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September 2021

Just For Show

By |2021-09-12T16:55:47-05:00September 16th, 2021|GodConnect|

Matthew 23:1-12 | Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others. “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

 

An increasing number of antique leather-bound books are being purchased for their covers and not their content. Interior designers buy them by the linear yard and use them to create a warm, old-world atmosphere in the homes of affluent clients.

Of prime importance is whether they match a room’s decor. One wealthy businessman purchased 13,000 antique books he will never read just to create a library look in his renovated home. Those books are just for show.

Focusing on outward appearances can be a pleasing way to decorate a house, but it’s a dangerous way to live. Jesus reprimanded many religious leaders of His day because they did not practice what they preached. They were addicted to receiving praise and feeling self-important. Instead of opening the kingdom of heaven to people, they shut the door in their faces. Jesus said of them, “All their works they do to be seen by men” (Matt. 23:5).

The Lord calls us to be people of inner substance, not just outward appearance. We are to demonstrate the reality of His presence in us by an attitude of humility. “He who is greatest among you shall be your servant” (v.11).

In living for Jesus, our content is far more important than our cover. We are here for more than show. — David McCasland

Let my will be lost in God’s will,
Ask no question; seek no place;
Render humblest duties gladly,
Showing forth His truth and grace. — Anon.

If God controls you on the inside, you’ll be genuine on the outside.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/
What if you could spend time meeting quietly with someone who loves you—and who accepts you just as you are? Millions of readers around the world have turned to Our Daily Bread for moments of quiet reflection with God. In just a few minutes each day, the inspiring, life-changing stories point you toward your heavenly Father and the wisdom and promises of His unchanging Word.
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Costly Gift

By |2021-09-12T16:53:57-05:00September 15th, 2021|GodConnect|

Romans 3:21-26 | But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

A Rolex watch is one of the finest timepieces made. Many people would jump at the opportunity to own one. That’s why my friends who recently traveled abroad thought it would be fun to pick up a few of them to give to their children as souvenirs.

Souvenirs? Yes. You see, these watches were “knockoffs”—imitations of the real thing easily passed off to tourists at ridiculously cheap prices. The ones Denny and Carol chose for their family members did have a slight difference from the ones you would buy at a fine jewelry store—the name on these watches was spelled R-O-L-E-X-X.

Few things of value are inexpensive. Fewer still are free. But salvation— the most important gift of all—is free. Unlike the imitation Rolex, salvation is of infinite value. Yet it is free because, as one hymn reminds us, “Jesus paid it all.” No one can earn salvation (Eph. 2:8-9). We need only to believe and receive the gift of eternal life that God offers (Rom. 6:23).

It’s a paradoxical truth that while salvation is free, its cost was great. Oswald Chambers wrote, “Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary.”

Anyone who teaches something else is simply pushing a “knockoff” of the real thing. — Cindy Hess Kasper

Oh, how great a gift Jesus gave to me!
Lived a perfect life, died upon a tree;
Not for me alone has He paid the price,
But for all the world by His sacrifice. — Hess

Our salvation was infinitely costly to God, but it is absolutely free to us.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/
What if you could spend time meeting quietly with someone who loves you—and who accepts you just as you are? Millions of readers around the world have turned to Our Daily Bread for moments of quiet reflection with God. In just a few minutes each day, the inspiring, life-changing stories point you toward your heavenly Father and the wisdom and promises of His unchanging Word.
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Reach For…

By |2021-09-12T16:50:34-05:00September 14th, 2021|GodConnect|

Psalms 55:1-7 | Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught because of what my enemy is saying, because of the threats of the wicked; for they bring down suffering on me and assail me in their anger. My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would flee far away and stay in the desert;

A television commercial asks, “What do you reach for when you’re stressed?” Then it suggests, “Reach for [our product].”

The number of ways people try to deal with serious stresses in life are as numerous as there are people. Having a drink. Blaming God. Stuffing ourselves with food. Keeping our feelings inside. Blaming others. These responses might calm us, but they’re just a temporary means of escaping our problems. No product we reach for can take them away.

In Psalm 55, King David described his desire to escape from his difficulties: “My heart is severely pained within me . . . . Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest” (vv.4,6). After the betrayal of his friend and counselor, Ahithophel, who had gone to help his enemy, David wanted to get away (vv.12-13; see 2 Sam. 15). In this psalm, he tells us that he reached out to God in his pain (vv.4-5,16).

What do we reach for? Author Susan Lenzkes suggests that we reach out to the Lord and pour out our heart to Him. She writes, “It’s all right—questions, pain, and stabbing anger can be poured out to the Infinite One and He will not be damaged. . . . For we beat on His chest from within the circle of His arms.” — Anne Cetas

Christian, when your way seems darkest,
When your eyes with tears are dim,
Straight to God your Father hastening,
Tell your troubles all to Him. —
Anon.

When we put our cares into God’s hands, He puts His peace into our hearts.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/
What if you could spend time meeting quietly with someone who loves you—and who accepts you just as you are? Millions of readers around the world have turned to Our Daily Bread for moments of quiet reflection with God. In just a few minutes each day, the inspiring, life-changing stories point you toward your heavenly Father and the wisdom and promises of His unchanging Word.
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The Quiet Road

By |2021-09-12T16:52:12-05:00September 13th, 2021|GodConnect|

Mark 6:30-46 | The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?” “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.” Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Fifty miles west of Asheville, North Carolina, I turned off the busy highway and drove the remaining distance to the city on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway. On that late October afternoon, I drove slowly, stopping often to savor the mountain vistas and the last of the brilliant autumn leaves. The journey was not efficient in terms of getting to my destination quickly, but it was effective in restoring my soul.

The experience caused me to ask, “How often do I travel the quiet road with Jesus? Do I exit the fast lane of my responsibilities and concerns to focus my attention on Him for a time each day?”

After Jesus’ disciples completed a demanding period of ministry, He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). Instead of a long vacation, they had only a short boat ride together before being thronged by the crowd. The disciples witnessed the compassion of the Lord and participated with Him in meeting the needs of the multitudes (vv.33-43). When the long day finally ended, Jesus sought renewal in prayer with His heavenly Father (v.46). Jesus our Lord is always with us whether life is hectic or calm, but there is great value in taking time each day to walk the quiet road with Him. — David McCasland

There is a place of quiet rest,

Near to the heart of God;

A place where sin cannot molest,

Near to the heart of God. — McAfee

Time spent with the Lord is always time well spent.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/
What if you could spend time meeting quietly with someone who loves you—and who accepts you just as you are? Millions of readers around the world have turned to Our Daily Bread for moments of quiet reflection with God. In just a few minutes each day, the inspiring, life-changing stories point you toward your heavenly Father and the wisdom and promises of His unchanging Word.
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The Pain Machine

By |2021-09-07T06:34:16-05:00September 10th, 2021|GodConnect|

Acts 24:16 | So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.

Ephesians 4:31-32 | Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Dr. Paul Brand, who served as a medical missionary in India, told about lepers who had terrible deformities because their nerve endings could not feel pain. It didn’t hurt when they stepped in a fire or cut their finger with a knife, so they left their wounds untended. This led to infection and deformity.

Dr. Brand constructed a machine that would beep when it came in contact with fire or sharp objects. It signaled the warnings of injury in the absence of pain. Soon machines were attached to the patients’ fingers and feet. That worked well until they wanted to play basketball. They took the machines off, and often became injured again without knowing it.

Like physical pain to our bodies, our conscience alerts us to spiritual harm. But habitual and unrepentant sin can numb the conscience (1 Tim. 4:1-3). To keep a clear conscience, we need to respond to the pain of appropriate guilt by confession (1 John 1:9), repentance (Acts 26:20), and restitution to others (Luke 19:8). Paul could say with confidence, “I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men” (Acts 24:16). Like him, we should not grow numb to God’s painful reminder of sin but allow it to produce in us godly character. — Dennis Fisher

My conscience must be well-informed
From God’s own sacred Word,
For conscience may be much deformed
When standards pure are spurned. — Fraser

A clear conscience is a soft pillow.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/
What if you could spend time meeting quietly with someone who loves you—and who accepts you just as you are? Millions of readers around the world have turned to Our Daily Bread for moments of quiet reflection with God. In just a few minutes each day, the inspiring, life-changing stories point you toward your heavenly Father and the wisdom and promises of His unchanging Word.
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The Pharmacist

By |2021-09-07T06:29:34-05:00September 9th, 2021|GodConnect|

2 Samuel 12:1-14 | “The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’ ” Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”

The pharmacist had a good reputation. He was a family man and a good businessman. News reports listed his worth in the millions. Yet, to increase his profits, this trusted professional began to dilute the strength of the chemotherapy drugs he was dispensing. He was caught and convicted of the crime. He left many health-care workers asking, “How could this happen?”

Some of the same questions must have been asked about King David. Known as a man after God’s own heart, he used the power of his office to take another man’s wife (2 Sam.11). Then he conspired to take her husband’s life. The man who died was one of David’s own military officers who was away from home fighting the king’s battles. We could look at the failures of well-known people to feel better about ourselves. But if we feel good about the wrongs of others, we don’t know ourselves. The Bible doesn’t tell us about the sins of David to weaken our sense of moral alarm, but to put all of us on notice. The failures of others should cause us to be more aware of our own weaknesses and need for the grace of Christ. Only in the knowledge of our weakness will we be dependent on the strength of our God. — Mart DeHaan

The Bible, O Lord, is just like a mirror
That shows me the need of my heart,
For in it I see an accurate image,
A portrait of me—every part. — Hess

The Bible is a mirror that reflects how God sees us.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/
What if you could spend time meeting quietly with someone who loves you—and who accepts you just as you are? Millions of readers around the world have turned to Our Daily Bread for moments of quiet reflection with God. In just a few minutes each day, the inspiring, life-changing stories point you toward your heavenly Father and the wisdom and promises of His unchanging Word.
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He Knows My Name

By |2021-09-07T06:25:41-05:00September 8th, 2021|GodConnect|

John 10:1-4 | “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

When we attended a large church, we learned new things, joined a great small group, and enjoyed the worshipful music. But I didn’t realize for a long time that I missed something— the pastor had no idea who I was. Because of the thousands in attendance, I understood that it would be impossible for him to know each person by name.

Then, when we began attending a much smaller church, I received a handwritten welcome note from the pastor. After a few more weeks, Pastor Josh was calling me by name and chatting with me about my recent surgery. It felt good to be personally acknowledged.

All of us have a desire to be known—especially by God. A song by Tommy Walker, “He Knows My Name,” reminds us that God knows our every thought, sees each tear that falls, and hears us when we call. We read in the gospel of John, “The sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name . . . . I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep” (John 10:3,14).

For the One who made heaven and earth, knowing a few billion people is not a problem. God loves you immensely (John 3:16), He thinks about you all the time (Ps. 139:17-18), and He knows your name (John 10:3). — Cindy Hess Kasper

God knows each winding way I take,
And every sorrow, pain, and ache;
His children He will not forsake—
He knows and loves His own. — Bosch

No Christian is anonymous to God.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/
What if you could spend time meeting quietly with someone who loves you—and who accepts you just as you are? Millions of readers around the world have turned to Our Daily Bread for moments of quiet reflection with God. In just a few minutes each day, the inspiring, life-changing stories point you toward your heavenly Father and the wisdom and promises of His unchanging Word.
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Lost Prayers

By |2021-09-07T06:22:37-05:00September 7th, 2021|GodConnect|

Psalms 86:1-7 | Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am faithful to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; have mercy on me, Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, Lord, for I put my trust in you. You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you. Hear my prayer, Lord; listen to my cry for mercy.

The headline read: Unanswered Prayers: Letters To God Found Dumped In Ocean. The letters, 300 in all and sent to a New Jersey minister, had been tossed in the ocean, most of them unopened. The minister was long dead. How the letters came to be floating in the surf off the New Jersey shore is a mystery.
The letters were addressed to the minister because he had promised to pray. Some of the letters asked for frivolous things; others were written by anguished spouses, children, or widows. They poured out their hearts to God, asking for help with relatives who were abusing drugs and alcohol, or spouses who were cheating on them. One asked God for a husband and father to love her child. The reporter concluded that all were “unanswered prayers.”

Not so! If those letter-writers cried out to God, He heard each one of them. Not one honest prayer is lost to His ears. “All my desire is before You,” David wrote in the midst of a deep personal crisis, “and my sighing is not hidden from You” (Ps. 38:9). David understood that we can cast all our cares on the Lord, even if no one else prays for us. He confidently concluded, “In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, for You will answer me” (86:7). — David Roper

God has given you His promise
That He hears and answers prayer;
He will heed your supplication
If you cast on Him your care. — Bernstecher

Jesus hears our faintest cry.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/
What if you could spend time meeting quietly with someone who loves you—and who accepts you just as you are? Millions of readers around the world have turned to Our Daily Bread for moments of quiet reflection with God. In just a few minutes each day, the inspiring, life-changing stories point you toward your heavenly Father and the wisdom and promises of His unchanging Word.
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Arriving Late

By |2021-08-30T04:44:31-05:00September 3rd, 2021|GodConnect|

Matthew 20:1-16 | “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Eddie, an outspoken atheist, spent his entire life of 50 years denying the existence of God. Then he contracted a debilitating disease, and his health slowly deteriorated. As he lay in a hospice house awaiting death, Eddie was visited almost every day by some Christian friends he had known in high school. They told him again of Christ’s love. But the closer Eddie came to dying, the more it appeared he was not interested in God.

One Sunday, a pastor stopped by to visit. To everyone’s surprise, Eddie prayed with him and asked Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. A few weeks later, he died.

Eddie denied Christ for 50 years and spent just 2 weeks loving and trusting Him. But because of his faith, he will experience forever God’s presence, glory, love, majesty, and perfection. Some may argue that this isn’t fair. But according to Jesus’ parable in Matthew 20, it’s not about fairness. It’s about God’s goodness and grace (vv.11-15).

Have you waited such a long time to trust Jesus for salvation that you think it might be too late? Consider the thief on the cross, who put his faith in Jesus just before he died (Luke 23:39-43).

Trust Jesus now, and receive His gift of eternal

life. It’s not too late! — Dave Branon

It is a dangerous presumption to say, “Tomorrow,” when God says, “Today!”

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/
What if you could spend time meeting quietly with someone who loves you—and who accepts you just as you are? Millions of readers around the world have turned to Our Daily Bread for moments of quiet reflection with God. In just a few minutes each day, the inspiring, life-changing stories point you toward your heavenly Father and the wisdom and promises of His unchanging Word.
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We Bow Down

By |2021-08-30T04:37:59-05:00September 1st, 2021|GodConnect|

Psalm 95 | Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

The ancient Greeks and Romans rejected kneeling as a part of their worship. They said that kneeling was unworthy of a free man, unsuitable for the culture of Greece, and appropriate only for barbarians. The scholars Plutarch and Theophrastus regarded kneeling as an expression of superstition. Aristotle called it a barbaric form of behavior. This belief, however, was never held by God’s people.

In Psalm 95:6, the psalmist indicated that kneeling expressed a deep reverence for God. In this one verse he used three different Hebrew words to express what the attitude and position of the worshiper should be.

First, he used the word worship, which means to fall prostrate as a sign of honor to the Lord, with an associated meaning of allegiance to Him. The second word he used was bow. This means to sink down to one’s knees, giving respect and worship to the Lord. The psalmist then used the word kneel, which means to be on one’s knees giving praise to God.

According to the psalmist, kneeling in God’s presence is a sign of reverence rather than a barbaric form of behavior. The important thing, however, is not just our physical position but a humble posture of the heart. — Marvin Williams

Our attitude in worship is far more important than the position of our worship.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://odb.org/
What if you could spend time meeting quietly with someone who loves you—and who accepts you just as you are? Millions of readers around the world have turned to Our Daily Bread for moments of quiet reflection with God. In just a few minutes each day, the inspiring, life-changing stories point you toward your heavenly Father and the wisdom and promises of His unchanging Word.
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