Daily Devotions
Friday, June 13, 2025
This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.
Psalm 8:3-4 – When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?
Have you ever looked up into the night sky, away from the city lights, into the canopy of the starry heavens above, and felt small, lost in the vastness of it all?
David, the author of Psalm 8, had been a shepherd. Maybe that feeling came to him one night, out in the field with his flock of sheep. He looks up and sees an innumerable army of twinkling lights that seem to go on forever in every direction, and he feels lost, almost forgotten. But then he remembers the account of who put him here. He remembers why he’s here. The God of Abraham had made David and His people heirs of a great promise and an old calling, lost, but not forgotten. God, who had created everything simply by speaking—God, who had filled the earth and the seas and the heavens with creatures unnumbered—God, who reigns as King above a vast army of creatures in realms visible and invisible—the LORD had called David and all his human sisters and brothers to be co-rulers, partners in caring for the creation, to work it and to keep it. And David, in that moment, working the little patch of earth entrusted to him, caring for his flock, doing it all for the love of God and to the glory of God—David knew there was nothing he’d rather be doing.
Memorize the nine verses of David’s poem captured in Psalm 8, and you will feel his joy and wonder. But you might also feel a sense of loss, because the ideal of Psalm 8 has been lost—this picture for all humanity, created to be God’s wise and esteemed partners, working together to care for God’s good creation. We’ve gotten lost. That ancient serpent, a fallen creature, the devil, led us astray. We’ve gone missing in action. We were created and called to be God’s partners, but we’ve since become God’s enemies. But even while we were still enemies, God showed His concern for us. He sent His beloved Son to become one of us, a son of Adam, the Son of Man. God’s Son was made Man, a little “lower than the angels,” the book of Hebrews says, so that “by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9b). In other words, Jesus embraced our lostness on the cross. Then He rose from the dead to prove that God’s promise for us is not forgotten. Our calling is not lost.
You can count on this: until Jesus returns to finish the work, God—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, ever and always working together—God, will keep calling you, caring for you, finding new ways to partner with you, working in you and through you for the good of His creation, not because He has to, but because there’s nothing He’d rather be doing.
WE PRAY: O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your Name in all the earth through Jesus Christ. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour.
Reflection Questions:
- In your vocation, when do you get the sense that there’s nothing you’d rather be doing?
- Given the gifts and talents you bring to your calling, where do see God’s glory at work in you?
- In the next 90 days or so, how can you develop one of these gifts for greater service to your neighbors?
Today's Readings:
Proverbs 8-9John 21