the Psalms with Luther:
The 11th Psalm is a psalm of prayer. It laments over the heretics and false interpreters of the Scriptures who lead the people away from the true ground of faith and bring them to their mountains, that is, their great high holiness of works. To that end, the heretics and false interpreters of the Scriptures mock the true Teacher and say, "What shall the righteous do?" But the psalm ends with the comfort that God will certainly see this. The false teachers will be condemned and the righteous will remain. This prayer can thus be an example for us. This psalm belongs in the Second Commandment and the First Petition, as all Psalms of prayer.
And so we pray:
Lord Jesus, You cam into this world to reveal to us the will of Your Father and to teach us the way everlasting. Behold how Your sacred Word is denied and corrupted in these perilous days. Have mercy upon us, save us from the snares of unbelief and the seductive teachings of the world, and grant us to abide in Your Word that, made free from error and sin, we be found Your disciples indeed. Amen.
Monday, December 07, 2009
Daily Devotional Thought--For the Family
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,"Daddy, why don't we light them all?"
These were the words that came from the lips of my three-year-old as we began our devotions one evening last week after dinner. Still the first week of Advent at the time, we were only lighting one of the four candles on our family Advent wreath. The question makes perfect sense. Why don't we light them all?
Because Advent is a time for preparation and expectation. And even more, as the family sits down during Advent for devotions, lighting an Advent Wreath, marking off another day on the Advent Calendar, turning another page in the Advent Devotional Booklet, or whatever routines a family may have, they are able to tell the story of expectation--Again and again.
Deuteronomy 6 is a text not often thought of during this season of Advent, but I think it fits well:
4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10 "And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you- with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant- and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Deuteronomy 6:4-12)
I don't know about you, but I remember Advent well because my parents had well-established routines of remembrance that we went through each night of the season. It makes sense that the preparation that takes place during Advent is well-remembered, for we have four weeks full of repetition--and repetition is the mother of all learning. So too, it makes sense that these holy habits acquired during this holy season, are good habits to continue throughout the church year.
Many of us remember the mysterious wonder of Advent from our childhoods, and we want the same for our own children. Looking forward to the celebration of the Christ Child's birth; knowing that something special was coming; knowing, that not all the candles could be lit tonight, but that as we went forward, the anticipation would built, and so would the light--and so would the memories.
Memories of a child born to save us. Memories of family gathered around a baby and singing his praises. Memories of preparation and expectation.
As you sit down with your family for your Advent devotion, remember that you are handing down something that will not soon be forgotten--not some meaningless ritual, but a devotion of the highest kind, a devotion to the Christ Child, who came, who continues to come, and who has promised to come again.
May your season of Advent be a blessed one! Amen.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Commemoration of Nicholas of Myra, Pastor (and the real Santa Claus!)
Today the church commemorates St. Nick or, properly speaking, Nicholas of Myra. That's right, today is the day set aside to remember the real Santa Clause, Sinte Klaas.Growing up, we never had the fat, bearded man from the North Pole who brought gifts to all the children of the world on Christmas Eve. My parents had made a decision that we would understand that any gifts given at Christmas were given in the spirit of Jesus, who was given to poor sinners. Gifts were not going to be earned by "good behavior," or lost to a lump of coal for bad behavior. (By the way, have you even known any children that have received coal?)
It never seemed to be a problem for me or my sisters. I can't remember any of us "ruining" it for the other kids. And now that I have my own children, I'm starting to understand how difficult it really is to keep Jesus as the entire point of Christmas.
But St. Nick helps us make sense of this all. From the Treasury of Daily Prayer:
Of the many saints commemorated by the Christian Church, Nicholas (d. AD 342) is one of the best known. Very little is known historically of him, through there was a church of Saint Nicholas in Constantinople as early as the sixth century. Research has affirmed that there was a bishop by the name of Nicholas in the city of Myra in Lycia (part of modern Turkey) in the fourth century. From that coastal location, legends about Nicholas have traveled throughout time and space. He is associated with charitable giving in many countries around the world and is portrayed as the rescuer of sailors, the protector of children, and the friend of people in distress or need. In commemoration of "Sinte Klaas" (Dutch for "Saint Nicholas," in English "Santa Claus"), December 6 is a day for giving and receiving gifts in many parts of Europe.
The real Santa Claus is not a fat man from the North Pole who checks his list to make sure whether or not you are bad or good. The real Santa Claus was a Christian, a Pastor, who understood his call to discipleship. He took up his cross and cared for his fellow man--his neighbor. Unfortunately, that story doesn't sell.
This year, in the Truwe house, we stuffed stockings, and tonight after dinner we will have our Advent devotion, crossing off another day gone by, moving closer to the Feast of the Incarnation of our Lord. But tonight, like St. Nicholas did in the 4th Century, we will give gifts, not because our family has earned our love, but because we have first been loved--and undeservedly so.
We won't expect anyone to fall down our chimney this Christmas Eve, but St. Nicholas will definitely be a part of our Advent season, and I hope he's a part of yours.
We pray:
Almighty God, You bestowed upon Your servant Nicholas of Myra the perpetual gift of charity. Grant Your Church the grace to deal in generosity and love with children and with all who are poor and distressed and to plead the cause of those who have no helper, especially those tossed by tempests of doubt or grief. We ask this for the sake of Him who gave His life for us, Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Apology
I apologize to you readers who have come here this week looking for a Daily Devotional Thought. I hope to begin posting again Thursday morning. Thank you for your patience during this season of Advent.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Daily Devotional Thought--Happy Thanksgiving!
Today we pray (from Starck's Prayer Book):
O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His mercy endures forever. Thus I say, O my God, I have lived again to see the blessed time of harvest. O gracious God, how great is the goodness You have manifested toward us! You have laid the foundations of the earth that it should be established forever. But into this earth You have placed Your glorious treasures. You make it produce fruits for us in abundance, which serve for sustaining our life, for our food and health.
O living Father, You have especially crowned this year with Your blessing, and Your paths overflow with abundance. You have watered the hills from Your chambers. You have filled the earth with fruits of You creation. You have caused the grass to grow for the cattle and vegetation for the service of humanity, that You might bring forth food from the earth. O faithful Father, this year again You have given food and drink to Your children, though they have been ungrateful. You have protected our harvest. Heaven has heard the cry of the earth, and the earth has yielded grain and wine. You have given us the early and latter rain in due season, causing our fields to bloom and giving us the bounties that spring from Your power. By Your grace our trees have yielded many kinds of beautiful and pleasant fruits, and the wine has made us glad. O loving God and Father, You have spread the wings of Your mercy over all our lands. You have caused the sun to shine in season, thus maturing all our crops. You have protected them from hail, blight, drought, and floods. While we slept, You were awake. You were the watchman and keeper of our fields.
O Lord, how great and manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all, and the earth is full of Your riches All creatures, human and animal, wait on You, that You may give them their food in due season. What You give them, they gather. You open You hand, and they are filled with good. Yes, You have abundantly blessed us this year, O God, with the wealth of You bounties.
For this we thank You with our inmost heart. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. Let us enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Let us say with grateful hearts: The Lord has done great things for us, and indeed we are glad.
O Lord, let us not misuse the gifts and favors that You have bestowed on us, but let us learn from them your love toward us and Your fatherly faithfulness. O God, if some who are ungrateful should show contempt for Your gifts by using them for gluttony or refusing to thank You for them, do not on that account withdraw Your blessing from us, but preserve them for us according to Your mercy.
O Father, You have loved us with an everlasting love, and You draw us to Yourself also by these earthly blessings, that we may know the giver by the gifts and the benefactor by His glorious presents, grant that Your goodness may lead us to repentance. Whenever we see Your gifts before us on the table, or receive them into our hands or mouth, let us always lift up our eyes to You, O fountain of every blessing! And as You sustain our bodies by Your bounties, let us through the Means of Grace that You have appointed increase also in the inner self, in faith, love, and godliness, that we may grow in all goodness, and be changed from glory to glory, until we are ushered into the enjoyment of Your heavenly blessings in everlasting life through Jesus Christ. Amen.
O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His mercy endures forever. Thus I say, O my God, I have lived again to see the blessed time of harvest. O gracious God, how great is the goodness You have manifested toward us! You have laid the foundations of the earth that it should be established forever. But into this earth You have placed Your glorious treasures. You make it produce fruits for us in abundance, which serve for sustaining our life, for our food and health.
O living Father, You have especially crowned this year with Your blessing, and Your paths overflow with abundance. You have watered the hills from Your chambers. You have filled the earth with fruits of You creation. You have caused the grass to grow for the cattle and vegetation for the service of humanity, that You might bring forth food from the earth. O faithful Father, this year again You have given food and drink to Your children, though they have been ungrateful. You have protected our harvest. Heaven has heard the cry of the earth, and the earth has yielded grain and wine. You have given us the early and latter rain in due season, causing our fields to bloom and giving us the bounties that spring from Your power. By Your grace our trees have yielded many kinds of beautiful and pleasant fruits, and the wine has made us glad. O loving God and Father, You have spread the wings of Your mercy over all our lands. You have caused the sun to shine in season, thus maturing all our crops. You have protected them from hail, blight, drought, and floods. While we slept, You were awake. You were the watchman and keeper of our fields.
O Lord, how great and manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all, and the earth is full of Your riches All creatures, human and animal, wait on You, that You may give them their food in due season. What You give them, they gather. You open You hand, and they are filled with good. Yes, You have abundantly blessed us this year, O God, with the wealth of You bounties.
For this we thank You with our inmost heart. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. Let us enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Let us say with grateful hearts: The Lord has done great things for us, and indeed we are glad.
O Lord, let us not misuse the gifts and favors that You have bestowed on us, but let us learn from them your love toward us and Your fatherly faithfulness. O God, if some who are ungrateful should show contempt for Your gifts by using them for gluttony or refusing to thank You for them, do not on that account withdraw Your blessing from us, but preserve them for us according to Your mercy.
O Father, You have loved us with an everlasting love, and You draw us to Yourself also by these earthly blessings, that we may know the giver by the gifts and the benefactor by His glorious presents, grant that Your goodness may lead us to repentance. Whenever we see Your gifts before us on the table, or receive them into our hands or mouth, let us always lift up our eyes to You, O fountain of every blessing! And as You sustain our bodies by Your bounties, let us through the Means of Grace that You have appointed increase also in the inner self, in faith, love, and godliness, that we may grow in all goodness, and be changed from glory to glory, until we are ushered into the enjoyment of Your heavenly blessings in everlasting life through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Daily Devotional Thought--From the Old Testament
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,I've already mentioned Starck's Prayer Book, and since Wednesday's devotional thought comes from the Old Testament, I thought I'd share this particular exhortation on this Thanksgiving Eve. Enjoy!
Devout Christians Thank God for the Ingathering of the Harvest
"And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. Therefore I will take back My grain in its time, and My wine in its season, and I will take away My wool and My flax, which were to cover her nakedness" (Hosea 2:8-9).
If we were to look for a glorious and great blessing apparent to all people, we would undoubtedly find it in our annual harvests. It is God who has protected our sowings in the earth during the winter, who caused them to sprout, grow, and bear fruit during the summer, averted hail, winds, and storms, and filled our barns and cellars with His blessings. On the other hand, if there is a favor that seems trifling and contemptible to our world, and for which God is thanked least of all, it is the annual harvest. Ungrateful humanity imagines that these things simply had to happen according to the laws of nature--things have to grow and God has nothing to do with it. Accordingly, God's anger is aroused, and by His just judgment He often causes the crops to fail, reminding everyone that the ground cannot produce anything apart from the Lord's will, and without without his blessing nothing can grow.
Believing Christians view the matter differently. When at harvest they see the full ears of grain and the vines loaded with clusters of grapes, they lift up their eyes to heaven, and praise the almighty Creator, giver, and preserver for the blessings received, and acknowledge that it is because of Him that so many grains come from one seed and such luscious fruit from an ordinary wood. They praise God's preserving providence, which provided throughout the year timely rain, and graciously averted thunderstorms, drought, hail, and floods, and guarded the crops. And when the time had arrived that they see the grains harvested and brought into the barns and the grapes crushed for wine, their hearts is stirred and they receive all these gifts with grateful hands. They also make use of them and enjoy them with thanksgiving. They know that is it God who feeds them, provides for them, and keeps them.
Yes, they let God's goodness lead them to repentance. If we thank a benefactor who gives us a garment or something for our support, and are careful not to offend him, why should we not praise the greatest Benefactor who gives us all things?
Indeed, Starck's words are every bit as helpful in the 21st Century as they were when they were written in the 18th Century. May you all be brought to see the blessings of the LORD, and give thanks to your heavenly Father. For all good gifts come from His hand. Amen.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Daily Devotional Thought--From the Psalms
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Today's Psalm from the Treasury (Psalm 41:7-12) is a prophecy and prayer of Christ himself. Here is the text:
7 All who hate me whisper together about me;
they imagine the worst for me.
8 They say, "A deadly thing is poured out on him;
he will not rise again from where he lies."
9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
10 But you, O LORD, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them!
11 By this I know that you delight in me:
my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
and set me in your presence forever.
The context of this Psalm is Christ's passion, specifically, his betrayal by Judas Iscariot. Those who hated Christ whispered, plotted and planned, imagining that this "blasphemer" had to be stopped. They imagined the worst for him. They thought that they could snuff out his life, put him to an end, that he would no longer survive to preach and teach the truth. Even his close friend, Judas, who ate the bread of Christ's last will and testament with him, has lifted up his heels, and would seal his betrayal later that night with a kiss.
Everything seemed to be against him. And yet, Christ prays to the Father what he knows to be true. He prays for a resurrection, a victory that is the repayment that his enemies could have never imagined. Because the Father accepts his offering, having fulled the law on behalf of sinful man, the enemies will not have the last word. They will not shout in triumph over him, but the disciples, the apostles, and the whole Christian Church will continue to sing and shout the victorious song of Jesus Christ's resurrection.
And this victory, this psalm, has become your victory and your song, for you have been baptized into the Christ who suffered all, and rose victorious. His death and resurrection are yours, and therefore, so is his prayer and song. Amen.
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