All Ye Who Hear

“Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren!
Meine geliebte Seele, das ist mein Begehren.
Kommet zu Hauf!
Psalter und Harfe, wacht auf!
Lasset den Lobgesang hören!”

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation
O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear,
Now to his temple draw near,
Join me in glad adoration!”

For school this semester, Mark and I are taking a WWII history class. We have to choose a subject for a Power Point presentation and I chose Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I knew it would be challenging and chose this topic for that reason. Corrie ten Boom’s story and quotes and writings have been such an encouragement to me over the years, but I’ve had a more difficult time tackling Bonhoeffer’s writings. I started the Eric Metaxas’ biography last week and this week I started reading Letters and Papers from Prison. I can see that God was in this choice of assignment as I read Bonhoeffer’s words written to his family years before I was born. Soon after he was captured, he writes to his family of the last celebration they had together; his father’s 75th birthday, “The 75th birthday celebrations were a fortnight ago today. It was a splendid day. I can still hear the hymns that we sang in the morning and evening, with all the voices and instruments: ‘Praise to The Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation…Shelters thee under his wings, yea, and gently sustaineth.”

Father, I love you and praise you. Hold me up as I learn anew to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…to pray without ceasing…to trust and obey.