Lutheran Woman's Quarterly
Spring 2023 "God's Chosen People"
Editor's Note
Chosen: to select as the best for oneself.
Choosing me to dance, sing, or write would give positive results, but don’t choose me for a sports team — even a backyard one (ask my husband; my Jarts playing is considered dangerous!).
How do you feel when you’re not chosen — even when
you’re the best qualified? How do you feel when you are chosen — even when you’re not the best qualified?
“Chosen” can be positive or negative — easy or hard. Eve and Job were chosen to be tempted by Satan. Temptation came in something desirous for one and in great sorrow and well-intentioned, but bad, advice for the other. David was chosen as king, but what he went through before he became one! He was also chosen to fight someone who could easily squash him. How did he dare? Mary, the chosen, unwed mother of Jesus, could have been stoned — if it were up to the authorities.
Many experience not being chosen — being left out — being abandoned by friends or family. Sorrow and hurt follow. There are stories of children’s lack of inheritance: the parents disinherit one child while another, literally, gets the whole farm, worth millions.
We might not be an Eve, a Job, a David, or a Mary, but we are God’s children who are never left out or abandoned. We all are chosen to receive our inheritance — salvation by faith through God’s grace. We all get the priceless inheritance! What joy!
Thanks be to God!
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man (Psalm 33:12–13).
Sheila Lutz, Editor-in-Chief
FEATURES
7 | Chosen
| 2023 Prayer Service Information
IN EVERY ISSUE
| Editor’s Note
1 | Praying the Psalms
14 | Grants at Work: Serving the Littlest and the Least of These or read it online here.
28 | Shop LWML
29 | President’s Page – Call to Convention
BIBLE STUDIES
available to download and print
16 | God’s Chosen People … Yesterday and Today — Bible Study
God’s Chosen People … Yesterday and Today — Leader Guide
18 | Alive in God’s Word — Leader Guide
20 | Chosen for a Purpose — Leader Guide
21 | Escojida para un Propósito — Bible Study
Escojida para un Propósito — Leader Guide
We want to tell your story!
Share it with us at editor@lwml.org
Future Quarterly Themes:
FALL 2023: Supporting Missions
(Submit by April 1, 2023)
How can missions be a family affair?
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).
WINTER 2023: Equipping Women
(Submit by July 1, 2023)
How does God equip His people?
… may the God of peace … our Lord Jesus Christ, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ … (Hebrews 13:20–21).
