Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Psalm 103:22 Bless the LORD, all His works, In all places of His dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!
BLESS THE LORD!
People who do not have faith in their heart marvel when they are asked to praise God for a year that is already past. They are, after all, happy and relieved to have overcome that year with its toils and deluded hopes. They are even more astonished, however, when it is suggested they should praise God in advance for the coming year. They respond: "Why should I praise God when I cannot know if I will be sick or healthy during that time, richer or poor, and alive or dead? Will I experience more good or more evil, more joy or more suffering?"
The faithful Christian can no more look into the future than the child of the world, but that Christian can look into the Word of God, that telescope into the heart of His heavenly Father, and there he can read his future. Scripture calls upon him to praise God, regardless of the circumstances. Moreover, the Christian cannot know if he will experience more suffering than joy in the new year, but he does know he has a God who is his Father. God is the Watchman of His faithful Israel, who neither slumbers nor sleeps, keeping His eyes upon them when they have closed theirs.
But the greatest comfort for the faithful Christian is that his God is, at the same time, his merciful Savior who wants to save him. Whatever may happen to him in the new year, God has a plan of peace for him. God will never intend evil for him. Everything--health or sickness, glory or disgrace, suffering or joy--will lead him to salvation and serve him for the best. Whatever burden God lays on him, He will also help him carry it.
Therefore, faithful Christian, do not stand before the future as if it were a closed world about which you can know nothing, whether you will find good or evil in it. Know that whatever the path on which God will lead you, that path leads through the kingdom of grace and its end is salvation.
-Excerpt taken from "God Grant It : Daily Devotions from C. F. W. Walther"
Concordia Publishing House, 2006.
