LESSON: PSALM 94:12-15

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him. For the Lord disciplines him who he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. Hebrews 12:5,6

Trials, chastenings, and temptations come upon us so that our faith may be exercised and become stronger and stronger. God especially arranges matters in this way to preserve His children from the kinds of misfortune which might otherwise come upon us.

When men become boldly confident and very strong in spirit they could eventually have such confidence in themselves that they think they are capable of accomplishing everything in their own strength and power. God sometimes allows their faith to be found wanting, and to suffer an eclipse, so that they may realize who they are and say, “Even if I want to believe, I cannot.” In this way God humbles His saints and holds them to their own knowledge.

Nature and reason are always keen on falling upon God’s gifts and clinging to them as though they were attainable by man’s own abilities. God must deal with us in such a way that we realize that He must put faith into our hearts. We have no way of influencing Him to do this.

Fear of God and confidence in God must always be closely related for us. Both of these relationships must remain decisive for our lives, so that a man does not become presumptuous and too secure, and eventually come to rely upon himself. This is one reason why God allows temptations to come upon His saints.

SL.XI.433,9

AE 76,

PRAYER: Lord God, our loving, heavenly Father, we know that all things, even trials and temptations, work together for our good. Bring us safely through all trials and temptations, thus strengthening our faith as your children in and through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: JAMES 1:12-15

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair. 2 Corinthians 4:8

When God has given us a fine, strong faith so that we go forth in firm confidence, and are quite sure and certain that we have a gracious God on whom we can fully rely, we are in paradise. But when God suffers our heart to slip away from us, so that we come to think that God wants to tear the Lord Jesus from our hearts, and our conscience feels that we have lost Him, and then flounders and loses courage, so that our confidence sinks, the result is wretched distress.

Even if our conscience cannot recall any particular sins it is still in such wretched condition that it thinks, “Who knows if God really wants me?” just as Mary begins to have her doubts (Luke 2:41-51), so that she no longer knows whether God still wants her as a mother. When the heart receives such blows it is inclined to say, “It is true that hitherto God has given you a fine faith; but perhaps He wants to take your faith from you and no longer have you.” It requires a strong faith to withstand such knocks, and there are not many whom God assails in this way. But we must prepare ourselves so that we do not despair if this should happen to us.

SL.XI.432,7

AE 76,

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, strengthen our faith through your Word and Sacraments, that we may successfully overcome all trials and temptations we may meet in life, and stand firm and steadfast in the confidence that we are always more than conquerors in and through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: LUKE 2:41-52

When they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, you father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” Luke 2:48

Although the holy mother Mary who was blessed (Luke 1:42) and highly-favored with all kinds of grace (Luke 1:28) without a doubt found the greatest of happiness and joy in her child, the Lord still governed her in such a way that she should not have her paradise in Him and reserve it for her future life, as He does also in the case of others. And so on earth she also had to suffer her share of misfortune, pain, and sorrow.

The first distress that came upon her was that she had to give birth at Bethlehem, a strange place, in which there was no room for herself and her child except in a stable. Soon after this, when the time of her purification was past (Luke 2:22), she had to flee with her child into a foreign country, into Egypt, a small comfort for her under the circumstances. She probably experienced many blows of the same kind which have not been recorded.

Here, too, the Lord laid a similar misfortune upon her when her Son stole off into the temple and she had to search for Him for so long without finding Him. This gave her a terrible shock and grieved her so much that she exclaimed: “Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” We can well imagine that her heart was ready to admit, “The child is mine alone, as I well know. God gave Him to me with instructions that I should look after Him. How has it come to pass that I have lost Him? It is my fault for failing to look after Him well enough.”

SL.XI.430,2-3

AE 76,192

PRAYER: O Lord, you have clearly told us in your Word that you chasten all whom you love for the betterment and well-being. You did not even spare your handmaiden, Mary. Let us not despair when your chastening comes upon us, but open the eyes of our faith so that we may also readily see “the way of escape” [1 Corinthians 10:13] that we may be able to bear it. Amen.