March 31, 2025
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 12:1-6
Daily Lectionary: Genesis 42:1-34, 38; Mark 12:1-12
“You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:1-2)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Has anyone ever been angry with you? Since you have a pulse, probably. You might have done something to anger someone, or you might have accidentally done something that resulted in another person’s anger. Still, it happened. You did something, and they were angry. Perhaps that was when you learned that saying, “Now, don’t be angry…” doesn’t actually help someone’s anger go away. Parents, siblings, teachers, classmates, and others aren’t impressed when you just ask them not to be angry.
But on the Last Day, God won’t be angry with you. That’s the promise of Isaiah. That promise makes you want to throw your hands in the air and say, “What?! How does that work?!” God has every right to be angry with you because of your sin. You live like God doesn’t matter and like you matter most. You don’t keep his Commandments, and sometimes your actions flaunt God’s holiness, even on purpose. He should be angry with you, but because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, His anger is turned away, and He comforts you.
Micah 7:18-19 declares, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” God pardons you and forgives you, and He is your salvation.
That sounds too good to be true, but it is true. This truth can’t be proven or debated but only believed. Like Isaiah says, trust and don’t be afraid because the Lord your God is your strength and your song. He has become your salvation. If you have ever had someone stop being angry with you, you know how difficult that is to believe. But God’s grace is true and believable for you. He is your salvation.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Yet as the Law must be fulfilled Or we must die despairing, Christ came and has God’s anger stilled, Our human nature sharing. He has for us the Law obeyed And thus the Father’s vengeance stayed Which over us impended. (LSB 555:5)
-Rev. Peter Ill, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Millstadt, IL.
Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.
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