THEINC-HIM Dily Bible Meditation - March 1 - Full Text!

Genesis 1:1 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation

MARCH 1

PSALMS: 1, 31, 61, 91, 121

PROVERBS: 1

OLD TESTAMENT: 1 SAMUEL 29:1 - 31:13

NEW TESTAMENT: JOHN 11:55 - 12:19

PSALMS: 1

¹ Blessed is the man

who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or stand in the way of sinners

or sit in the seat of mockers.

² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.

⁴ Not so the wicked!

They are like chaff

that the wind blows away.

⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

⁶ For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish. ¹

PSALMS: 31

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge;

let me never be put to shame;

deliver me in your righteousness.

² Turn your ear to me,

come quickly to my rescue;

be my rock of refuge,

a strong fortress to save me.

³ Since you are my rock and my fortress,

for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

⁴ Free me from the trap that is set for me,

for you are my refuge.

⁵ Into your hands I commit my spirit;

redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.

⁶ I hate those who cling to worthless idols;

I trust in the LORD.

⁷ I will be glad and rejoice in your love,

for you saw my affliction

and knew the anguish of my soul.

⁸ You have not handed me over to the enemy

but have set my feet in a spacious place.

⁹ Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;

my eyes grow weak with sorrow,

my soul and my body with grief.

¹⁰ My life is consumed by anguish

and my years by groaning;

my strength fails because of my affliction, ^A

and my bones grow weak. ²

¹¹ Because of all my enemies,

I am the utter contempt of my neighbors;

I am a dread to my friends--

those who see me on the street flee from me.

¹² I am forgotten by them as though I were dead;

I have become like broken pottery.

¹³ For I hear the slander of many;

there is terror on every side;

they conspire against me

and plot to take my life.

¹⁴ But I trust in you, O LORD;

I say, "You are my God."

¹⁵ My times are in your hands;

deliver me from my enemies

and from those who pursue me.

¹⁶ Let your face shine on your servant;

save me in your unfailing love.

¹⁷ Let me not be put to shame, O LORD,

for I have cried out to you;

but let the wicked be put to shame

and lie silent in the grave. ^B

¹⁸ Let their lying lips be silenced,

for with pride and contempt

they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

¹⁹ How great is your goodness,

which you have stored up for those who fear you,

which you bestow in the sight of men

on those who take refuge in you.

²⁰ In the shelter of your presence you hide them

from the intrigues of men;

in your dwelling you keep them safe ³

from accusing tongues.

²¹ Praise be to the LORD,

for he showed his wonderful love to me

when I was in a besieged city.

²² In my alarm I said,

"I am cut off from your sight!"

Yet you heard my cry for mercy

when I called to you for help.

²³ Love the LORD, all his saints!

The LORD preserves the faithful,

but the proud he pays back in full.

²⁴ Be strong and take heart,

all you who hope in the LORD. ⁴

PSALMS: 61

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. Of David.

¹ Hear my cry, O God;

listen to my prayer.

² From the ends of the earth I call to you,

I call as my heart grows faint;

lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

³ For you have been my refuge,

a strong tower against the foe.

⁴ I long to dwell in your tent forever

and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

Selah

⁵ For you have heard my vows, O God;

you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

⁶ Increase the days of the king's life,

his years for many generations.

⁷ May he be enthroned in God's presence forever;

appoint your love and faithfulness to protect him.

⁸ Then will I ever sing praise to your name

and fulfill my vows day after day. ⁵

PSALMS: 91

¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. ^A

² I will say ^B of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust."

³ Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare

and from the deadly pestilence.

⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

nor the plague that destroys at midday.

⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

⁸ You will only observe with your eyes

and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹ If you make the Most High your dwelling--

even the LORD, who is my refuge--

¹⁰ then no harm will befall you,

no disaster will come near your tent.

¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways;

¹² they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

¹³ You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;

you will trample the great lion and the serpent. ⁶

¹⁴ "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

¹⁵ He will call upon me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honor him.

¹⁶ With long life will I satisfy him

and show him my salvation." ⁷

PSALMS: 121

A song of ascents.

¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills--

where does my help come from?

² My help comes from the LORD,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip--

he who watches over you will not slumber;

⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD watches over you--

the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm--

he will watch over your life;

⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore. ⁸

PROVERBS: 1

1 ¹ The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

² for attaining wisdom and discipline;

for understanding words of insight;

³ for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,

doing what is right and just and fair;

⁴ for giving prudence to the simple,

knowledge and discretion to the young--

⁵ let the wise listen and add to their learning,

and let the discerning get guidance--

⁶ for understanding proverbs and parables,

the sayings and riddles of the wise.

⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,

but fools^A despise wisdom and discipline.

⁸ Listen, my son, to your father's instruction

and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

⁹ They will be a garland to grace your head

and a chain to adorn your neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you,

do not give in to them.

¹¹ If they say, "Come along with us;

let's lie in wait for someone's blood,

let's waylay some harmless soul;

¹² let's swallow them alive, like the grave, ^{B 9}

and whole, like those who go down to the pit;

¹³ we will get all sorts of valuable things

and fill our houses with plunder;

¹⁴ throw in your lot with us,

and we will share a common purse"--

¹⁵ my son, do not go along with them,

do not set foot on their paths;

¹⁶ for their feet rush into sin,

they are swift to shed blood.

¹⁷ How useless to spread a net

in full view of all the birds!

¹⁸ These men lie in wait for their own blood;

they waylay only themselves!

¹⁹ Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain;

it takes away the lives of those who get it.

²⁰ Wisdom calls aloud in the street,

she raises her voice in the public squares;

²¹ at the head of the noisy streets ^C she cries out,

in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:

²² "How long will you simple ones ^D love your simple ways?

How long will mockers delight in mockery

and fools hate knowledge?

²³ If you had responded to my rebuke,

I would have poured out my heart to you

and made my thoughts known to you.

²⁴ But since you rejected me when I called

and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,

^{2 5}since you ignored all my advice

and would not accept my rebuke,

²⁶ I in turn will laugh at your disaster; ¹⁰

I will mock when calamity overtakes you--

²⁷ when calamity overtakes you like a storm,

when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,

when distress and trouble overwhelm you.

²⁸ "Then they will call to me but I will not answer;

they will look for me but will not find me.

²⁹ Since they hated knowledge

and did not choose to fear the LORD,

³⁰ since they would not accept my advice

and spurned my rebuke,

³¹ they will eat the fruit of their ways

and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.

³² For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,

and the complacency of fools will destroy them;

³³ but whoever listens to me will live in safety

and be at ease, without fear of harm." ¹¹

OLD TESTAMENT: 1 SAMUEL 29:1 - 31:13

29 ¹ The Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel. ² As the Philistine rulers marched with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were marching at the rear with Achish. ³ The commanders of the Philistines asked, "What about these Hebrews?"

Achish replied, "Is this not David, who was an officer of Saul king of Israel? He has already been with me for over a year, and from the day he left Saul until now, I have found no fault in him."

⁴ But the Philistine commanders were angry with him and said, "Send the man back, that he may return to the place you assigned him. He must not go with us into battle, or he will turn against us during the fighting. How better could he regain his master's favor than by taking the heads of our own men? ⁵ Isn't this the David they sang about in their dances:

"`Saul has slain his thousands,

and David his tens of thousands'?"

⁶ So Achish called David and said to him, "As surely as the LORD lives, you have been reliable, and I would be pleased to have you serve with me in the army. From the day you came to me until now, I have found no fault in you, but the rulers don't approve of you. 

⁷ Turn back and go in peace; do nothing to displease the Philistine rulers."

⁸ "But what have I done?" asked David. "What have you found against your servant from the day I came to you until now? Why ¹² can't I go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?"

⁹ Achish answered, "I know that you have been as pleasing in my eyes as an angel of God; nevertheless, the Philistine commanders have said, `He must not go up with us into battle.' ¹⁰ Now get up early, along with your master's servants who have come with you, and leave in the morning as soon as it is light."

¹¹ So David and his men got up early in the morning to go back to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

30 ¹ David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, ² and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.

³ When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. ⁴ So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. ⁵ David's two wives had been captured--Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ⁶ David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

⁷ Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the ephod." Abiathar brought it to him, ⁸ and David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I ¹³ overtake them?"

"Pursue them," he answered. "You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue."

⁹ David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Ravine, where some stayed behind, ¹⁰ for two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the ravine. But David and four hundred men continued the pursuit.

¹¹ They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat—¹² part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.

¹³ David asked him, "To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?"

He said, "I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. ¹⁴ We raided the Negev of the Kerethites and the territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag."

¹⁵ David asked him, "Can you lead me down to this raiding party?"

He answered, "Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them."

¹⁶ He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. ¹⁷ David fought them from dusk until the evening of the ¹⁴ next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. ¹⁸ David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. ¹⁹ Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. ²⁰ He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, "This is David's plunder."

²¹ Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Ravine. They came out to meet David and the people with him. As David and his men approached, he greeted them. ²² But all the evil men and troublemakers among David's followers said, "Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go."

²³ David replied, "No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and handed over to us the forces that came against us. ²⁴ Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike." ²⁵ David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this.

²⁶ When David arrived in Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, "Here is a present for you from the plunder of the LORD's enemies."

²⁷ He sent it to those who were in Bethel, Ramoth Negev and ¹⁵ Jattir; ²⁸ to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa ²⁹ and Racal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites; ³⁰ to those in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athach ³¹ and Hebron; and to those in all the other places where David and his men had roamed.

31 ¹ Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. ³ The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically.

⁴ Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me."

But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵ When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. ⁶ So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day.

⁷ When the Israelites along the valley and those across the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them. ^{16 8} The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

⁹ They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people. ¹⁰ They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.

¹¹ When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard of what the Philistines had done to Saul,

¹² all their valiant men journeyed through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. ¹³ Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days. ¹⁷

NEW TESTAMENT: JOHN 11:55 - 12:19

⁵⁵ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. ⁵⁶ They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Feast at all?" ⁵⁷ But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.

12 ¹ Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. ³ Then Mary took about a pint^A of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴ But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ⁵ "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages. ^B "

⁶ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

⁷ "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me." ^{18 9} Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, ¹¹ for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.

¹² The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

"Hosanna! ^C"

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" ^D

"Blessed is the King of Israel!"

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,

¹⁵ "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;

see, your king is coming,

seated on a donkey's colt." ^E

¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

¹⁷ Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the ¹⁹ word. ¹⁸ Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!" ²⁰

1 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

2 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

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11 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

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20 Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Bible NIV. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved

 John 3:16-21 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, F that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.G 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." H