Wednesday of Ember Week in September
Posted on September 18, 2024 by under
Scripture: Amos 9:13-15 (NKJV)
9:13 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.
14 “I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.
15 “I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God.
Devotion
On this Ember Day, the words of the Prophet Amos draw us to that hope which looks to the coming of the Day of the Lord. Often, our labors in this fallen world seem as if they are utterly in vain, for the word of the Lord is sown, and yet there so often seems to be no sign of growth, or a coming bountiful harvest. We see the plight of the Church is the growing darkness of these days at the end of the age, and it is easy for the faithful to become dispirited.
The prophecy of the coming Day is our consolation. Just as the Old Testament Church was fortified in the days leading up to the Babylonian captivity with the promise that the temple would be restored, so we, in these dark days, have our consolation in the promise of the coming return of the Christ. Though our eyes behold so much that has fallen into ruin, and the way in which the love of Christ has grown cold in the hearts of so many people who once were Christians, still we have our consolation and peace in the promise of the coming Day of the Lord when our King will make all things new and gather His flock to be with Him forever. “‘I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,’ says the Lord your God.” So it will be forever, when our Lord returns in glory.
Collect: We beseech Thee, O Lord, that our weakness may be upheld by Thy healing mercy, so that what of itself is falling into ruin may be restored by Thy clemency; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Lord, we pray Thee, that Thy grace may always go before and follow after us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; 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.
