THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation - May 11 - Full Text!

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

THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation

MAY 11

PSALMS: 11, 41, 71, 101, 131

PROVERBS: 11

OLD TESTAMENT: 2 CHRONICLES 29:1 - 36

NEW TESTAMENT: ROMANS 14:1 - 23

PSALMS: 11

For the director of music. Of David.

¹ In the LORD I take refuge.

How then can you say to me:

"Flee like a bird to your mountain.

² For look, the wicked bend their bows;

they set their arrows against the strings

to shoot from the shadows

at the upright in heart.

³ When the foundations are being destroyed,

what can the righteous do ^A?"

⁴ The LORD is in his holy temple;

the LORD is on his heavenly throne.

He observes the sons of men;

his eyes examine them.

⁵ The LORD examines the righteous,

but the wicked ^B and those who love violence

his soul hates.

⁶ On the wicked he will rain

fiery coals and burning sulfur;

a scorching wind will be their lot.

⁷ For the LORD is righteous,

he loves justice;

upright men will see his face. ¹

PSALMS: 41

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ Blessed is he who has regard for the weak;

the LORD delivers him in times of trouble.

² The LORD will protect him and preserve his life;

he will bless him in the land

and not surrender him to the desire of his foes.

³ The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed

and restore him from his bed of illness.

⁴ I said, "O LORD, have mercy on me;

heal me, for I have sinned against you."

⁵ My enemies say of me in malice,

"When will he die and his name perish?"

⁶ Whenever one comes to see me,

he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander;

then he goes out and spreads it abroad.

⁷ All my enemies whisper together against me;

they imagine the worst for me, saying,

⁸ "A vile disease has beset him;

he will never get up from the place where he lies."

⁹ Even my close friend, whom I trusted,

he who shared my bread,

has lifted up his heel against me. ²

¹⁰ But you, O LORD, have mercy on me;

raise me up, that I may repay them.

¹¹ I know that you are pleased with me,

for my enemy does not triumph over me.

¹² In my integrity you uphold me

and set me in your presence forever.

¹³ Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

Amen and Amen ³

PSALMS: 71

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

let me never be put to shame.

² Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness;

turn your ear to me and save me.

³ Be my rock of refuge,

to which I can always go;

give the command to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴ Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of evil and cruel men.

⁵ For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD,

my confidence since my youth.

⁶ From birth I have relied on you;

you brought me forth from my mother's womb.

I will ever praise you.

⁷ I have become like a portent to many,

but you are my strong refuge.

⁸ My mouth is filled with your praise,

declaring your splendor all day long.

⁹ Do not cast me away when I am old;

do not forsake me when my strength is gone.

¹⁰ For my enemies speak against me;

those who wait to kill me conspire together.

¹¹ They say, "God has forsaken him;

pursue him and seize him,

for no one will rescue him."

¹² Be not far from me, O God;

come quickly, O my God, to help me.

¹³ May my accusers perish in shame;

may those who want to harm me

be covered with scorn and disgrace. ⁴

¹⁴ But as for me, I will always have hope;

I will praise you more and more.

¹⁵ My mouth will tell of your righteousness,

of your salvation all day long,

though I know not its measure.

¹⁶ I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD;

I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.

¹⁷ Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,

and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.

¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray,

do not forsake me, O God,

till I declare your power to the next generation,

your might to all who are to come.

¹⁹ Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God,

you who have done great things.

Who, O God, is like you?

²⁰ Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter,

you will restore my life again;

from the depths of the earth

you will again bring me up.

²¹ You will increase my honor

and comfort me once again.

²² I will praise you with the harp

for your faithfulness, O my God;

I will sing praise to you with the lyre,

O Holy One of Israel.

²³ My lips will shout for joy

when I sing praise to you--

I, whom you have redeemed.

²⁴ My tongue will tell of your righteous acts ⁵

all day long,

for those who wanted to harm me

have been put to shame and confusion. ⁶

PSALMS: 101

Of David. A psalm.

¹ I will sing of your love and justice;

to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.

² I will be careful to lead a blameless life--

when will you come to me?

I will walk in my house

with blameless heart.

³ I will set before my eyes

no vile thing.

The deeds of faithless men I hate;

they will not cling to me.

⁴ Men of perverse heart shall be far from me;

I will have nothing to do with evil.

⁵ Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret,

him will I put to silence;

whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,

him will I not endure.

⁶ My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,

that they may dwell with me;

he whose walk is blameless

will minister to me.⁷

⁷ No one who practices deceit

will dwell in my house;

no one who speaks falsely

will stand in my presence.

⁸ Every morning I will put to silence

all the wicked in the land;

I will cut off every evildoer

from the city of the LORD. ⁸

PSALMS: 131

A song of ascents. Of David.

¹ My heart is not proud, O LORD,

my eyes are not haughty;

I do not concern myself with great matters

or things too wonderful for me.

² But I have stilled and quieted my soul;

like a weaned child with its mother,

like a weaned child is my soul within me.

³ O Israel, put your hope in the LORD

both now and forevermore. ⁹

PROVERBS: 11

11 ¹ The LORD abhors dishonest scales,

but accurate weights are his delight.

² When pride comes, then comes disgrace,

but with humility comes wisdom.

³ The integrity of the upright guides them,

but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

⁴ Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,

but righteousness delivers from death.

⁵ The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them,

but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.

⁶ The righteousness of the upright delivers them,

but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires.

⁷ When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes;

all he expected from his power comes to nothing.

⁸ The righteous man is rescued from trouble,

and it comes on the wicked instead.

⁹ With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor,

but through knowledge the righteous escape.

¹⁰ When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices;

when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.

¹¹ Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted,

but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed. ¹⁰

¹² A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor,

but a man of understanding holds his tongue.

¹³ A gossip betrays a confidence,

but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.

¹⁴ For lack of guidance a nation falls,

but many advisers make victory sure.

¹⁵ He who puts up security for another will surely suffer,

but whoever refuses to strike hands in pledge is safe.

¹⁶ A kindhearted woman gains respect,

but ruthless men gain only wealth.

¹⁷ A kind man benefits himself,

but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.

¹⁸ The wicked man earns deceptive wages,

but he who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.

¹⁹ The truly righteous man attains life,

but he who pursues evil goes to his death.

²⁰ The LORD detests men of perverse heart

but he delights in those whose ways are blameless.

²¹ Be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished,

but those who are righteous will go free. ¹¹

²² Like a gold ring in a pig's snout

is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.

²³ The desire of the righteous ends only in good,

but the hope of the wicked only in wrath.

²⁴ One man gives freely, yet gains even more;

another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.

²⁵ A generous man will prosper;

he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

²⁶ People curse the man who hoards grain,

but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell.

²⁷ He who seeks good finds goodwill,

but evil comes to him who searches for it.

²⁸ Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,

but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.

²⁹ He who brings trouble on his family will inherit only wind,

and the fool will be servant to the wise.

³⁰ The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,

and he who wins souls is wise.

³¹ If the righteous receive their due on earth,

how much more the ungodly and the sinner! ¹²

OLD TESTAMENT: 2 CHRONICLES 29:1 - 36

29 ¹ Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.

² He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.

³ In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them. ⁴ He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side ⁵ and said: "Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. ⁶ Our fathers were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the LORD our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the LORD's dwelling place and turned their backs on him. ⁷ They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel. ⁸ Therefore, the anger of the LORD has fallen on Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of dread and horror and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes. ⁹ This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity. ¹⁰ Now I intend to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense."

¹² Then these Levites set to work:

from the Kohathites,

Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah;

from the Merarites,

Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel;

from the Gershonites,

Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah;

¹³ from the descendants of Elizaphan,

Shimri and Jeiel;

from the descendants of Asaph,

Zechariah and Mattaniah;

¹⁴ from the descendants of Heman,

Jehiel and Shimei;

from the descendants of Jeduthun,

Shemaiah and Uzziel. ¹³

¹⁵ When they had assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves, they went in to purify the temple of the LORD, as the king had ordered, following the word of the LORD. 

¹⁶ The priests went into the sanctuary of the LORD to purify it. They brought out to the courtyard of the LORD's temple everything unclean that they found in the temple of the LORD. The Levites took it and carried it out to the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷ They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month they reached the portico of the LORD. For eight more days they consecrated the temple of the LORD itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month.

¹⁸ Then they went in to King Hezekiah and reported: "We have purified the entire temple of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table for setting out the consecrated bread, with all its articles. ¹⁹ We have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz removed in his unfaithfulness while he was king. They are now in front of the LORD's altar."

²⁰ Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials together and went up to the temple of the LORD. ²¹ They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven male lambs and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary and for Judah. The king commanded the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer these on the altar of the LORD. ²² So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar; next they slaughtered the rams and sprinkled their blood on the altar; then they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled their blood on the altar. ²³ The goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. ²⁴ The priests then slaughtered the goats and presented their blood on the altar for a sin offering to atone for all Israel, because the king had ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.

²⁵ He stationed the Levites in the temple of the LORD with cymbals, harps and lyres in the way prescribed by David and Gad the king's seer and Nathan the prophet; this was commanded by the LORD through his prophets. ²⁶ So the Levites stood ready with David's instruments, and the priests with their trumpets.

²⁷ Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. As the offering began, singing to the LORD began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel. ²⁸ The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed.

²⁹ When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped. ³⁰ King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed their heads and worshiped.

³¹ Then Hezekiah said, "You have now dedicated yourselves to the LORD. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the temple of the LORD." So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings. ^{14 32} The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams and two hundred male lambs--all of them for burnt offerings to the LORD. ³³ The animals consecrated as sacrifices amounted to six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep and goats. ³⁴ The priests, however, were too few to skin all the burnt offerings; so their kinsmen the Levites helped them until the task was finished and until other priests had been consecrated, for the Levites had been more conscientious in consecrating themselves than the priests had been. ³⁵ There were burnt offerings in abundance, together with the fat of the fellowship offerings ^A and the drink offerings that accompanied the burnt offerings.

So the service of the temple of the LORD was reestablished. ³⁶ Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had brought about for his people, because it was done so quickly. ¹⁵

NEW TESTAMENT: ROMANS 14:1 - 23

14 ¹ Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.

² One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ³ The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵ One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. ⁸ If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

⁹ For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. ¹⁰ You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. ¹¹ It is written:

"`As surely as I live,' says the Lord,

`every knee will bow before me;

every tongue will confess to God.'" ^A

¹² So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

¹³ Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. ¹⁴ As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food ^B is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. ¹⁵ If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, ¹⁸ because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

¹⁹ Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 

²⁰ Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. ²¹ It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. ¹⁶

²² So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. ²³ But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. ¹⁷

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

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

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

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

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

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

 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