Confessional Lutheran Ministerium

Exodus 4:1-17 NKJV

4 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”

² So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

He said, “A rod.”

³ And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. ⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), ⁵ “that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶ Furthermore the Lord said to him, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. ⁷ And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh. ⁸ “Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. ⁹ And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.”

¹⁰ Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

¹¹ So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? ¹² Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

¹³ But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

¹⁴ So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. ¹⁶ So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. ¹⁷ And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”

In Exodus 4, Moses is standing before God, wrestling with his calling to lead Israel out of Egypt. God had spoken clearly, but Moses was filled with doubts. “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice?” Moses asked, fearing rejection and failure. God responded not with rebuke, but with reassurance. He gave Moses signs to perform: turning a staff into a serpent, turning his hand leprous and then healing it, and turning water into blood. These signs were not merely for Moses’ sake but for the people of Israel to know that the LORD had truly sent him.

Moses’ reluctance, however, went deeper than doubts about the people’s response. He worried about his own inadequacies. “I am not eloquent,” he told God, “But I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” Here, Moses fixated on his weaknesses rather than trusting in God’s power. How often do we do the same? We focus on our limitations, afraid that we won’t be enough for the task God has placed before us. Yet God reminded Moses, “Who has made man’s mouth? … Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

God equips those He calls. He didn’t need Moses to be perfect; He only needed Moses to be willing. But even after God’s assurances, Moses hesitated, saying, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.” At this, the LORD’s anger was kindled, yet even in His anger, God showed mercy. He provided Aaron, Moses’ brother, to be his spokesman, allowing Moses to fulfill his calling with the help of another.

This passage teaches us that God is patient with our doubts and fears, but He also expects us to trust Him. Our confidence is not in ourselves, but in the God who made us, who knows our weaknesses and promises to be with us. Like Moses, we may feel unqualified, but God never sends us without also providing the strength, the words, and the people we need to accomplish His will.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your patience and grace. Strengthen our faith, that we may trust in Your power, not our own abilities. Amen.

  Psalm 56:1-13 NKJV

56 Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up;
Fighting all day he oppresses me.
² My enemies would hound me all day,
For there are many who fight against me, O Most High.

³ Whenever I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
⁴ In God (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;
I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?

⁵ All day they twist my words;
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
⁶ They gather together,
They hide, they mark my steps,
When they lie in wait for my life.
⁷ Shall they escape by iniquity?
In anger cast down the peoples, O God!

⁸ You number my wanderings;
Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book?
⁹ When I cry out to You,
Then my enemies will turn back;
This I know, because God is for me.
¹⁰ In God (I will praise His word),
In the Lord (I will praise His word),
¹¹ In God I have put my trust;
I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

¹² Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God;
I will render praises to You,
¹³ For You have delivered my soul from death.
Have You not kept my feet from falling,
That I may walk before God
In the light of the living?

David’s words in Psalm 56 flow from a heart overwhelmed by fear, yet anchored in trust. As he faces relentless enemies, David begins with an urgent plea: “Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; fighting all day he oppresses me” (v.1). Here, we see that even the most faithful servants of God are not exempt from suffering. David’s enemies hound him without rest, and their strength seems overwhelming. Yet, in the midst of this relentless pressure, David turns not to despair but to the mercy of God.

Trust is the central theme of David’s response to fear. “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You” (v.3). He acknowledges his fear but refuses to be governed by it. Instead, he places his confidence in God’s promises, declaring boldly, “In God (I will praise His word), in God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?” (v.4). David’s fear is real, but it is eclipsed by his trust in the almighty God, whose word gives him strength and assurance.

David’s trust is not blind optimism but rests on the foundation of God’s promises. He praises God’s word because it reveals God’s faithfulness, His protection, and His deliverance. Even when enemies distort his words and plot against him (v.5-6), David knows that God is aware of his every tear. “You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?” (v.8). God’s care for His people is so intimate that He counts every tear, reminding us that no sorrow is unnoticed, and no suffering is wasted.

The psalm culminates in confident hope. David knows that God will act on his behalf: “For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?” (v.13). Though surrounded by enemies, David is already speaking of deliverance in the past tense, trusting that God’s rescue is certain. His faith allows him to look beyond his immediate danger and rest in the promise of eternal life with God. Let us pray: Lord, in times of fear and distress, help us to trust in Your mercy and promises. Strengthen our hearts to walk before You in the light of the living. Amen.

Psalm 55:1-23 NKJV

55 Give ear to my prayer, O God,
And do not hide Yourself from my supplication.
² Attend to me, and hear me;
I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily,
³ Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the oppression of the wicked;
For they bring down trouble upon me,
And in wrath they hate me.

⁴ My heart is severely pained within me,
And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
⁵ Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me,
And horror has overwhelmed me.
⁶ So I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
⁷ Indeed, I would wander far off,
And remain in the wilderness. Selah
⁸ I would hasten my escape
From the windy storm and tempest.”

⁹ Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues,
For I have seen violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they go around it on its walls;
Iniquity and trouble are also in the midst of it.
¹¹ Destruction is in its midst;
Oppression and deceit do not depart from its streets.

¹² For it is not an enemy who reproaches me;
Then I could bear it.
Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me;
Then I could hide from him.
¹³ But it was you, a man my equal,
My companion and my acquaintance.
¹⁴ We took sweet counsel together,
And walked to the house of God in the throng.

¹⁵ Let death seize them;
Let them go down alive into hell,
For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them.

¹⁶ As for me, I will call upon God,
And the Lord shall save me.
¹⁷ Evening and morning and at noon
I will pray, and cry aloud,
And He shall hear my voice.
¹⁸ He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me,
For there were many against me.
¹⁹ God will hear, and afflict them,
Even He who abides from of old. Selah
Because they do not change,
Therefore they do not fear God.

²⁰ He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him;
He has broken his covenant.
²¹ The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,
But war was in his heart;
His words were softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn swords.

²² Cast your burden on the Lord,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

²³ But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction;
Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days;
But I will trust in You.

Betrayal and mistreatment are painful when they come from unbelievers. But that pain is magnified enormously when they come from fellow church members, from those who are supposed to be our friends for time and eternity. Maybe you’ve never experienced this kind of betrayal. Many have, including Jesus, the Son of David, who was betrayed by one of His twelve chosen apostles, including David himself, who wrote Psalm 55 about this very thing, foreshadowing the pain that would be felt by his greater Son.

In his heartsickness over his friend’s betrayal and the danger he is in because of it, David pours out his heart to the Healer of hearts. There is no better listener. There is no one who understands us better than the Lord does. Even if our friends, family, or fellow believers turn against us, the Lord never will.

What does David pray for in this situation? “Let death seize them; let them go down alive into hell, for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them.” Does this sound vindictive? If so, it’s the right kind of vindictiveness—the kind that takes no vengeance and does no harm but that looks to the Lord, who judges justly and says, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Rom. 12:19). While it is good to pray that those who oppose us unjustly may be brought to repentance, the Lord often shows us in the Psalms that it is also good to ask the Lord to deal with those who refuse to repent, who stubbornly continue in their wickedness. To betray and wickedly turn against a fellow believer is a deadly sin—one which believers must be very careful to avoid—because it drives out faith and the Holy Spirit and places one back under the wrath of God, who will zealously fight for His children and vindicate them.

David’s words at the end of this Psalm are words for all Christians to live by and to rely on: “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” Ever. Amen.

Let us pray: O Lord Jesus, You know what it is to be unjustly betrayed and despised. When my heart is in anguish within me, be the strength of my heart and comfort me with Your faithful love. Amen.

Exodus 3:1-22 NKJV

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. ³ Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

⁴ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

⁵ Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” ⁶ Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

⁷ And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. ⁸ So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. ⁹ Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰ Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

¹² So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

¹⁴ And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” ¹⁵ Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ ¹⁶ Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; ¹⁷ and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ ¹⁸ Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹ But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. ²⁰ So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. ²¹ And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. ²² But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

Is it a coincidence that the two greatest leaders of the people of Israel—Moses and David—were shepherds before they became leaders? Hardly. The Lord clearly used that profession to prepare them both for the work of guiding His precious flock, and to prefigure the work of Christ the Good Shepherd.

After tending the sheep for forty years, Moses is finally confronted by the Angel of the Lord in the burning bush and is sent back to Egypt to deliver Israel. God has seen their suffering and promises to rescue them from it, and Moses is His chosen instrument to bring about their deliverance. Moses shows that he has learned humility over the years, no longer viewing himself as worthy of such a great calling but asking, “Who am I?” God answers, “You are the one I am sending, the one whom I will help and support and uphold.”

Moses’ second question was even more important: “Who are You?” God’s answer is the origin of the name “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” or simply “the Lord.” “I am who I am.” When combined with the further description, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” the name of God tells us that He is the ever-existing, never-changing, ever-faithful God, the One who created the universe in six days, who promised a Savior to fallen Adam and Eve, who saved Noah and his family through the flood, who dispersed the nations at Babel, and who chose a single nation, the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, promising to bring them back to the land of Canaan, to prosper them there, and, eventually, to send them the Christ, the Seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Equipped with the answers to those two questions, Moses had all he needed to carry out his mission (though he wasn’t yet convinced of that).

The same Lord God has promised to deliver His people, baptized into His saving name, from sin, death, and the devil, and, eventually, from this evil world itself. He cannot fail to keep His promise, because He is who He is, the never-changing, ever-faithful God of our salvation. Let us pray: O Lord, we praise You for Your unchanging mercy and love. Preserve us by Your powerful name, and deliver us from all evil, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Exodus 2:1-25 NKJV

2 And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. ² So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. ³ But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. ⁴ And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.

⁵ Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. ⁶ And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”

⁸ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. ⁹ Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰ And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

¹¹ Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. ¹² So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”

¹⁴ Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” ¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

¹⁶ Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

¹⁸ When they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”

¹⁹ And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰ So he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

²¹ Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. ²² And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”

²³ Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. ²⁴ So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵ And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

The early life of Moses reads like a novel, full of intrigue and plot twists. Perhaps that’s why Hollywood has tried to tell the story multiple times. But none of Hollywood’s embellishments are needed to make this story inspiring, or to make God’s governance of the events of history any more remarkable than it already is.

Moses’ parents resisted Pharoah’s wicked command to kill their newborn baby boy. But eventually they realized that the only way to spare him was to give him up, surely hoping and praying that the Lord would cause Pharoah’s daughter to take pity on the boy when she saw him floating in that basket among the reeds. Indeed, the Lord saw to it that she did, even permitting Moses’ own mother to care for him for a while longer before handing him over to Pharoah’s daughter to become her adopted son, who was then trained in all the learning of the Egyptians.

When Moses was forty years old, he presumptuously decided that it was time for him to do something about the sorry state of his Hebrew brothers, assuming from the extraordinary circumstances of his life that he would be God’s chosen instrument to save the Israelites from their misery. But as it turned out, neither the Lord nor the Hebrews were ready for Moses to be that deliverer, and he was forced to flee for his life and live in exile for the next forty years.

This chapter teaches us some valuable lessons as we seek to carry out the will of the Lord. We learn to commit our children to the Lord and to trust in Him to govern the outcomes of their lives, as Moses’ parents did. We also learn to wait patiently for the Lord to call a person into His service rather than trying to jump into His service without such a call. He did eventually call Moses, through whom He eventually delivered Israel. But when it came to our salvation from sin, God the Father called Jesus even before He was born (cf. Ps. 2:7, 110:4) and ratified it at His Baptism, announcing it publicly, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matt. 3:17).

Let us pray: Father in heaven, protect Your children in times of trouble and help us both to wait for Your deliverance and to trust in Your timing; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Exodus 1:1-22 NKJV

1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; ³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; ⁴ Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. ⁵ All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). ⁶ And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. ⁷ But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

⁸ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; ¹⁰ come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. ¹² But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. ¹³ So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. ¹⁴ And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ¹⁶ and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”

¹⁹ And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”

²⁰ Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. ²¹ And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them.

²² So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

God had saved the children of Israel from famine by bringing them down to Egypt. But what began as relief soon degraded into affliction, as God had told Abraham that it would: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years” (Gen. 15:13). Yet God did not abandon them. Even as they were forced into hard labor by the Egyptians, the children of Israel prospered. What began as a family of seventy-five people grew into a nation of roughly two million.

But Pharaoh was frightened by those numbers, leading him to issue the terrible decree to kill any newborn baby boys from then on, not unlike King Herod’s decree to kill the baby boys of Bethlehem after he was told that the Christ had been born. But in this case, God rescued the Hebrew babies through His faithful servants Shiphrah and Puah, who employed what we might call godly deceit with Pharoah by hiding their role in saving the children from death, teaching us that God approves of our disobedience to the governing authorities when those authorities command us to do wicked things (cf. Acts 5:29).

Why would God allow His chosen people to suffer so long at the hands of the godless Egyptians? Here we must remember that God’s ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts (Is. 55:8). His good and gracious plans for this nation only became clear at the end, when He stepped in through Moses to bring about their wondrous exodus from Egypt and their redemption from slavery, which all pointed ahead to the still greater redemption that God would accomplish through the death of His Son for sinners long enslaved by sin and death. In the meantime, God used their suffering in the same way He uses it for His New Testament Church, to produce perseverance, which produces character, which produces a hope that will not disappoint us (cf. Rom. 5:3-5). In the end, God’s good and gracious plan for us will also be revealed. Until then, let us be content to trust, and to hope.

Let us pray: Lord, help us to trust in Your ways and to endure affliction with patience, until Your deliverance is finally revealed. Amen.

  Genesis 50:1-26 NKJV

50 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him, and kissed him. ² And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. ³ Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embalmed; and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

⁴ Now when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, ⁵ ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.’ ”

⁶ And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”

⁷ So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸ as well as all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen. ⁹ And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great gathering.

¹⁰ Then they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they mourned there with a great and very solemn lamentation. He observed seven days of mourning for his father. ¹¹ And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

¹² So his sons did for him just as he had commanded them. ¹³ For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as property for a burial place. ¹⁴ And after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father.

¹⁵ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” ¹⁶ So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, ¹⁷ ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

¹⁸ Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”

¹⁹ Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? ²⁰ But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. ²¹ Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

²² So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. ²³ Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were also brought up on Joseph’s knees.

²⁴ And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” ²⁵ Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” ²⁶ So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

In the first part of today’s reading, we’re told of the lengthy mourning period for Jacob after he died and of the elaborate embalming process and funeral procession all the way back to the land of Canaan—a journey that the children of Israel wouldn’t make again for over four hundred years. God does not expect us to hold a “celebration of life” when a loved one dies. It’s perfectly proper for Christians to mourn the death of a believing loved one, as long as we don’t mourn as those who have no hope.

It’s also proper for Christians to show care and respect for the bodies of our loved ones when they die. See the zeal of Jacobs’ sons for giving their father a dignified burial! His burial in the land of promise reflected his faith that God would one day fulfill His promise to give that land to his descendants. In the same way, we bury our dead as a confession of our faith in God’s promise to raise those bodies back to life.

In the second part of today’s reading, we see Joseph’s brothers still guilt-ridden over their treatment of Joseph years earlier. But instead of seeking mercy from Joseph for mercy’s sake, they lie to him about their father’s request to show them mercy. In spite of their imperfect repentance, Joseph shows again the attitude of a mature believer in God. He acknowledges that he hasn’t been authorized either to condemn them or to forgive them on God’s behalf. But for his part, he forgives them, speaks kindly to them, and graciously promises to keep providing for them and their families.

How can he so readily forgive? Because God has shown throughout the whole history recorded in Genesis that He takes the evil that men do and fits it all into His wonderful plan of salvation. He would do the same during the rest of world history as well, taking the evil plans of men and causing them to result in the birth, suffering, death, and resurrection of the Seed of the woman first prophesied in chapter 3. What men intend for evil, God always works out for good to those who love Him! Let us pray: Lord God, we thank You for using even the wicked intentions of men to accomplish Your good purposes for us. Amen.

Genesis 49:16-33 NKJV

¹⁶ “Dan shall judge his people
As one of the tribes of Israel.
¹⁷ Dan shall be a serpent by the way,
A viper by the path,
That bites the horse’s heels
So that its rider shall fall backward.
¹⁸ I have waited for your salvation, O Lord!

¹⁹ “Gad, a troop shall tramp upon him,
But he shall triumph at last.

²⁰ “Bread from Asher shall be rich,
And he shall yield royal dainties.

²¹ “Naphtali is a deer let loose;
He uses beautiful words.

²² “Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a well;
His branches run over the wall.
²³ The archers have bitterly grieved him,
Shot at him and hated him.
²⁴ But his bow remained in strength,
And the arms of his hands were made strong
By the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob
(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
²⁵ By the God of your father who will help you,
And by the Almighty who will bless you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
²⁶ The blessings of your father
Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors,
Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.
They shall be on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.

²⁷ “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
In the morning he shall devour the prey,
And at night he shall divide the spoil.”

²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.

²⁹ Then he charged them and said to them: “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial place. ³¹ There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. ³² The field and the cave that is there were purchased from the sons of Heth.” ³³ And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

Jacob pronounced a prophetic blessing on six of his sons in the first part of Genesis 49. In today’s reading we hear his blessing on the other six: Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin. Of these, the blessing given to Joseph is the most notable.

Jacob has a special blessing for Joseph, similar to the one he gave to Judah. While Judah has received the blessing of the Messianic line, Joseph receives the double blessing as Jacob’s firstborn son by Rachel. As Jacob recounts the Lord’s past and future providence for Joseph and his descendants, it’s clear that, for all that Joseph has suffered, he will receive even more abundant blessings from the Lord.

Having blessed his twelve sons, Jacob knows he is about to die, so he charges his sons with carrying his body back to Canaan, to the cave in the field of Machpelah where his parents, grandparents, and Leah are buried. Then, although Jacob’s body still lay there in the bed, we are told that he was “gathered to his people,” clearly referring to his soul being taken to the place where the souls of his believing ancestors had gone before him, which we may simply call “heaven.” This special saying is only used concerning a handful of people in the Old Testament, including Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, and Aaron, in addition to Jacob. Still, it remains a powerful testimony to the Israelites’ understanding that those who died trusting in the LORD God did not truly die, but rested in peace with God until the great day of the resurrection, as Jesus once corrected the Sadducees, “But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matt. 22:31-32).

Let us pray: O Lord, we give You thanks today for the twelve sons of Jacob and for building Your Old Testament Church through their descendants. Teach us to number our days on earth, that when they come to an end, we may be found trusting in You and thus be gathered peacefully to our people, as Jacob was. Amen.

Psalm 54:1-7 NKJV

54 Save me, O God, by Your name,
And vindicate me by Your strength.
² Hear my prayer, O God;
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
³ For strangers have risen up against me,
And oppressors have sought after my life;
They have not set God before them. Selah

⁴ Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who uphold my life.
⁵ He will repay my enemies for their evil.
Cut them off in Your truth.

⁶ I will freely sacrifice to You;
I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.
⁷ For He has delivered me out of all trouble;
And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.

We are given some insight into David’s thinking when he wrote Psalm 54. He composed it during that terrible time in his life when he was on the run, fleeing from King Saul, who had wrongfully concluded that David was his enemy and who was trying to kill him. Just when David thought he had found a good hiding place in the wilderness, he was betrayed by the people who lived there, the Ziphites. But the Lord protected David; He guided the events of the world so that, just as Saul was about to surround David and his men, a report came of a Philistine threat in another place, forcing Saul to break off his pursuit of David (cf. 1 Sam. 23).

Falsely accused, hated, threatened, betrayed, and pursued, David turns to the only One who can help. He calls out to God to save him and to “vindicate” him, to demonstrate to his enemies that David is in the right. David can’t save himself or vindicate himself from the godless people who are targeting him. He calls upon God to do it, by God’s own name and might.

This isn’t a prayer of desperation, though. David is convinced that the Lord will help him. There is conviction behind the words, “God is my helper.” And trusting that this is the case, David ends the Psalm with confidence, and with a commitment to give thanks to the Lord for the help he knows he will receive against his enemies.

The Christian is surrounded by enemies, more so now than in times past. They may not be trying to kill us, but they seek to pry us away from the Christian faith at every turn. When we are falsely accused, hated, threatened, betrayed, or pursued, let us confidently call upon the God who has already delivered us from sin, death, and the power of the devil through Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. He will save us and vindicate us, just as He did with David. He will guide the course of events in this world so that all things, even the world’s persecution, work together for good to those who love Him. Let us pray: I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good. Save me, O God, by Your name, and vindicate me by Your strength, for You are my Helper. Amen.

Psalm 53:1-6 NKJV

53 The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;
There is none who does good.

² God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
³ Every one of them has turned aside;
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.

⁴ Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And do not call upon God?
⁵ There they are in great fear
Where no fear was,
For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you;
You have put them to shame,
Because God has despised them.

⁶ Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When God brings back the captivity of His people,
Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

Psalm 53, which is almost word for word the same as Psalm 14, teaches us that it is foolhardy to say that there is no God. The atheists in this world spend tremendous amounts of energy insisting that the very God who created this world and who, in fact, brought them to life doesn’t exist. It’s as silly as someone pounding on a table and saying, “This table isn’t here!” Indeed, foolish…deadly and eternally foolish. 

There IS a God, and He is the only true God who gave His Son into death to pay for the sins of all mankind. To reject this God and to say He doesn’t exist is to reject His offer of salvation and eternal life which He makes to all. There can be no foolhardier thing than that.

Of this psalm, as well as Ps 14, Martin Luther says, “…both [psalms] rebuke the faithless work-saints, who persecute the true doctrine and the true teachers. At the end, it proclaims the Gospel and kingdom of Christ…” (Reading the Psalms with Luther, p. 128).

Persecution of the true teachings and teachers of Scripture will continue to take place in this world up until the time of our Lord’s triumphant return on the Last Day. This is nothing new, so we take heart that God in His wisdom has already declared the outcome of our faith in Christ – eternal life in the life of the world to come. The foolish atheist cannot say that; they only have this life as a reward, but their eternal existence will be one of hellish torment forever. “They are in great fear where no fear was, for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against You” (v. 5).

Rejoice in the gift of your salvation while at the same time weep and pray for the atheists and other unbelievers who reject God’s promises and have only eternal doom ahead.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, thank You for bringing me to the one true faith, and bring to repentance and faith those who do not know you, that we may rejoice together; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.