May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, 7to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, 8to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, 9to carry out the sentence written against them—this is the glory of all his faithful people. Praise the Lord. (Psalm 149:6-9)

I am guessing right about now, our faithful servant Rob, is talking to God about next week's football game in Lubbock and seeing if it is okay for him to watch "College Gameday" and Tech football. I say this somewhat in jest because he would have not been asking at our retreat we hold in Oct of every year down in God's country on a ranch outside of Mason. Rob had a way of making it known that, come game time, all talk of God was to be put on hold and Texas Tech was going to be the business at hand. What Rob didn't know was that I had already calculated that in our time together and knew a break during Tech football was to be had.

Sadly we lost brother Rob last Thursday suddenly and pray for Pastor Hiner, his son, Brian, his son, Kim, his daughter, Sher, his wife, and their entire families on their loss. Together, we've lost a dad, grandfather, good friend, and brother in the faith in Rob, who was very supportive of our men's ministry, a faithful reader of our devotions who attended many of our activities.

The writer of the psalm expresses that we are singing a new song in earlier passages. The saints while here on earth praise God and carry a "double-edged sword." This "weapon" is no ordinary weapon we possess. From the study notes, we read:

"149:6–9 In Luther’s time, Thomas Münzer used these verses to ignite the Peasants’ War, urging the peasants to rise up and kill their masters to bring in God’s kingdom. A few generations later, Caspar Scloppius used the same text in the Thirty Years’ War to urge Roman Catholics to overthrow the Lutheran princes. But the Church must remember that “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh” (2 Corinthians 10:4). The sword Christians wield is God’s Word (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12). Lutherans traditionally have interpreted the two edges of God’s Word-sword as the Law and the Gospel. See note, Luke 3:14."

There is a danger when we use God's Word to promote our own agenda, as you see in the notes of the mis-use of this passage. God's Word, and his Word alone, will be victorious in this "new song" (v 1). Rather than war in our known way today, we use God's Word to deliver the necessary wound that only God's Word can then heal, Law and Gospel. The law convicts and the gospel suspends the sentence. God's mercy and forgiveness are assured through faith from our Holy Baptism. This frees us to use God's Word to bring others to this redeeming faith. This is something Rob and the other saints knew and now enjoy in the church. We are a redeemed people.

Pray with me: Gracious God, merciful Father, we thank you for the grace you give us. Help us as your saints to profess your Word to a lost world, seeking meaning and forgiveness. Help us as sinners to tell this same lost world of our only hope found in your grace by using your Word to save this lost world in the same way you saved us. We rejoice in our salvation that brings us into your presence when we leave this world. While we are saddened at loss on earth of loved ones, we rejoice knowing one day we will see them again in your glory. In Christ's name, Amen.