Daily Lesson for April 9, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from John chapter 16, selected verses:

‘I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. 2They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. . .

‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5But now I am going to him who sent me . . . 7Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

Today marks the anniversary date of the execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor turned doubled agent against the Nazi regime who was condemned for his role in the failed assassination of Hitler and other activities subversive to the Nazi regime. He was executed on April 9, 1945, just days before Allied forces liberated the camp where he was imprisoned.

In the last months before his arrest, just as the attempts to assassinate Hitler were being considered, Bonhoeffer wrote a pastoral letter to his co-conspirators. It is titled "After Ten Years", and is a reflection on the ten years of Nazi rule, and the courage they need to go on resisting Nazism, though doing so greatly imperiled their own lives.

In the letter Bonhoeffer writes of courage and says this:

"I believe that God will give us all the strength we need to help us to resist in all times of distress. But he never gives it in advance, lest we should rely on ourselves and not on him alone."

In today's Lesson Jesus promises courage and strength are coming in the Spirit. The disciples do not have it yet; but they also do not need it yet. But it is on the way, Jesus says. And what is in Him will be given to them.

Do not fret or worry about the future, beloved, and whether you will have what you need. The Spirit will come and give you what you need for the facing of the day and of the hour. The Spirit will come and strengthen and encourage you that you will not lose heart.

So be not afraid.

The old Lutheran hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, says:

"Did we in our own strength confide,

Our striving would be losing;

Were not the right Man on our side,

The Man of God's own choosing."

It is not in our own strength that we confide. The strength of God is given us. And this is the strength of the spirit, the advocate -- the one who stands at our side and gives us the words to speak and the courage to speak them.

So be not afraid, indeed. For the spirit will come to strengthen and help you right when you need it most -- and not a moment too soon, or too late.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.