Saturday in God’s Word
Today’s Verses:
Mark 4:26-28 ESV
And (Jesus) said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.”
There is something disquieting about Saturdays. Are we resting? Rushing? Neither of these feels holy. It’s in the silence of this parable that Jesus invites us into the work of God’s kingdom: His world-transforming power isn’t dependent on our striving or speed.
The sower scatters seed, then lies down to sleep. No stress. No fiddling with the process. The seed grows as God intended it to grow. The sower isn’t lazy, he’s sleeping in the sovereignty of God.
God’s kingdom advances in the same way in our lives: not always by a grand miracle or dramatic event, but by patient, hidden, faithful growth.
Something we hear in a word of Scripture today may be at work next year, something we whisper in a prayer this morning may be answered in a way that we never fully trace. We don’t always see fruit in the church. But grace is at work. And when God is at work, nothing is hidden, and nothing can stop it.
Martin Luther knew this hidden power of the Word. “I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word,” he wrote, “and as I slept, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.”
Prayers
A Prayer for Today:
Lord of the harvest, teach me to trust in Your quiet work. Help me to rest, not in apathy, but in faith. Grow Your Word in me, even when I cannot see. Make me patient and grounded in Your promises. . Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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