Wednesday after the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on November 15, 2023 by under
Scripture: Exodus 33:11-17 (NKJV)
33:11 So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”
14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”
17 So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”
Devotion
By bringing the Israelites up through the Red Sea and out of Egypt, God had separated them from the rest of the nations. They were set apart as His chosen people. As a result, all of the other nations feared and hated them. Moses was afraid of what might happen if the Lord would abandon His people. Without His continuing presence and protection, they would be easy prey for their enemies.
In our baptism, God separated us from the rest of the nations. We became His chosen people and are now united with Christ. But since the world hates Christ, the world also hates us and wants to destroy us. Without the ongoing presence of our Lord, we would be helpless prey. But God has promised, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” God is present with us in His Word and Sacraments, which will not pass away until heaven and earth pass away.
When that Last Day comes, Christ will once again separate us from the heathen, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Then, on account of His merits, we will be welcomed into eternal rest with our Lord.
Collect: Almighty God, we beseech Thee, show Thy mercy unto Thy humble servants, that we who put no trust in our own merits may not be dealt with after the severity of Thy judgment, but according to Thy mercy; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
