Saturday after the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-7 (NKJV)
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Devotion
A story: a group of unbelieving scientists was convinced they had come upon the way to create human life in the laboratory. They summoned God to inform Him. (It is the way of this world that those who might scoff at the “notion” that faith is the substance of things unseen will nonetheless call upon a God in whom they claim not to believe.) “We have discovered how to create human life just like You,” they said. “Be here tomorrow morning and we will show You.” God humored them and showed up the next morning to find a large pile of dirt on the laboratory floor. “What’s this?” He asked. “Dirt,” they replied. “That’s what You used to create Adam.” “No, no,” God said. “That will not do. Get your own dirt.”
God speaks and it is done, creating that which is from that which is not. God formed man from the dust of the earth and His breath of life, breathed into that inert form and made man a living being, created in the image of God. God continues to breathe life into us through the working of His Holy Spirit, Who is all-powerful, accomplishing God’s purposes in Word and Sacrament. It is the Holy Spirit Who gives us the ability to trust in that which human reason cannot begin to grasp.
We pray: I thank You, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, my Lord, that You have breathed also into my nostrils and You have poured Your Spirit into my being, that I might trust in Christ and live. Amen.
