Friday, November 26, 2010
Job 1:7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
GOD GUARDS US FROM THE GIFT GRABBER
Have you ever suffered loss of property by thieves who broke into your home and stole your belongings?
Perhaps you've been spared such a trial. But did you know there's someone roaming nearby this very moment who's spying for an opportunity to steal the gifts your Father has given you? Satan. As Luther writes in the Large Catechism:
"His sole intent is to take from us the things that come to us from God or to interfere with their benefiting us. He isn't satisfied to disrupt and destroy spiritual order so as to mislead souls with his lies and bring them under his power ... He causes endless strife, murders, riots, and war; also tempests and hail to destroy crops and cattle; also pollution of the atmosphere and so on ... If it were in his power and if, next to God, our prayers did not restrain him, we would certainly not be able to keep one blade of vegetation in the field, one penny in the house, or even one hour of our life, especially if we belong to those who have God's Word and want to be Christians."
What a blessing to know our Lord promises to protect us from these onslaughts of the evil one.
In His wisdom He may allow Satan to test us at times. He may call on us to endure days of financial stress through business reverses and downturns in the economy. Our heavenly Father may not supply us with everything we would like to have in this world's goods. But He'll always provide what we need to live from day to day.
Most importantly, He'll keep showering us with all the treasures Christ won for us through His work as our Redeemer: Forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. He will nurture His gift of faith in us through His Word and Sacrament so we can sing with happy hearts:
Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things is wondrously reigning
And, as on wings of an eagle, uplifting, sustaining.
Have you not seen all that is needful has been
Sent by His gracious ordaining?
(Lutheran Service Book, 790:2)
