The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod (LCMS)
Worship Times:
9:00am Bible Class
10:00am Fellowship Time
10:30am Worship
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2215 N. Llano Street
Fredericksburg, TX 78624
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Member of the Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce
The founding documents of the Lutheran Church: The Book Of Concord
Resurrection's Songs: The 1941 Lutheran Hymnal
Concordia Publishing House's Portals of Prayer
Lutheran Hour Ministries' Daily Devotions
Not Lutheran, but very good: My Utmost for His Highest
Worth a Look: Taize Community Daily Devotional Thought and Monthly Meditation
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NIV Daily Bible Devotion for February 9
Click here for more information about this devotional series.
| Old Testament | New Testament | Poetry |
| Exodus 4:1-6:12 | Matthew 26:31-46 | Proverbs 4:10-19 |
Heads Up
Buried within the moving story of Moses's troubles and God's faithfulness is a "problem" that bothers many people. In Exodus 6:2, God tells Moses that he did not "make his name known to" Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This appears to contradict earlier uses of this name, and gives ammunition to people who claim that Moses's books were actually a compilation of several different sources.
Instead, here we learn something very significant. In Hebrew thought, to "know the name" of a god (or God) meant to see him or her in true action. The name "God" (Elohim in Hebrew), or "God of power" (el-shaddai) was a general reference to God. The name "Yahweh" (sometimes rendered "Jehovah" in English) is a covenant name, and is the name that God uses when He is describing Himself as the promise-keeping, gracious God.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had vague promises of future blessings. Moses and his generation saw the mighty hand of the Lord (this is how the NIV shows "Yahweh" in English) keeping his promises and giving His people deliverance. So Moses "knew the name of the Lord" in a way that Abraham never did. It's not that the name itself was unknown. You can see it used as early as Genesis 4:26.
What's Cool
The truest human agony and suffering of Jesus occurs in today's reading. Here we see the natural fear of a man facing torture, ridicule, and an unjust death. Jesus knew what would happen, and it scared him. So, he begged his Father to spare him. Yet, for our sake, He did continue and complete the awful journey that begins at the end of today's reading. That journey, it is plain, was done alone. His disciples all leave himâin spirit, anywayâin our reading today.
Challenge for Today
Moses's excuses for not doing God's work continue into today's reading. In the end, he has no excuses; he just says, "send someone else, please." Notice how God's anger burns against him. Does God's anger burn against God for the same reason?