Fourth Sunday after Trinity – Friday

Though He be not far from every one of us; for in Him we live, and move, and have our being. – Acts 17:27-28.

Having, in the beginning, created the earth (to make mention of that only) and, above all, man, God does not withdraw His hand from creation, but continues to preserve His creation and work. He does this according to laws which He has made and laid down in nature, but, always in absolutely free exercise of His will. He does this according to laws for our sake, for we are to cultivate the soil and make the earth, with all it contains, serve our purposes; and how could we do this if there were no laws of nature? He does this always according to His free and sovereign will, for, being the Lord, He is not subject to these laws, but superior to them. He says: “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth” (Genesis 1:11). And when He created the fish and the birds, He said: “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22); and the very same words He spoke when He created man (Genesis 1:28). Sun, moon, and stars are “to divide the day from the night,” and to “be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (Genesis 1:14).

These are laws of nature given by God. But, it is always the great and sovereign Lord who, in and through them, continues to create and to work and to sustain. So, it behooves you and me today, to say as Luther wrote: “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still preserves them” (Explanation of the First Article). God is not far from every one of us, for in Him we live, and move, and have our being. To God we owe our life and being; in God, by virtue of His almighty power it is that we exist; each breath we draw, every motion of the body we make, is to be attributed to this almighty power of His. What an abomination it is when we abuse the power God thus gives us in the service of sin!  Let us ever remember the never-changing counsel of our Savior: “Repent ye, and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).

PRAYER – O great God, in whose all-sustaining power I, as well as every creature, live, and move, and have my being, for Jesus Christ’s sake, comfort me with the forgiveness of my many sins, which so grievously offend Thee! And continue to give me a rich measure of Thy Holy Spirit, working through Thy Word, that not bodily only, but spiritually as well, I may continue to live, and move, and have my being in Thee. And continue to be patient with me, Thy frail child, until Thou shalt bring me to the state of eternal perfection in heaven. Amen.

Hallelujah! Let praises ring!

To God the Father let us bring, our songs of adoration.

To Him thro’ everlasting days, be worship, honor, pow’r, and praise;

whose hand sustains creation.

Singing, ringing; holy, holy, God is holy,

spread the story; of our God, the Lord of glory.

                                                                              (Hymn 23, st. 1; TLH)

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