David Bahn – Reflections

Light from the Word and through the lens

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In 1968 Jerry Snell opened a door in the hallway outside our first hour chemistry class. He invited me into what I discovered was a darkroom. Soon I was on the school newspaper and annual staff as a photographer. Later I learned that Jerry was a Lutheran who was planning to become a pastor. A few years later I was not only a Lutheran, but I was heading off to seminary to become a Lutheran pastor, too. Jerry followed a year later and served as a pastor in Missouri until his untimely heart attack and death. I thank God for Jerry and enjoy photography still today – not to mention rejoicing in having served as a Lutheran pastor in congregations in Utah, Colorado, Arkansas and Texas. I’ve retired now and serve part time as a Congregational Support Specialist for the Texas District of the LCMS. I also provide coaching and leadership training through various PLI cohorts and with individual congregations and organizations. David Bahn is a follower of Jesus Christ, husband to Diane, father and grandfather. He is an avid amateur photographer. His photo website is “Flowers by God Photos by David” He also publishes a devotional blog DavidBahn-Reflections.com. He and Diane live in Cypress Texas and enjoy visiting their grandchildren who live in the United States and Germany. He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in 1979, and earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1991. Diane, his wife, is now retired from PLI (PLIleadership.org). They have offered presentations on Marriage and Ministry Partnership, Leadership, Changing Your Congregation’s Culture, and Missional Living. They look are working with PLI International training pastors and wives of the ELVD Diocese of the Lutheran Church of Tanzania. David’s personal mission statement is “Leading people to realize Jesus’ calling and plans for their lives.”

PODCAST LINK

Follow the Word: “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

Due to technical difficulties, the podcast for this devotion failed to be posted. It is available now.

Listen to Today’s Devotion

Today’s readings: Joel 1-3; Psalm 94.

Joel 2:28-32

“And it shall come to pass afterward,
    that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    your old men shall dream dreams,
    and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. 

“Barbara” (George H. W. Bush’s wife’s name) This is a replica of the kind of plane that he flew in WW II.
Lone Star Flight Museum | August 2026

This passage from Joel is quoted by Peter on Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples and about three thousand people were baptized and added to their number (Acts 2:16–21, 41). What a glorious day, often referred to as the birthday of the Christian Church. Peter tells us that what was happening was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy.

Joel begins with devastation. He describes a horde of locusts devouring the land. What one swarm leaves behind, another consumes. The land had apparently suffered a terrible locust infestation. But Joel uses that devastation to point beyond itself. The invading swarm becomes a picture of an approaching army and, ultimately, of the coming Day of the LORD (Joel 1:4; 2:1–11).

In the face of this destruction and the coming Day of the LORD, Joel urgently calls the people of Judah and Jerusalem to repent:

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
(Joel 2:12–13, ESV)

Notice where the call to repentance leads. Joel points the people to the character of their God. Return to the LORD, for he is gracious and merciful. He is slow to anger. He abounds in steadfast love.

Joel then describes how the kindness and mercy of the LORD will be experienced. The LORD will dwell in the midst of his people. They will know that he is their God and that there is none else. Then comes this beautiful promise to a people who have known devastation and shame: “And my people shall never again be put to shame” (Joel 2:27, ESV).

Then comes the promise of the Holy Spirit.

God will pour out his Spirit “on all flesh.” Sons and daughters will prophesy. Old men will dream dreams, and young men will see visions. Even male and female servants will receive the Spirit. The usual distinctions of gender, generation, and social standing will be laid aside. Then will come wonders in the heavens and on the earth as the great Day of the LORD approaches.

And in the middle of all of this comes the promise:

“Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Joel 2:32, ESV).

This is the lavish love of God.

I like to picture it as God giving us a gift whose value we don’t fully understand. But God does more than put the gift into our hands. By his Spirit, he opens our hearts to recognize what he is giving us. He gives grace and mercy. He gives his Spirit. He moves us to call upon his name. And he promises that everyone who calls upon the name of the LORD will be saved.

We may not realize how desperately we need these gifts of God. It may be lost on us just how dead we are to his grace. That’s why this prophecy is so precious. In spite of our faults, failures, and faithlessness, God pours out his Spirit. He awakens faith in hearts that could not awaken themselves. He brings life where there was death and hope where there was shame.

“Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

Peter preached that promise on Pentecost. We call on him today by the power of this same Holy Spirit, confident that God’s word is true and he will save us.

Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.

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