July 20, 2024

Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 9 - Ps. 147:7-11; antiphon: Ps. 145:16

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 3:1-21; Acts 16:1-22

You open your hand; You satisfy the desire of every living thing. (Psalm 145:16)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The antiphon for tomorrow’s Introit should be familiar to us: “You open Your hand; You satisfy the desire of every living thing.” In the Small Catechism, this verse and the one before it, “The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due season” (Psalm 145:15), are spoken before each meal prayer is offered. This is the appropriate mindset for all Christians: to recognize that God is the Giver of every good and perfect Gift. His provision sustains all of creation. We don’t have eyes to see or ears to hear creation respond to God’s generous Gifts. And far too often, we fail to lift up our voices in thanksgiving and praise to God. This shortsightedness and thanklessness is sin. Part of being the pinnacle of God’s creation is that we are appointed to offer acceptable praise to Him for all His goodness to us and to all of creation. And yet, thankfulness doesn’t always come naturally to us. We simply forget that God, in His wisdom, sends rain on the wicked and the just… and sometimes He withholds rain from the wicked and the just, just the same. God created the predator and the prey. It’s easy for us to forget the scope of God’s perfect attention to detail, His active hand in every atom in creation. What is the remedy for this forgetfulness? Thankfulness. Giving thanks to God for the good that He has done. And widening our gaze to see that He has done good, not only for us but in every corner of creation for every second of its existence! God does more than satisfy the desires of every living thing; He sees that we are well-supplied beyond our wildest dreams! Put another way, He loves us with the perfect love of a Father. He has seen to all of the details and overseen the greatest needs that exist in creation. And in every instance, He has done what He always does! He opens His hand to feed us. He gives us what we need, even before we’ve asked. He supplies us with more than we need for this body and life– He supplies us what we need for eternity. He has given a Savior from sin, an antidote to death, and His Spirit to dwell inside us, perfecting our prayers and tuning our thanksgiving so that our voices may be added to the whole heavenly host, giving thanks to God forever! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His steadfast love endures forever! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Feed Thy children, God most holy; Comfort sinners poor and lowly. O Thou Bread of Life from heaven, Bless the food Thou here hast given! As these gifts the body nourish, May our souls in graces flourish Till with saints in heav’nly splendor At Thy feast due thanks we render. (LSB 774)

-Rev. Dustin Beck is pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Corpus Christi, TX.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

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