Archive for category: Military Devotions

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.
Isaiah 11:6

Only in our dreams, we would think, only in dreams will we see a wolf living peacefully with a lamb. And a leopard lying down with a goat? Or a calf with a lion? And a small child in the middle of all this?

Only in our dreams!

Except. Except—might this not have been possible in the Garden of Eden? Could it not be this way today if sin and death had not invaded this creation? Is this not a picture of peace on earth?

It is.

King David spoke of the valley of the shadow of death. We know that valley. We have seen the tombstones. We have gone to the funerals. There is death in this valley.

Isaiah shows us the same valley. But something has changed. The Prince of peace now rules it.

He shows us peace in the valley.

We know what wolves will do to lambs. We can picture lions and leopards ripping apart their prey. Blood splatter marks those scenes.

Panic would grip our hearts at seeing a little child there. There is no hope for that lamb or goat or calf. There would be no hope for a child.

The point is, there is no hope for a creation ravaged by the powers of darkness. Even worse is the aftermath of war waged against the Creator of creation.

No wonder peace does not blanket the earth! Those who are at war with God can never find peace. Never can they escape death. The Holy Spirit explains it this way: “Now, the way the sinful flesh thinks results in death, but the way the spirit thinks results in life and peace” (Romans 8:6 EHV).

Angels issued a declaration of peace over fields of Bethlehem. They pointed to a little child as the basis of this reconciliation.

They were right.

Centuries earlier, with pointed words of prophecy Isaiah declared: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

The Prince of peace brought peace to the valley. It came, however, at a price. The Lord of life needed to walk through the valley of death in place of those who deserved it.

He did. It cost his life, but he won peace. Then, he gave it to us.

Listen to his words: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

There we have it! Nothing here to fear.

There is peace in the valley—for you and for me.

Prayer: Son of God, Savior of the world, and Prince of peace, as we begin to ponder your birth into this world of sin and death, we thank you for coming. We thank you for peace in the valley. It makes us want to celebrate. Amen.

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endures forever.
Psalm 107:1

Doesn’t everyone know that God is good? They should. Yet, some refuse to believe it. Sometimes even we might be tempted to doubt it.

How can that be? How could a child of God be tempted to doubt the goodness of God?

Easily!

Satan is very powerful. Sinful flesh is very weak. And we were born as enemies of the Lord God.

Some might ask how God can be good if he allows unborn babies to be killed by the hundreds of thousands. How can he let thousands of people starve to death?

Isn’t all of that bad?

A Special Forces captain wrote a book called “God is not here!” to vent his confusion and frustration over a tour in Iraq.

Sometimes God might seem to be M.I.A. in the battle against what is bad. Sometimes he seems to be a deserter.

That is not good.

It raises questions. It makes us wonder: “Maybe he never is there. Never was there! Maybe he’s nothing more than a Santa Claus figure.”

Maybe, Satan is spinning out disinformation!

The problem is not with the Creator and Redeemer. It is with us humans. We like to pretend we are God. We prefer to determine good and bad the same way we like to decide upon right and wrong. We tend to decide according to what makes sense to us—and what is to our advantage. We want to make the final call.

Our attempts to play God are dismal and deadly failures.

We are not all-knowing. We are not all-powerful. We are not holy. We are not good.

He is.

Better than that: “his mercy endures forever.”

Without his mercy, we would have to face the consequences of the bad we do. Without his mercy, we would never have any good thing happen in our life.

The enemy wants to blind us to this.

Without the mercy of God, humans would have no life, no food, no shelter—and surely, no fun.

We tend to forget that. Instead, we view these gifts as entitlements—even as inalienable rights.

We are so wrong.

We do not deserve any good thing. We deserve only the bad. The very bad.

We have rebelled against him. We deserve what the rebellious angels got. We deserve abandonment by God. We deserve the dungeons of hell.

Demons must admit in anguish, “No, God definitely is not here!”

The apostle Paul wrote: “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit…” (Titus 3:5).

He promised a Savior. He came. He brought us to faith.

God is merciful to us.

God is good.

We pray the words we have sung before:
Now thank we all our God With hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, In whom his world rejoices,
Who from our mother’s arms Has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love And still is ours today. Amen.
(Christian Worship 610:1)

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

“You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.”
Daniel 2:31-33

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that made his spiritual advisors quiver in fear. He demanded they interpret it. But first, they needed to tell him what the dream was about.

“Impossible!” they said.

He said: “If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble.”

Since it would be a Babylonian king that would throw a Daniel into a lions’ den and his friends into a fiery furnace, the threat of this Babylonian monarch was not empty.

The advisors relaxed when young Daniel stepped forward to say he could give the answers. The Lord, the God of Israel, had revealed this to him.

He described the statue in the dream: enormous, dazzling, and awesome. The head was of gold; below that was silver; below that, bronze; legs of iron; and then, feet: “partly of iron and partly of baked clay.”

It had feet of clay.

Daniel explained what it meant. These were the kingdoms that would follow the Babylonians—each one a little less impressive than its predecessor. The clay in its feet could crumble and cause the entire structure to collapse. But it was not erosion that would take down these kingdoms. It would be a rock.

The dream went on: “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:44).

What kingdom is this? What kingdom would be so powerful that it could smash the power structures of the Babylonians and Persians and Greeks and Romans? What kingdom would spread out over the whole world?

The answer is: “Our kingdom! The one we are members of.”

Daniel was in this kingdom. So were Jacob and David and Peter. This is the kingdom of God. Today we can call it the Christian Church.

Often under attack, often dismissed as insignificant, it still stands. It has gathered people from all nations. It challenges every form of evil. It conquers, not with a sword, but a Word.

It overthrows the claims of Satan and death. It rescues souls from their hands.

Its king is the Son of God and the kingdom is built upon his sacrifice on Golgotha. It will stand beyond the end of time into all eternity.

“My kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus reported to a representative of the mighty Roman empire. But his kingdom made an impact upon this world. It held ultimate control of this world.

It still does. It always will.

The kingdom of God does not have feet of clay.

We sing:
The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
She is his new creation by water and the Word.
From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride.
With his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died.

The Church shall never perish, her dear Lord, to defend,
To guide, sustain, and cherish, is with her to the end.
Though there be those that hate her and strive to see her fail
Against both foe and traitor she ever will prevail.” Amen.
Christian Worship 538:1,3

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there was only terror.
Jeremiah 8:15

The Great Generation did not hear the word “terrorist” very often. They did, however, become acquainted with terror. Every generation has.

Even during the times when a nation was at peace, such as Israel during the reign of Solomon, individual people still faced terror.

Terror has many faces. It can show itself in many places. It may threaten with a bomb or a cancer cell. However, when we use the word “terrorist” today, we are most likely thinking of a person who intends to do grave harm to others. Whatever form terror takes, living with it is terrible.

But no terror is as terrible as the terror that the omnipotent God brings upon a people.

Jeremiah is labeled “The Weeping Prophet.” A book of the Bible is called “The Lamentations of Jeremiah.” He had much to lament. The Lord revealed to him the terrible times he would bring to his people, Israel.

The Lord warned many would fall before an invading enemy: “They will not be gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground.” There would be survivors, but many would be taken as prisoners to a foreign land: “Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, declares the LORD Almighty” (Jeremiah 8:2).

When people wish they were dead, their lives are terrible.

Thus, the lament: “We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there was only terror.”

No hope for peace. No time to heal. Only terror. A terrible time.

We need to understand why this happened. We need to ask if this could happen to our nation, to us. It could.

Let’s look in at ancient Israel. The Lord had showered his blessings upon those people. With abundance of crops and strength in defense, other nations looked upon Israel with envy. The greatest blessing was the presence of the Word of God in its midst.

His Law mirrored his will. His promises brightened their future. The history of Israel was a record of his powerful faithfulness. They were living in the land “flowing with milk and honey.”

What went wrong?

The people. The people went wrong.

They turned away from his paths; discarded his Word; and came up with their own answers for the meaning of life, and their own sources of joy in life.

They rejected the Lord—and then, he rejected them.

Terrible!

But there was hope. Through the same prophet, Jeremiah, the Lord God told them, “‘I am with you and will save you,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 30:11).

Then he added: “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).

Almost unbelievable, isn’t it? Did he really do this for Israel of old? He did.

Would he make such forgiveness possible for us? Jesus did.

The Lord God—the answer to all that is terrible.

Prayer: Holy and merciful God, you are our guard and our friend. We know the times are perilous. We admit our failures, our sin. But with Israel of old, we look to you for forgiveness. Keep us from all things terrible. Deliver us from evil. Amen.

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

“Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
Isaiah 36:18-20

Sometimes it seems there is no hope because it seems there is no help.

It might be a violent storm. It might be a vicious disease. Or, as it once was for Israel, it could be an overpowering enemy. Whatever form it may take, desperate situations call for desperate help.

It is then terrifying to realize the help may not be there.

The list of seemingly unstoppable armies that appear on the pages of history is a long one. Napoleon led one of those. So did a fellow by the name of Hannibal, with his elephants. Likewise a Rommel, with his tanks. But the name that struck terror into the hearts of Israelites at the time of King Hezekiah was an Assyrian named Sennacherib.

A later poet described his style of waging war with the words, “The Assyrian came down like a wolf on a fold.” They came down from modern Syria and overran everything. Destruction, pain, and death followed. “Unstoppable” was the word that seemed to fit best.

When they came to the edge of Jerusalem, Sennacherib sent a field commander to demand that the city surrender. He pointed out the situation was hopeless because the Israelites were helpless—just like many cities before them.

It was not an empty boast. City after city had already fallen before this superpower. Jerusalem knew this. The ten northern tribes of Israel had been overpowered, with many casualties. Survivors had been rounded up and marched into captivity. So thorough was the defeat that those ten tribes vanished without a trace. They became the famous lost tribes of Israel.

Only Judah and little Benjamin were left.

Sennacherib knew the Israelites well enough to realize they would not be counting on an ally to deliver them, nor would they boast of the strength of their army. Israel’s final answer would be, “Our help is in the name of the Lord!” It was a matter of faith in their God.

So, he attacked their God.

Karl Marx, the father of Communism, once famously remarked, “Religion is the opium of the people.” He meant it offered people a false sense of security and well-being. Sadly, it can be true.

The religions of the people of Arpad and Hamath offered empty promises. Their destruction was the proof. Would it not be the same for those who placed their hope in the Lord?

Hezekiah did not believe that. History does not reveal that. Instead, we learn: “Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew” (Isaiah 37:36).

The situation of Israel was not hopeless because she was not helpless. She sang out, “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” And it was.

So is ours.

Prayer: Eternal Father, strong to save, one of our greatest enemies is doubt. Although we know about you and your promises, we sometimes find ourselves not trusting you. Our eyes look for proof, and our hearts long for evidence. Grab hold of our faith so that it might stand up to attack and overcome unbelief. Without you, we are both helpless and hopeless. Remind us of who you are and what you have done. Point us to Jesus, the help of the hopeless. Amen.

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign.
1 Chronicles 22:9

Peace and quiet! That’s what a busy mom looks forward to when those little ones finally are in bed. That’s what her husband enjoys when he sits in his boat with a line in the water.

There’s a time for excitement and action—but not all the time. A person needs a break from stress and uncertainty. So does a nation.

Beginning with its first king, the nation of Israel moved from one crisis to another. David, the second king, fought so many battles that God said he had too much blood on his hands to be the builder of the great temple.

King David usually didn’t look for trouble. It did often find him, however. He spent hours deep into the night pondering how to face them. He must have longed for sleep on some of those nights. Sometimes, however, even in sleep, there is no rest.

An officer in the Mighty 8th, which took such a pounding when making raids against Axis targets in WWII, made this report: “The men lived the battles in their sleep, with considerable mental disturbances. The other night the men went into the barracks and found Captain Fenton flying an apparently tough mission. Apparently, his ship was hit, and he exclaimed: ‘Co-pilot, feather number four!’ The lieutenant, sound asleep answered him. Both of them, sound asleep, piloted the severely damaged Fort back home…”

Sleep doesn’t always bring peace. Some dreams refight battles of years long ago. Some of those sleepers yell out or strike out. They may find little rest.

And nations? What candidate for President would be so foolish as to promise that if he were elected, the country would never go to war? Some things are out of our control.

Not so for the Lord of the nations.

Solomon was not elected to be the leader of Israel. The Lord placed him into that position of power and responsibility. He then decreed that this king and his nation would have peace and quiet during Solomon’s lifetime.

Those who might have said: “I have to see it first!” saw it. History records it.

In war zones, it is not uncommon for a group planning a mission to hear the warning, “Remember, the enemy has a vote.”

The best of plans might need to be adjusted because the enemy does something unexpected. We cannot change his plans. We can only try to improvise, adapt, and overcome.

The Lord God does not need to resort to that approach. He can control the plans and actions of nations and their leaders as easily as he controls storm clouds. War is a consequence of sin. Wars and rumors of wars, according to Jesus, will continue to the end of time. But the Lord of glory will determine how often, how long, and where he will permit wars to take place.

The same is true of any consequence of sin that can threaten the welfare of his people.

We remember that Jesus descended from the line of David and Solomon. He is called the Prince of Peace. Of him, it is said, “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3).

We trust in him! He is the Savior God who fought to overcome the power of the Evil One.

We can set aside every fear and worry when we walk with him.

Midst a loud and sometimes chaotic world, he offers our soul peace and quiet.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we place ourselves into your hands. You guide us. You keep us. You give us times of peace. And quiet. Amen.

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis 2:7

It is called the human spirit. But the same Old Testament word is also translated as soul. The first time it is used in Scripture it is called, the breath of life.

It’s different from our body. It has been said, “The soul is the bearer of all that is life in man.” It is more than the ability to produce abstract thought, but that is part of it.

It was added to Adam’s lifeless body. God breathed this into him. When it leaves, the body is dead. But it is not. The soul, the breath of life, will never die.

But it can be lost.

A lost soul is one that has been separated from its Creator. The Bible calls that spiritual death. If its body dies while in this condition, body and soul will be separated from its God forever. That is the essence of hell, the place prepared for the devil and his angels.

Thus, there are two types of death: separation of the soul from the body; and separation of both the soul and body from God.

There are two types of life: the union of the soul with the body; and the one where the soul and body are united with God.

Jesus has this warning: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

Those who put on a uniform to defend a country must realize that they may be killed as a result. History records that WWII claimed 27,600 lives every day. The tombstones litter the battlegrounds where they fell. Others were carried back home in caskets by the trainload.

The breath of life is no longer in them. The soul has separated from the body. We count them among the dead. We lower flags in their memory. We call their deaths tragic.

But then we ask, where are the people who survived that war? How many still breathe the air? And twenty years from now, how many then? Would the answer not be, “None”?

That could depress us—unless we remember that many of these actually still live. And we can live with them!

There is something called fatalism. It is the belief that everything is predetermined in life, and since everything dies or decays, the future is bleak.

But that was not the Creator’s plan for humans, and it is not the way it must be. He breathed life into Adam’s body so that Adam and his descendants might share with him the wonders of his glory.

That plan still stands. That life is still possible. Though forfeited, it has been reoffered as a gift.

Jesus came to earth to declare, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). To do that, he needed to give up his own life. And he did.

He finished his mission on earth with the words, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” We are told, “When he had said this, he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46).

So what if someday our soul will leave its body? What difference does it make if our bones someday rest under a tombstone?

We stand with Job who announced that he knew that his Redeemer lives, and therefore, “After my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God…” (Job 19:26)

We have been given the breath of life—for time and eternity.

Prayer: Holy God, you have made us different from everything else on earth. You gave us the breath of life. You created a living soul. Preserve us, body and soul, as we continue our walk through life. When this earthly life is over, “take us to heaven to be with you there.” Amen.

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
Revelation 21:5

A past best-seller carries the title, All Quiet on the Western Front. It tells of a group of young German Soldiers at the start of WWI. The English title gives the impression that this was a time of safety, maybe relaxation. It was not.

The German title uses the words for, “Nothing New” instead of “All Quiet.” It better fits the story of the seemingly never-ending terror and carnage these young troops endured. For them, day after day brought nothing new. The bayonet attacks, the stench, the rats in the trenches, and the killing continued on. It would do so for four more years.

The word, “new,” resonates with us. That’s why advertisers use the word. It fits well into the phrase, “new and improved.” We expect what is new will always be better than what is old. This is especially true if the old is worn out or faulty. It can be true of a set of clothes, or a computer—or life in general.

We live in a world that idolizes what is new. Sometimes new replaces old at such speed that it almost makes us dizzy. Yet, with all the changes, we learn that improved is not necessarily tied to new. Sometimes it seems, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

The reason for this is that all change is incidental, not essential, unless God makes the change.

His creation of the world—that was an essential change of nothing into something. His curse upon the world after the fall of humans into sin—that surely made an essential difference.

All of our attempts to improve the world affect only the externals. We can counter some diseases; we can improve communications; and we can eliminate some of the threats to our nation. But we cannot change the world into a safe haven for all its inhabitants.

Something basic must first happen. And it must first happen in us if we are going to be part of the change.

We think of the time when God wiped the planet clean with a flood. We might imagine that Noah stepped out of the ark into a brand-new world. It wasn’t.

Weeds sprang up again, mosquitoes bit again, and humans resumed lives of depravity. Fear did not disappear, nor did theft, neither did war.

It was the same old world with the same old problems because it was contaminated by the same old sin—and under the same old curse. A drastic, essential change needed to take place.

That change happened on the day we call Good Friday.

The death of the Son of God sparked new life for the human race. The curse was removed because the sin was removed. That’s an essential change.

The sin of humans was replaced by the holiness of God. New life was given. News of this was to be shared with the whole world.

When the apostle Peter was arrested for doing this, an angel broke him out of jail and said: “Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people all about this new life” (Acts 5:20).

Now we have been told. This new life is ours. True, we still live in this old world, but that’s going to change too. We hear Jesus say from heaven, “I’m going to make everything new.”

Hard to imagine what that will be like, isn’t it?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, you broke the curse of sin so that we might have a new life with you. Help us now as we still struggle with sin and its consequences. Keep pointing us to the time and place when and where everything will be new. Amen.

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.
1 Samuel 30:4

Near a tee on an obscure golf course in northern Wisconsin, there is a plaque that says, “Ike wept here.”

The reason for the famous general’s crying is not listed. It’s simply noteworthy enough for history to know that it happened.

When we see pictures of Eisenhower chatting with the troops he was sending off to storm the beaches of Normandy, it’s hard to imagine him weeping. Somber? Yes. Determined? Absolutely! He knew many of these people would not survive the landing. But he was a soldier. He understood the cost of victory. Since he was not weak, we might not expect him to weep.

But he did. So did warrior David.

Neither of them whimpered over body wounds. Wounds within the heart were something else. The pain of others losing their lives can exceed even the pain of losing our own limbs The pain of knowing others are suffering—even though still alive—is enough to make the safe one suffer. Enough to make one weep.

David and his band of warriors had been operating in Philistine territory since Saul was hunting for him in Israel. They sheltered their families at a place called Ziklag while they hunted for their enemies. They returned from one mission to find that the Amalekites had attacked Ziklag, burned it, and taken the wives and children as captives.

It was enough to make hardened warriors weep. And they did.

Yet, these were not tears of despair. The captives were still alive. They would soon be rescued. The account ends with these words, “Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back” (1 Samuel 30:19).

These were tears of love. The pain was in the heart. Years later, David would weep again saying, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18:33)

It reminds us of the shortest verse in the English Bible: “Jesus wept.”

As with David, these were not tears of despair. Though others were weeping over the death of Lazarus, Jesus knew his friend would walk out of that grave alive in just a few minutes.

These were tears of love. It pained Jesus to know what Lazarus had gone through. This was not what the Creator intended for the crown of his creation. Life was to be lived in joy, not pain. Not with death.

It was enough to make the Son of God weep. And he did.

It was a sign that he would take on the enemies of those he loved and make things right.

And he did.

Eisenhower had reason to cry. So did David. So did Jesus. At times, so do we.

A warrior wounded in body during battle is given a Purple Heart. It’s a medal that can be displayed with a degree of pride.

Wounds within the heart earn no medal. They often are hidden, as if in shame.

But those who respect a General Eisenhower, and understand a King David, and worship a Lord Jesus—they know shame is not in such tears.

For them, the plaque can say of their tour of duty on earth: “Because they loved here, they wept here.”

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we remember how you lived on this earth. We remember how your love for us pained you. We remember how you took the battle to our enemy to overcome our greatest cause of pain. We thank you for your tears. Amen.

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

I call to you, LORD, come quickly to me; hear me when I call to you.
Psalm 141:1

First of all, and most of all, David was a warrior. His sword and shield did not go into storage when he became king. He claimed many victories and killed many enemies. He also found himself in extreme danger more than once.

His desperate cries for help are recorded on the pages of Holy Writ. More than once, we hear him call out, “Lord, come quickly!”

Had he been caught in danger in Southeast Asia during what is called The Vietnam War, his call to “Come quickly!” might have been expressed with the words, “Prairie fire!”

This was the code-phrase Green Beret reconnaissance teams used when they found themselves about to be overrun by the enemy. The call, “Prairie fire!” brought in all available assets to suppress enemy fire while the team was extracted by helicopter.

In January of 1971, Recon Team Colorado’s eight men were attacked by about forty North Vietnamese. We can still listen to the frantic call, “Prairie fire! Prairie fire!” from a tape of the radio transmissions that a crew in a Huey recorded on that day.

A calm voice replied, “This is Delta Papa-Three.” The coordinator announced that help was on the way.

But almost immediately, another cry of “Prairie fire! Prairie fire!” came over the radio. This was from a team ten miles away. The rescuers were needed at two places at once.

An impossible situation. Lives were lost.

Maybe we have desperately called for help when our life was at risk. Perhaps we will need to do so in the future. But it doesn’t need to be a life or death situation to make us desperate.

Desperation comes when we see no way out of a place in life where we do not want to be. Desperation does not want to be put on hold. It isn’t satisfied with, “You’ll need to wait your turn.”

When we come into a busy ER with pain and bleeding, we don’t want the doctor in charge to say, “Put him over there until we can work him in.” We want to hear the word: “STAT!”

We never want to hear the word “Impossible!”

Yet, sometimes that is precisely the case. We cannot expect miracles. Or can we?

David did.

His enemies may have counted him as already dead. He wrote, “They will say…our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.”

They may say that, he thought: “But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death” (Psalm 141: 7,8).

The LORD did not.

We think of those surrounded soldiers calling out for help to come quickly. We picture them staring into the sky and fixing their eyes on the approaching helo. They knew it would need to come in hot. We expect they were praying it would not be shot down. They probably had no idea that another team needed to be rescued at the same time.

They just knew the trouble they were in.

We think of the LORD, our God who hears cries for immediate help from countless voices all over the world at the same time. We think of the angels he sends out to guard and keep his people in need. We remember, sometimes their mission is to carry a soul to glory.

We need not worry about how busy the prayer traffic might be. The LORD can be at two places at one time. He is at every place at all times.

He has told us, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

We will remember that the next time we need to call out, “Prairie fire!”

Prayer: Sovereign LORD, we cannot comprehend what it means that you are God. We only know that you can do all things. You have assured us that you watch over us. You promise to help us in our time of need. Help us to understand that this will happen—even if we do not see the angels hovering. Amen.

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.” All day long the battle raged, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound ran onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died.
1 Kings 22:34,35

The old song laments, “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.” While the words may cause us to smile, we can relate to them. At times, it seems that luck rules our lives. Survivors from battlefields have observed that there seldom was reasoning behind why one person was wounded, another killed, and still another untouched.

The phrase was, “If the bullet has your name on it ….” Living or dying happens by chance.

It might seem that much of life goes that way. The car accident that didn’t happen because we came five seconds late; the tornado that demolished one house and left the nearby one untouched; the lotteries, won or lost.

If we do not have absolute control over what is going to happen, must we not agree that much of life is left up to chance?

If Ahab, once king of Israel, was still alive, he would be violently shaking his head, “No!”

One of the most wicked kings in Israel’s history, he planned with the king of Judah to attack the king of Aram—a land now called Syria. Judah’s king said they should first check to see if this would have the Lord’s blessing. A group of prophets quickly told the kings what they wanted to hear: “Go, for the Lord will give it into your hand!”

Uncertain, the king of Judah asked, “Is there no longer a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?”

There was one. His name was Micaiah. Ahab’s reaction was, “But I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad.”

So Ahab was dismayed, but not surprised, when the faithful prophet of the Lord announced the attack would end in disaster. Then the order was given: “This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.”

Micaiah replied, “If you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me.”

This gave Ahab pause, but not enough to stop him. He improvised in an attempt to overcome. He told the king of Judah to ride into the battle wearing his royal robes. He, instead, would enter the battle disguised, figuring he could not be targeted if he was not recognized.

Those on the ground might have been fooled, but not those in heaven. An arrow targeted him as well as any modern guided missile ever could. We are told, “But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor.”

It was a random shot, but not a lucky one. The king was killed not by chance, but by the direct, all-knowing will of his Creator and Judge.

So the will of God rules also over our lives. He will not force us to obey him or to be blessed by him. He gives us the freedom to ignore and despise him. We can turn our back on his offer of love and guidance. We can scoff at his invitation to accept the payment that his Son made for our sin.

But in the end, his will will be done.

He taught us to pray for that. In faith, we entrust our lives into his good and gracious hands.

We do not live by chance.

Prayer: How many times, good and gracious Lord, have you heard us think that life happens by chance? How many times will you need to correct us? How often will we need to be reassured that your rule is over all, and your will for us is that we receive the good that we need? Give us the certainty that the Holy Spirit alone can work. Amen.

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Revelation 2:6

Admiral William F. Halsey told his troops: “Kill Japs, Kill Japs, Kill more Japs.”

Two thousand years earlier, someone else said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:43,44).

It may appear that the two commands contrast hate with love. If so, we know that if we must choose, we better side with the One at the highest level in the chain-of-command.

However, a closer look shows that any contradiction is of our own making.

There is a place for hate in the life of a Christian. Jesus hates. He commends some who hate. But he alone “paints the target” for hatred. The crosshairs are to be on the sin. Not the sinner.

We might say it is only natural to hate someone who hates us. Such hatred is energized when that someone is trying to kill us. “Hate the sin but love the sinner” is easier to say than to do. Actually, it is impossible without the powerful guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord God both gives the command and provides the example.

We cherish the words, “God so loved the world….” We easily overlook that those who made up the world were his enemies who embraced sin.

We grimace at the thought of sinless Jesus being tortured and executed. Yet his response was, “Father, forgive them!”

So we gladly quote the famous saying, “To err is human, to forgive, divine.”

We know that love and forgiveness are characteristic marks of the holy God. But we admit these traits are not natural to us.

Thus, we need forgiveness for the forgiveness we do not offer to others. This we understand. But how does hate fit into all of this?

We note that Jesus commended the Christians at Ephesus for hating—not the Nicolaitans—but what they were doing. That’s a critical difference.

We don’t know much about those Nicolaitans. We assume they were teaching and living contrary to the Word of God. Thus, they were a threat to God’s people.

We understand threats. We know sometimes the threat is to one’s very life, physical or spiritual. We realize such threats must either be avoided or neutralized.

Sometimes, threats must be eliminated by force. Sometimes, the force must be deadly.

Warriors know that. They must train for that. They must plan for that. Emotions become involved. But the emotions must be controlled. That’s part of the training.

Non-combatants may be surprised to learn some veterans of battles-past have returned to meet with former enemies—whom they now respect. Whom they even treat now as friends.

They ask, “You once tried to kill each other, and now you’re shaking hands? How can that be?”

The answer is, the threat is gone. Only the person is left.

Love what God loves, and hate what God hates!

The psalmist said it best: “Let those who love the Lord hate evil” (Psalm 97:10).

It’s as simple as that.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, Jesus said you would guide us into all truth. We surely need that guidance. You are the power from on high. We surely need that power. Enable us to recognize evil of every kind, and fight against it fiercely. Help us to reflect your love even to those who are against us. We pray that our enemies may become our allies in the fight against evil. We pray for peace. Amen.

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
John 1:16

In the song about “America the Beautiful,” the words declare: “God shed his grace on thee….”

Truer words have not been spoken.

But they are sometimes misunderstood. Sometimes overlooked. And sometimes forgotten.

Grace means undeserved love. If we skip over “undeserved,” we fall into the dark hole of presumption and arrogance. We find ourselves thinking that America is great because Americans made it that way.

We forget that America is nothing without God and will return to nothing if it forgets God.

There is a current tendency by some to point to America’s past with accusing eyes. Charges are made about the abuse of slavery, mistreatment of Indians, and other white-dominance issues.

We dare not cover up sin. But we also must guard against slander. When we point accusing fingers at others without knowing either the times in which they lived or the motivations of their hearts, we join in with the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.

We dare not ignore the magnitude of blessing that the Lord God has granted to this nation. We should not dismiss the efforts of our forefathers who worked and sacrificed to make our life better. We are a richly blessed nation.

The rich blessing is the result of shed grace.

The phrase “God shed his grace on thee …” brings to mind an apple tree shedding its fruit. Those who stand under its branches can see the apples drop and eat from its bounty. If it were a pine tree, if the tree were dead, there would be no apple pies.

If the questions are raised, “Where do apple trees come from, and what causes them to bear fruit?” the answer finally leads back to the benevolent Creator who caused plants to come forth from the ground and bear seeds according to their kind.

A tree shedding fruit today testifies to the love of God towards those who live on this planet.

It is a gift of grace.

But it pales in comparison to God’s great gift of grace. “He shed his grace on thee …” takes us back to the event of holy bloodshed.

There could be no grace for America if the undeserved love of the eternal God had not been purchased with the blood of the Son of God.

During the celebration of Holy Communion, we may have heard the older words, “Given for you …” as the body of Christ was given in, with, and under the consecrated bread. As the blood of Christ was offered in, with, and under the consecrated wine, the words were: “Shed for you for the remission of sins….”

This is the picture of divine grace: blood dropping from hands, from feet and from side, onto Judean soil.

Holy bloodshed.

Sin paid for.

Undeserved love.

The Lord of the nations shed his blood in a far-off land in the Middle East. The blessing it bought flowed out to all nations—even to the undeserving land of America.

Even to us.

Out of the fullness of God’s mercy we have received grace upon grace.

Those who sing the words of “America the Beautiful” today need to join in with those before us who have sung:

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen.
(Christian Worship: 334)

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Our God has a way of turning our assumptions on their heads. If we assume there are three Gods because we are told of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, he corrects us: Only one God.

If we assume the only way to get to heaven is by leading a good life, he corrects us: Not by works, but by faith.

If we assume that weakness and strength are opposites, he educates us: Weakness can be strength.

The apostle Paul learned this to be true in his life. God now uses him to explain it to us with the words, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

He wasn’t talking about muscle-building! It’s about faith-building. Much more important!

The account of the ministry of Saint Paul is sprinkled heavily with failures, dangers, and disasters. Already when he was first called into service, the Lord had said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” (Acts 9:16). Wouldn’t make for a good recruiting poster, but it was accurate.

In this second letter to the Corinthian congregation, he answered those who considered him second-rate compared to some so-called super pastors. He told about the time when he, somehow, was given a view of heaven. So he would not become conceited over this, he explained, he was then given what he called a “thorn in the flesh.”

Perhaps this thorn was weak eyesight. Maybe it was some disease or a condition like epilepsy. Whatever, it humbled him. It reminded him of how dependent he was upon his Creator and Redeemer. It drove him to his knees.

It led him to his Strength.

The pattern was set by Jesus. Crowds were impressed by the power of his miracles. Who wouldn’t be? But the show of his power was not going to defeat the powers of darkness. Raising some dead bodies to live again for a while on this earth would not bring about the resurrection to life eternal in glory for us.

To accomplish his mission, Jesus would need to submit to weakness.

He had to undergo disrespect and shame. He would have to submit to torture. He would become so weak that someone else would need to finally carry his cross.

He didn’t enjoy that. In feverish prayer he begged his Father for another way to rescue mankind. There was none. Instead, angels were sent to strengthen him to endure the weakness. He didn’t argue. Instead, he said, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

The apostle Paul responded with the same attitude when his request was denied for that thorn in the flesh to be removed.

So it should be with us.

Life is not going to be without frustration and failure. Pain is going to be part of it. We will not be able to overcome every obstacle. At times we will feel weak—because we are weak.

But our God is not.

He uses our weakness to give us his strength. We will gain every needed victory.

We will overcome death.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, it is hard for us to admit our weaknesses. We would rather build ourselves up to make ourselves strong. We would rather fix our problems ourselves instead of being dependent upon anyone else—including you. Keep us from such foolishness. Use our weakness to make us strong. Amen.

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.
John 21:18,19

For many, the transition from civilian to military life took some getting used to, but not unwelcome. After all, America now has all-volunteer Armed Forces. Recruits sign up for this.

Leaving the military for civilian life is also welcomed by many—but not by everyone. Some who have made a career out of serving their country in uniform find the transition to civilian life quite troubling. While not without problems, military life had offered meaning and stability that civilian life seemed to lack. More than one has faced the mandatory age for retirement with reluctance.

In fact, more than one combat veteran has admitted that he wished he had died on the battlefield instead of being ushered out with ribbons into a life he did not want.

Spiritual warriors have had the same experience. The apostle Peter was one of them.

If one were to describe Peter, the words courageous and quick to act would be used. Sometimes that got him in to trouble. We think of him pulling out his sword to attack those who came to make an arrest in Gethsemane. Jesus had to tell him to stand down.

Peter became a leader of Christians. The book of Acts reports his bravery when standing up to enemies of the Christian Church. He announced the good news of salvation with boldness.

He was a champion of the faith. His example inspired many, and his ministry served many. But the time would come that his life of service would end.

He always knew that. But Jesus warned him he would not like it. He would not want it. He would get old. Someone else would dress him. Someone else would lead him around. Others would control his life. Jesus was describing Peter’s final arrest and martyrdom.

That could be a most-troubling transition.

Change is hard if the change brings new problems. Change is harder if it signals the end of a way of life we treasured.

The hymnist lamented, “Change and decay in all around I see…” Sometimes, we might sing those words with conviction.

The Bible warns that world conditions will deteriorate. Common sense tells us that we will deteriorate, too. No one can expect to escape the frailty of old age.

Except.

Except those who get an early discharge. Those who die young.

For the Christian, that would not be a tragedy. Loved ones would grieve, but the assertion of the apostle Paul stands: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

He wrote those words from a prison cell in danger of being executed. Death would indeed be a transition for him—but not a troubling one.

Jesus sought to take the trouble out of Peter’s transition by telling him in advance what would happen. This transition was part of God’s good and gracious plan.

So it is with us. So it will always be when the Lord allows changes to take place in our life. Every change.

We will never be dismissed to fend for ourselves. He will stay with us. He will be our guide, our POC, to lead us to where we should be—to where we want to be.

Always with him.

We join in the prayer of the hymnist:
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away.
Change and decay in all around I see;
O thou who changest not, Abide with me. Amen.
(Christian Worship 588:2)

Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer, WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military, Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.