Eighth Sunday after Trinity 26 July anno domini 2026 Morning Prayer
Ps 92 First Lesson. Proverbs 11:24-31 Second Lesson. Matthew 7:15-21
O GOD, whose never-failing providence ordereth
all things both in heaven and earth; We humbly
beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things,
and to give us those things which are profitable for us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
# 335, 544, 377
When is it good to give thanks to the Lord?
The psalmist writes in the 92nd Psalm about the best time to praise the Lord. It is at all times. There isn’t any exception, morning, noon, or night, Sabbath days, any days, all praise being in response to what God has provided for us. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:
2To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,
We have been given the privilege of being admitted to the presence of the Lord to give praise. We have this duty to praise the Lord not only in public, at weekly worship, but everyday; not only in public, but in private, and in our families. And how do we give praise and worship?3Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound. 4For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. 5O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
We should give thanks for the blessing of another night’s rest, give thanks for the end of another day added to our lives. We need to give thanks for everything, our employment or impending employment, we need to thank the Lord for all that he has blessed us with, food, shelter, health, and peace. 12The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; 15To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
There are so many folk who do not know the designs of God’s providence or worse yet do not care to know them. And yet those who do know have that much more reason to be thankful. Think about those who waited years for the coming of the Savior. They waited in great anticipation, it moved their very spirit, as they waited. We see those who met Mary and Joseph when they brought Jesus to the temple for presentation, they burst into songs of praise. Two strangers, Anna, a widow, served the Lord for 84 years at the temple and Simeon, a just and devout man, who was waiting for the Messiah. Each of them brought a blessing to the couple and the baby Jesus. How much more should we praise the Lord, now having the full Word of the Lord in our possession, having knowledge of his first and second coming, and knowledge and gift of salvation?
We know that rain falls on the just and the unjust. There are certain properties of nature that bless all who live on earth. In many cases, those who are unjust flourish for a season, we should focus on eternity. We need to seek for ourselves the salvation and grace of the gospel, being daily anointed by the Holy Spirit, helping us to behold and share in Christ the Redeemer’s glory. It is from his grace, by his Word and Spirit, that we as believers receive all the virtue that keeps us alive. This lively salvation makes us fruitful. From our Proverbs passage we read; There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. 25The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. 26He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. 27He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.
In light of the illustration of fruitful trees, older trees in nature sometimes begin to bear less fruit or no fruit. But in God’s trees (us) the strength of grace does not fail with the advancing of age. The last days of a saint are sometime their best days, and their last work is their best work: perseverance is sure evidence of sincerity.
I received word a number of years aga of the home going of a missionary nurse I knew who labored in the deep jungles of eastern Panama. Sara Watkins had labored among the Embara and Choco Indians for at least 47 years. She was for all intents and purposes a doctor or nurse practitioner at the least. She did minor surgeries, set bones, saved infant children for parasitic infestations, too many cases to adequately recount.
Sara worked with another nurse, Edel Rassmussen, from Denmark. Edel sent out a long e mail detailing the last evening of Sara here on earth. Edel made sure Sara was in bed, then retired to her quarters, she came back much later in the evening and found Sara had gone to be with her Lord and Savior.
The point of this brief biography; Sara was 81 years old! She was still healing the sick, translating gospel notes and giving several Bible studies a week to the women of both tribes there in the jungles of the province of Darien in the Republic of Panama.
Some people are busy until the end of their lives. It doesn’t have to be missionary work, far from home and family, it can be helping someone nearby, helping a neighbor, a friendly greeting and just a ready shoulder or listening ear. We can make a difference, we can be a mission for the Lord, where ever we are.
So how does this all tie in? We praise the Lord in our all. Psalm 92 gives us a steady template to follow every day. Beloved, let us go forth and praise the LORD.
Let us pray:
ALMIGHTY God, whose compassions fail not, and whose loving-kindness reacheth unto the world’s end; We give thee humble thanks for opening heathen lands to the light of thy truth; for making paths in the deep waters and highways in the desert; and for planting thy Church in all the earth. Grant, we beseech thee, unto us thy servants, that with lively faith we may labour abundantly to make known to all men thy blessed gift of eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, who declarest thy glory and showest forth thy handiwork in the heavens and in the earth; Deliver us, we beseech thee, in our several callings, from the service of mammon, that we may do the work which thou givest us to do, in truth, in beauty, and in righteousness, with singleness of heart as thy servants, and to the benefit of our fellow men; for the sake of him who came among us as one that serveth, thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
ALMIGHTY God, who hast promised to hear the petitions of those who ask in thy Son’s Name; We beseech thee mercifully to incline thine ears to us who have now made our prayers and supplications unto thee; and grant that those things which we have faithfully asked according to thy will, may effectually be obtained, to the relief of our necessity, and to the setting forth of thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
