5-27-2016

Good Morning All!! 

         Deuteronomy 32:36; “For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free.”

     I was listening to the radio the other day and the reporter was interviewing a doctor who was working with “Doctors without Borders”.  She was talking to him about a little girl who was being treated.  She weighed less than 12 lbs. and was over three years old.  As she interviewed him, there was a call from the nursery and the girl was asking for water.  The next day, while continuing to interview the doctor, she and the doctor were told that the little girl had died in the night.  The interviewer’s voice broke as se reported the news and the doctor stepped away for a few minutes to recompose himself before continuing with the interview.  This was the doctor’s second time and the interviewer asked him why he came back given that the success rate was so low and conditions so abysmal.  His answer was that he saw people who had absolutely nothing and he was trying to give them a little hope.  The people they helped were so thankful even if their loved ones died.  The people knew their only chance at survival was with those doctors and without them there was no hope at all.

     While it may not seem like it, all of us are like this small child.  We are living without hope.  On our own, we can do nothing to pay for our sins, relieve the guilt of that sin, free ourselves from the burden of sin; on our own we are beaten and lost.  Many do not realize or want to admit that they are completely helpless.  Our foolish pride and arrogance often causes us to act as if we are in charge and in control.  Yet eventually, we come to a point in our life when it is clear that we need help.  It may be a death in the family, a severe illness, an addiction of some sort, a strained relationship or any one of a number of others and often times, it is a combination of events.  In it God sees our pain and our suffering and brings to us hope in Jesus.

    Martin Luther wrote; “God has surely promised his grace to the humbled: that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves.  But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, wills and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure, and work of Another- God alone.”  This is when we see God at his most compassionate; when we see the totality of our loss and inability to save ourselves.  When we recognize the complete hopelessness of our situation and that only God can avail; this is when God sends his Spirit of comfort and peace to give us hope.

    It might take more than one try; we are still sinners but God sends the hope, grace and mercy to us continually.  This is why we are encouraged to remember our Baptism daily.  We recall the washing away of our sins and the love of God poured out upon us.  In it we see God’s hand at work in our life.

Father, remember us as we struggle with life.  Send your Spirit to renew us and to build us up.  Comfort us with your mercy.  Enliven our hearts and restore our soul.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret