March 20, 2018 - HOPE FOR WRETCHED PEOPLE

Day 77 - (Today’s Bible readings: Exodus 9:8-35; Psalm 75; Romans 7:7–25)

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  (Romans 7:24-25: ESV) 

In this section of Romans, Paul is expressing our common human conundrum.

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate...18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (Romans 7:15, 18-19: ESV) 

He was struggling with his sinful condition, his war within his own heart. We also have a war within, a war that leads to death.

This fellow wretched human being concludes with these words of victory:  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  

Chief of sinners though I be,  Jesus shed His blood for me;
Died that I might live on high, Lives that I might never die.
As the branch is to the vine, I am His and He is mine.
(“Chief of Sinners Though I Be,” The Lutheran Service Book, 2006, #611 stanza 1)

Lord Jesus, thank You for Your victory over my sinful nature. Please use me to help other wretched sinners know of the victory You won for all of us.  Amen.

Pastor David Paape

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105 ), is the theme for this three-year journey through the entire Old Testament once (the Psalms - twice yearly), and the New Testament twice. There will be daily readings form the O.T., Psalms and the N.T. Special days on the church calendar will be highlighted with appropriate readings. This calendar has been compiled by representatives of the Lutheran Church of Canada, the North American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. Please click this link for the daily reading calendar:
https://blogs.lcms.org/2017/lcms-lcc-and-nalc-compile-three-year-schedule-of-daily-bible-readings  
Then scroll down to 2018 Bible Reading Calendar and download it if you so wish. The “assigned” daily readings will appear on a daily basis in this blog. May the Lord bless you meditation upon His precious life-giving Word!