96. Wednesday after Fifth Sunday after Epiphany.
Psalm 12. Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity every one with his neighbor: with flattering lips, and with a double heart, do they speak. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things; who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
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There is a holy sorrow for the distress of the church. Have you known this sorrow? Paul testifies, his conscience also bearing him witness in the Holy Ghost, that he has great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart because of the blindness of his people; and his heart burns in him at every offense which comes to his notice in the church. This is some of the same fire that melted our Lord Jesus, and caused him to shed tears over Jerusalem. Is there but little distress at the present time, since we know so little of this sorrow? By no means. But the love of many has waxed cold; and we say in the words of our text: “Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth.” Hypocrisy, security, lukewarmness, unbelief; yes, unbelief, unbelief, have gained the ascendency; and even the hearts of the faithful have been contaminated thereby to such a degree that they do not feel the impressiveness of eternity, the weight of God’s wrath, the significance of grace, the importance of the Christian life. Therefore we have in our hearts at the present time but little joy in the Lord, and but little sorrow for the misery of the world and the distress of the church. — But we have the word of the Lord among us; the pure word, as silver refined seven times. Hear this, ye wretched ones, who have been maltreated by the spirit of lies; ye needy, who cry to the Lord; hear his unadulterated word. This revives us, humbles us, gathers us; it creates life in the dead bones. Hear, hear; then shall your soul live.
Thou living God, quicken our hearts; give us the love after which we thirst, that we may know its joy and its sorrow, and that we may spend our years in the exercise of this love. Amen.*
Lord Jesus Christ, with us abide,
For round us falls the eventide;
Nor let thy word, that heavenly light,
For us be ever veiled in night.
In these last days of sore distress
Grant us, dear Lord, true steadfastness,
That pure we keep — till life is spent —
Thy holy word and sacrament.
Lord Jesus, help, thy Church uphold,
For we are sluggish, thoughtless, cold;
Endow thy word with power and grace,
And spread its truth in every place.
[TLH 292, LSB 585, ELH 511; listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.