The Wednesday after the Twenty-Second Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 30, 2024 by under
Scripture: Deuteronomy 7:9-12 (NKJV)
7:9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. 11 Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.
12 “Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers.”
Devotion
These words of blessing and cursing should remind us of Luther’s Close of the Ten Commandments, which were originally included between the First and Second Commandments (Ex. 20:4-6, Deut. 5:8-10). Repeated again here, these words both encourage God’s people with gracious promises and blessings, and threaten God’s people with punishments.
What kind of a God do we have? We have a faithful God, who keeps His Word and covenant. When God promises that “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,” you can be sure that baptized believers in Christ, who love Him, will receive forgiveness and enjoy eternal life. When God threatens that “whoever does not believe will be condemned,” you can be sure that unbelievers, who hate Him, will receive eternal punishment.
The juxtaposition of the words “love” and “hate” are intended to reveal the source of our actions. God-pleasing obedience comes from the faith required by the First Commandment. If we could perfectly fear and love God, we could keep the Commandments. Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Those who believe have the fruits of faith: love. Those who do not believe bear the bad fruit of hate.
Collect: O God, our Refuge and Strength, Who art the Author of all godliness: Be ready, we beseech Thee, to hear the devout prayers of Thy Church; and grant that those things which we ask faithfully, we may obtain effectually; 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.
