The Devil's Deceit
As for me, I said in my prosperity, "I shall never be moved." By Your favor, 0 LORD, You made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face; I was dismayed.
PSALM 30:6-7
+
The Devil's Deceit
When God has given us an excellent faith, so that we live in the strong confidence that we have a gracious God through Christ, then we are in paradise. But before we expect it, things can change so that God causes our hearts to fall down and we think that He wants to tear the Lord Christ out of our hearts. He can be so concealed from us that we can have no comfort in Him. Rather, the devil inserts terrible thoughts about Him into our hearts, so that our conscience feels that it has lost Him. Then [our conscience] wavers and trembles as if we had merited only wrath and hostility from Him by our sins. . .. Why does God let His loved ones experience this? To be sure, it does not happen without reason, nor from wrath or hostility, but from great grace and kindness. He wants to show us how He deals with us in a friendly and fatherly way in all things, and how faithfully He cares for His own people and guides them so that their faith is always trained more and more and becomes stronger and stronger.
From the Church Postil, sermon for Epiphany 1 on Luke 2:41-52 (Luther's Works 76:195-96, 197-98)
PSALM 30:6-7
+
The Devil's Deceit
When God has given us an excellent faith, so that we live in the strong confidence that we have a gracious God through Christ, then we are in paradise. But before we expect it, things can change so that God causes our hearts to fall down and we think that He wants to tear the Lord Christ out of our hearts. He can be so concealed from us that we can have no comfort in Him. Rather, the devil inserts terrible thoughts about Him into our hearts, so that our conscience feels that it has lost Him. Then [our conscience] wavers and trembles as if we had merited only wrath and hostility from Him by our sins. . .. Why does God let His loved ones experience this? To be sure, it does not happen without reason, nor from wrath or hostility, but from great grace and kindness. He wants to show us how He deals with us in a friendly and fatherly way in all things, and how faithfully He cares for His own people and guides them so that their faith is always trained more and more and becomes stronger and stronger.
From the Church Postil, sermon for Epiphany 1 on Luke 2:41-52 (Luther's Works 76:195-96, 197-98)
Posted in Daily Devotions
Recent
Archive
2026
January
In The GardenBy Your Own LawA Kingdom Not From HereThe King Who Bears Witness to the TruthWhich Jesus Will You Have?Behold the King We MockedBehold the Man, Lifted for YouAuthority from Above, Glory from the CrossBehold Your King, Lifted Up to JudgeThe Place of the SkullIt Is WrittenEvery Promise KeptStabat MaterIt Is FinishedThese Three TestifyA True TestimonyA Quiet Courage at the CrossThe Empty Tomb and the Wounded SaviorSeeing, Believing, and the Linen Left BehindCalled by Name in the GardenDo Not Cling, Go and TellPeace in Wounded HandsThe Wounds That Speak PeaceYou May Have LifeMy Lord and My GodFishingIt Is the LordThey KnewFeed My LambsFollow HimFollowing Jesus, Not Comparing Paths
February
The Testimony That Is EnoughBefore Kings, Before the CrossBefore You Were Born, the Word Was GivenSet Like FlintRemembering First LoveForsaking the FountainBroken Cisterns and the Living CrossAshamed of Our False RescuesForgottenWe Have SinnedLift Up Your EyesLike SisterReturn to the LordThe Gift of ShepherdsOur Only HopeShame That Leads to SalvationCircumcised HeartsBlow the Trumpet in the LandWhen Wisdom FailsThe Storm We Have SummonedThe Sound of the TrumpetWhen Wisdom Becomes FollyThe Earth Shall MournCan You Find One?There Is No DifferenceThe Lord Must InterveneSpeak TruthEnduring Nation
March
A RemnantA Deaf People, a Faithful GodFlee to the StrongholdCut Down to Be HealedNo Superficial PeaceStand at the CrossroadsRefined by Fire, Redeemed by the CrossTrust in the Lord, Not in Your HandsHe Flipped TablesPoured Out on JesusYou Are His PeopleTruth Has RisenSilence in the CitiesWhat Have I Done?Not a Bone Shall Be BrokenWhen Wisdom Becomes FoolishnessBitter MedicineThe Hiss of Judgment, the Promise of the CrossThe Wound of Sin and the Healing of ChristIs There No Balm?Truth at the CrossRefined by the LordScatteredRuinedDeath Has ComeBoast In The LordLike ScarecrowsNone Like Our GodGods That PerishWounded, Yet Not ForsakenDisciplined, Not Destroyed