So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”  And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”  (Acts 8:30-31)

St. Philip was listening to the Ethiopian eunuch, a royal official, read aloud in his chariot.  He could read the words, but could he understand them?  “How can I, unless someone guides me?”

God does not call us to faith all by ourselves.  He reveals His righteousness “from faith to faith,” from the Gospel preached by some sinners to be heard by other sinners who in turn speak what they have believed.

He therefore gives us the Scriptures, that we may hear the prophets and apostles bearing their witness; and He gives us teachers, that we may read, know, and inwardly digest this witness; and He gives us each other to confess, sing, and pray this word together and for our neighbors.  By revealing Himself in words, God chose to reveal Himself in a Church, a fellowship of speakers and listeners.

As God said in the beginning, “It is not good that man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18).  He speaks not only to be heard, but also to gather, setting His newborn children within a communion that not even hell can quiet.

LET US PRAY:  Speak, O Lord, and I will listen; and whenever I don’t listen, please forgive me, and speak again; through Jesus, the Word-made-flesh.  Amen

Pastor Steven K. Gjerde

Zion, Wausau

“The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, yet they turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law; they forgot His deeds and His miracles that He had shown them.” (Psalm 78:9-11)

Nothing is impossible with the Lord, yet in a moment when faith is required, many will fall upon what they know and not trust in the leading of the Lord. Come then into the truth of the Lord and know that if He leads, whatever He asks shall be accomplished. Come into His presence and know that the ways of the Lord are forever and shall not fail. Forget not His ways and live in truth.

Lord, what You have set before me is so simple, but it is not easy. Guide me in the way You would have me go and lead me according to Your never-changing word to walk in the way I should go. Help me overcome the temptation to limit myself  to what I know so that I trust in what You say above all the voices of this earth. Guide me out of myself and into Your Word that I may walk as You would have me walk.

Lord Jesus, You have already overcome the obstacles that are in the way of my steadfastly walking with the Father. Guide me in the way You have established that I may walk in the statutes that You have laid down from the beginning. Lift me up when I stumble and help me keep my side of the covenant You have given by the grace You have purchased that I may live according to Your eternal Word. Amen.