The Small Catechism – part 242
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Exodus 16:10
Series: Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
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From the Confessions: The Small Catechism, Daily Prayers
Evening Prayer
Then go to sleep promptly and cheerfully.
Pulling It Together: It seems, these days, that I am looking forward to going to bed as soon as I wake up each morning. When I was a young man and earlier, a teenager, going to bed was the last thing on my mind. As a child, my parents had to threaten me with punishment if I did not go to my bed and sleep. It can take scores of years before we desire what is good for us.
The people of Israel did not want what was good for them. They had to be forced and threatened and coaxed the whole distance from the Red Sea to the Jordan River. They kept looking back to Egypt, longing for the kind of days that they had complained about previously. So, here in today’s verse, we see a wondrous thing. When they turned to face the direction of the promised land, when they faced the desert that lay between, they beheld the presence of the Lord. When we acknowledge God’s will for us, his glory bolsters our spirits.
Some days, there is so much I want to accomplish that sleep seems like a vast desert to traverse before I may work again. Yet, sleep is God’s will. I should do so promptly and cheerfully. God will help me realize his good will in the next day.
Prayer: Give me a spirit, Lord, that would look toward your glory. Amen.
Click here for resources to learn the Ten Commandments.
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Rev. Dr. Mark E. Ryman has served as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, since 2021. Previously, Pastor Ryman served congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
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