THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation - April 4 - Full Text!

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

THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation

APRIL 4

PSALMS: 4, 34, 64, 94, 124

PROVERBS: 4

OLD TESTAMENT: 2 KINGS 6:1 - 7:20

NEW TESTAMENT: ACTS 15:36 - 16:15

PSALMS: 4

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.

¹ Answer me when I call to you,

O my righteous God.

Give me relief from my distress;

be merciful to me and hear my prayer.

² How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame ^A?

How long will you love delusions and seek false gods ^B?

Selah

³ Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;

the LORD will hear when I call to him.

⁴ In your anger do not sin;

when you are on your beds,

search your hearts and be silent.

Selah

⁵ Offer right sacrifices

and trust in the LORD.

⁶ Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"

Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.

⁷ You have filled my heart with greater joy

than when their grain and new wine abound.

⁸ I will lie down and sleep in peace,

for you alone, O LORD,

make me dwell in safety. ¹

PSALMS: 34

Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.

¹ I ^A will extol the LORD at all times;

his praise will always be on my lips.

² My soul will boast in the LORD;

let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

³ Glorify the LORD with me;

let us exalt his name together.

⁴ I sought the LORD, and he answered me;

he delivered me from all my fears.

⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;

their faces are never covered with shame.

⁶ This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;

he saved him out of all his troubles.

⁷ The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,

and he delivers them.

⁸ Taste and see that the LORD is good;

blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

⁹ Fear the LORD, you his saints,

for those who fear him lack nothing.

¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,

but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

¹² Whoever of you loves life

and desires to see many good days, ²

¹³ keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking lies.

¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous

and his ears are attentive to their cry;

¹⁶ the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;

he delivers them from all their troubles.

¹⁸ The LORD is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

¹⁹ A righteous man may have many troubles,

but the LORD delivers him from them all;

²⁰ he protects all his bones,

not one of them will be broken.

²¹ Evil will slay the wicked;

the foes of the righteous will be condemned.

²² The LORD redeems his servants;

no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him. ³

PSALMS: 64

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint;

protect my life from the threat of the enemy.

² Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked,

from that noisy crowd of evildoers.

³ They sharpen their tongues like swords

and aim their words like deadly arrows.

⁴ They shoot from ambush at the innocent man;

they shoot at him suddenly, without fear.

⁵ They encourage each other in evil plans,

they talk about hiding their snares;

they say, "Who will see them ^A?"

⁶ They plot injustice and say,

"We have devised a perfect plan!"

Surely the mind and heart of man are cunning.

⁷ But God will shoot them with arrows;

suddenly they will be struck down.

⁸ He will turn their own tongues against them

and bring them to ruin;

all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.

⁹ All mankind will fear;

they will proclaim the works of God

and ponder what he has done.

¹⁰ Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD

and take refuge in him;

let all the upright in heart praise him!⁴

PSALMS: 94

¹ O LORD, the God who avenges,

O God who avenges, shine forth.

² Rise up, O Judge of the earth;

pay back to the proud what they deserve.

³ How long will the wicked, O LORD,

how long will the wicked be jubilant?

⁴ They pour out arrogant words;

all the evildoers are full of boasting.

⁵ They crush your people, O LORD;

they oppress your inheritance.

⁶ They slay the widow and the alien;

they murder the fatherless.

⁷ They say, "The LORD does not see;

the God of Jacob pays no heed."

⁸ Take heed, you senseless ones among the people;

you fools, when will you become wise?

⁹ Does he who implanted the ear not hear?

Does he who formed the eye not see?

¹⁰ Does he who disciplines nations not punish?

Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?

¹¹ The LORD knows the thoughts of man;

he knows that they are futile.

¹² Blessed is the man you discipline, O LORD,

the man you teach from your law;

¹³ you grant him relief from days of trouble,

till a pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁴ For the LORD will not reject his people;

he will never forsake his inheritance.

¹⁵ Judgment will again be founded on righteousness,

and all the upright in heart will follow it.⁵

¹⁶ Who will rise up for me against the wicked?

Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?

¹⁷ Unless the LORD had given me help,

I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.

¹⁸ When I said, "My foot is slipping,"

your love, O LORD, supported me.

¹⁹ When anxiety was great within me,

your consolation brought joy to my soul.

²⁰ Can a corrupt throne be allied with you--

one that brings on misery by its decrees?

²¹ They band together against the righteous

and condemn the innocent to death.

²² But the LORD has become my fortress,

and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.

²³ He will repay them for their sins

and destroy them for their wickedness;

the LORD our God will destroy them. ⁶

PSALMS: 124

A song of ascents. Of David.

¹ If the LORD had not been on our side--

let Israel say--

² if the LORD had not been on our side

when men attacked us,

³ when their anger flared against us,

they would have swallowed us alive;

⁴ the flood would have engulfed us,

the torrent would have swept over us,

⁵ the raging waters

would have swept us away.

⁶ Praise be to the LORD,

who has not let us be torn by their teeth.

⁷ We have escaped like a bird

out of the fowler's snare;

the snare has been broken,

and we have escaped.

⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD,

the Maker of heaven and earth. ⁷

PROVERBS: 4

4 ¹ Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction;

pay attention and gain understanding.

² I give you sound learning,

so do not forsake my teaching.

³ When I was a boy in my father's house,

still tender, and an only child of my mother,

⁴ he taught me and said,

"Lay hold of my words with all your heart;

keep my commands and you will live.

⁵ Get wisdom, get understanding;

do not forget my words or swerve from them.

⁶ Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;

love her, and she will watch over you.

⁷ Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.

Though it cost all you have, ^A get understanding.

⁸ Esteem her, and she will exalt you;

embrace her, and she will honor you.

⁹ She will set a garland of grace on your head

and present you with a crown of splendor."

¹⁰ Listen, my son, accept what I say,

and the years of your life will be many.

¹¹ I guide you in the way of wisdom

and lead you along straight paths.

¹² When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;

when you run, you will not stumble.

¹³ Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;

guard it well, for it is your life.

¹⁴ Do not set foot on the path of the wicked

or walk in the way of evil men.

¹⁵ Avoid it, do not travel on it;

turn from it and go on your way.

¹⁶ For they cannot sleep till they do evil; ⁸

they are robbed of slumber till they make someone fall.

¹⁷ They eat the bread of wickedness

and drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸ The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,

shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

¹⁹ But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;

they do not know what makes them stumble.

²⁰ My son, pay attention to what I say;

listen closely to my words.

²¹ Do not let them out of your sight,

keep them within your heart;

²² for they are life to those who find them

and health to a man's whole body.

²³ Above all else, guard your heart,

for it is the wellspring of life.

²⁴ Put away perversity from your mouth;

keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

²⁵ Let your eyes look straight ahead,

fix your gaze directly before you.

²⁶ Make level ^B paths for your feet

and take only ways that are firm.

²⁷ Do not swerve to the right or the left;

keep your foot from evil. ⁹

OLD TESTAMENT: 2 KINGS 6:1 - 7:20

6 ¹ The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. ² Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live."

And he said, "Go."

³ Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?"

"I will," Elisha replied. ⁴ And he went with them.

They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. ⁵ As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"

⁶ The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. ⁷ "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

⁸ Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, "I will set up my camp in such and such a place."

⁹ The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: "Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there." ¹⁰ So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

¹¹ This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, "Will you not tell me which of

us is on the side of the king of Israel?"

¹² "None of us, my lord the king," said one of his officers, "but ¹⁰ Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom."

¹³ "Go, find out where he is," the king ordered, "so I can send men and capture him." The report came back: "He is in Dothan." ¹⁴ Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

¹⁵ When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked.

¹⁶ "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

¹⁸ As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

¹⁹ Elisha told them, "This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." And he led them to Samaria.

²⁰ After they entered the city, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see." Then the LORD opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.

²¹ When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "Shall I ¹¹ kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?"

²² "Do not kill them," he answered. "Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master." ²³ So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory.

²⁴ Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. ²⁵ There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey's head sold for eighty shekels ^A of silver, and a quarter of a cab ^B of seed pods ^C for five shekels. ^D

²⁶ As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, "Help me, my lord the king!"

²⁷ The king replied, "If the LORD does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?" ²⁸ Then he asked her, "What's the matter?"

She answered, "This woman said to me, `Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we'll eat my son.' <sup>29</sup> So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, `Give up your son so we may eat him,' but she had hidden him."

³⁰ When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and

there, underneath, he ¹² had sackcloth on his body. ³¹ He said, "May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the

head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!"

³² Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, "Don't you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master's footsteps behind him?"

³³ While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, "This disaster is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?"

7 ¹ Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah ^A of flour will sell for a shekel ^B and two seahs ^C of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."

² The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?"

"You will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any of it!"

³ Now there were four men with leprosy ^D at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die?

⁴ If we say, `We'll go into the city'--the famine is there, and we will die. ¹³ And if we stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die."

⁵ At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, ⁶ for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!" ⁷ So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

⁸ The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.

⁹ Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this to the royal palace."

¹⁰ So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, "We went into the Aramean camp and not a man was there--not a sound of anyone--only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were."

¹¹ The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.

¹² The king got up in the night and said to his officers, "I will tell¹⁴you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, `They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.'"

¹³ One of his officers answered, "Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here--yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened."

¹⁴ So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, "Go and find out what has happened."

¹⁵ They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and reported to the king. ¹⁶ Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the LORD had said.

¹⁷ Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house. ¹⁸ It happened as the man of God had said to the king: "About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."

¹⁹ The officer had said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" The man of God had replied, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!" ²⁰ And that is exactly what ¹⁵ happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died. ¹⁶

NEW TESTAMENT: ACTS 15:36 - 16:15

³⁶ Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing."

³⁷ Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, ³⁸ but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. ³⁹ They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, ⁴⁰ but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹ He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

16 ¹ He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. ² The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. ³ Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴ As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. ⁵ So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

⁶ Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy

Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. ⁷ When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus ¹⁷ would not allow them to.

⁸ So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. ⁹ During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 

¹⁰ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹ From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. ¹² From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

¹³ On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 

¹⁴ One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. ¹⁵ When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.

Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. ¹⁸

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

18 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