What Are We Expecting?
So…
What are we expecting? Well, we… and I mean me… I was expecting… hoping… well… that we could have some peace… that sweeping change was here and it would just overwhelm everything and all would be… just … swell.
That for once I would not have to deal with all the…
All the what? Sin? The ugly human flesh that has been allowed to show itself and say it was good?
Well… yeah…
Godly… godliness again… maybe..?
What? Here?
We are not to hope in a king. We are not to lean on the arm of the flesh. Princes? [PS 146:3]
They are men and weak!
And… this is not our home.
Yeah, but our flesh wants it to be….
Now, don’t get me wrong. It should be different. And we can pray for our Lord (and no, we should—we have to be praying that!)… that our Lord stop evil—that He thwart the devil’s plans—that He defend those who cannot defend themselves—who don’t have anyone to stand up for them.
We need to be there for the widow and orphan—the Bible calls that true religion… [James 1:27]. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers!
But James, goes on to say, for us to ALSO remain unstained from the World.
Too many scream for us to be doing the first part, but let the world dictate the rest. Plenty of churches downtown with soup kitchens and clothing banks… but are devoid of God’s Truth.
But still, we would like to have a bit of heaven on earth…
Or at least a respite… an oasis in the desert.
America has been that… well at least it used to be. Far from that place have we been… for too long. And compared to many parts of the world it still is.
And so, why should God give us anything—why should He refrain from judging us and bringing about our demise as He did Sodom?
Well? Do I need to list our sins?
Yes, but remember Nineveh? They repented and God did not destroy them. They were a despicable country full of all kinds of wicked cruelty. And Jonah knew this and would rather have seen them burn.
But they didn’t…burn! God spared them.
Will America realize this?
It seems to be… there seems to be hints…and a glimmer of hope there…
Or is that just my hopeful thinking… and am I just seeing things?
Why did God spare Nineveh? They repented. They stopped. They became just. According to God’s measure, not their own, that is.
Nineveh lasted 250 years (how telling is that?) after God spared them. But they went back to their old ways and God obliterated them off the face of the earth. It has just been in the last 10 years that they THINK they have found that ancient kingdom’s capital.
I don’t know what the near future will be for us. I do know what the long game is. If we lose everything here, we win. If we have a reprieve for some time, we win also.
It is in our Merciful and Gracious God’s hands. Trust Him. He keeps His promises. No one can take us out of His hand.
And we are in line to inherit the earth. No, not this one—the new one that He will make.
Then we will have it all. Peace. Godliness. Sinlessness. And everything else good. Not just very good again, but a billion-trillion-infinity to infinity more better good than ever was…
Yes, that good! We can’t even imagine it. But God has already prepared it for us.
So yes, it is Friday, but Sunday is almost here….
And then… and then comes real life…. Maranatha—Come Lord Jesus quickly!
This coming Sunday – 14th Sunday after Pentecost – September 21st 2025
Readings:
Old Testament – Proverbs 25:6-7
Epistle – Hebrews 13:1-8
Gospel – Luke 14:1-14
Psalm – 128
Sermon Theme – Is It Lawful?
Based on Gospel reading
Prayers: We need to continue to hold our country and leaders in our prayers. That God would undo all evil counsels and bring about all that is good. That His Kingdom would come among us. That we could be the place of refuge and the place where truth can be heard. Yes, to give us courage to speak both Law and Gospel, no matter the cost.
Reflection From Luther: On Reason and the Resurrection…
In this article [the Resurrection] we are asked to believe in the resurrection of the dead, to believe that all men will be revived again on one day, that our body and soul will be united as they are united today. To believe that is surely not man’s competence and power. For reason does no more than merely to observe the facts as they appear to the eye, namely, that the world has stood so long, that one person dies after another, remains dead, decomposes, and crumbles to dust in the grave, from which no one has ever returned; in addition, that man dies and perishes so miserably, worse and more wretchedly than any beast or carcass; also, that he is burned to ashes or turns to dust, with a leg resting in England, an arm in Germany, the skull in France, and is thus dismembered into a thousand pieces, as the bones of the saints are usually shown. When reason approaches this article of faith and reflects on it, it is entirely at a loss. Here so many odd, peculiar, and absurd ideas present themselves that reason must necessarily judge that there is nothing to it. It judges in the same manner as in everything else; for instance, when misfortune strikes and we permit reason to cogitate and to measure what it finds in God’s Word with its own understanding. Or when man feels his sin and his conscience and fails to hold exclusively to the words of grace and forgiveness through Christ but only surveys his sin and reflects on the Law and on works and tries to scourge and torment himself with these, he surely removes himself from forgiveness and has lost the grace which he should apprehend through faith.
-Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 28