“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” ELW 807 and LBW 499
1 Come, thou Fount of ev'ry blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
While the hope of endless glory
Fills my heart with joy and love,
Teach me ever to adore thee;
May I still they goodness prove.
2 Here I raise my Ebenezer,
Hither by thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand'ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed his precious blood.
3 Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be;
Let that grace now like a fetter
Bind my wand'ring heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it;
Seal it for thy courts above.
Devotion
It’s all well and good for Jesus to tell us not to worry. It’s great advice for us to let the worries of tomorrow take care of themselves. Who could argue when he says we can’t add a single minute to our lives by worrying?
The problem is, we have some very real things to worry about.
Yes, we worry about a lot of small things we should let go. But there are real dangers and threats and problems out there. Going to war brings you face-to-face with the reality of death and pain and suffering. Where is the hope in these things to keep you from worrying?
As always, the answer lies in turning our eyes away from ourselves toward Christ. Jesus knows that danger is real, that suffering and death is hanging over us. That’s why he didn’t just offer advice; he offered his own precious blood for our salvation.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, the dangers and problems of this world are real. Let your power over all these things be even more real, so that they will lose their power over us. Amen.