THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation - January 21 - Full Text!

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

THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation

JANUARY 21

PSALMS: 21, 31, 51, 81, 111, 141

PROVERBS: 21

OLD TESTAMENT: JOSHUA 5:1 - 7:15

NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 15:1 - 32

PSALMS: 21

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ O LORD, the king rejoices in your strength.

How great is his joy in the victories you give!

² You have granted him the desire of his heart

and have not withheld the request of his lips.

Selah

³ You welcomed him with rich blessings

and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.

⁴ He asked you for life, and you gave it to him--

length of days, for ever and ever.

⁵ Through the victories you gave, his glory is great;

you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty.

⁶ Surely you have granted him eternal blessings

and made him glad with the joy of your presence.

⁷ For the king trusts in the LORD;

through the unfailing love of the Most High

he will not be shaken.

⁸ Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies;

your right hand will seize your foes.

⁹ At the time of your appearing

you will make them like a fiery furnace.

In his wrath the LORD will swallow them up,

and his fire will consume them.

¹⁰ You will destroy their descendants from the earth,

their posterity from mankind.

¹¹ Though they plot evil against you

and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed;

¹² for you will make them turn their backs

when you aim at them with drawn bow. ¹

¹³ Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength;

we will sing and praise your might. ²

PSALMS: 51

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

² Wash away all my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is always before me.

⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you are proved right when you speak

and justified when you judge.

⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

⁶ Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ^A;

you teach ^B me wisdom in the inmost place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

⁹ Hide your face from my sins

and blot out all my iniquity. ³

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will turn back to you.

¹⁴ Save me from bloodguilt, O God,

the God who saves me,

and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are ^C a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart,

O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸ In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;

build up the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Then there will be righteous sacrifices,

whole burnt offerings to delight you;

then bulls will be offered on your altar. ⁴

PSALMS: 81

For the director of music. According to gittith. ^A Of Asaph.

¹ Sing for joy to God our strength;

shout aloud to the God of Jacob!

² Begin the music, strike the tambourine,

play the melodious harp and lyre.

³ Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon,

and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast;

⁴ this is a decree for Israel,

an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵ He established it as a statute for Joseph

when he went out against Egypt,

where we heard a language we did not understand. ^B

⁶ He says, "I removed the burden from their shoulders;

their hands were set free from the basket.

⁷ In your distress you called and I rescued you,

I answered you out of a thundercloud;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

Selah

⁸ "Hear, O my people, and I will warn you--

if you would but listen to me, O Israel!

⁹ You shall have no foreign god among you;

you shall not bow down to an alien god.

¹⁰ I am the LORD your God,

who brought you up out of Egypt.

Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. ⁵

¹¹ "But my people would not listen to me;

Israel would not submit to me.

¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts

to follow their own devices.

¹³ "If my people would but listen to me,

if Israel would follow my ways,

¹⁴ how quickly would I subdue their enemies

and turn my hand against their foes!

¹⁵ Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,

and their punishment would last forever.

¹⁶ But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;

with honey from the rock I would satisfy you." ⁶

PSALMS: 111

¹ Praise ^A the LORD. ^B

I will extol the LORD with all my heart

in the council of the upright and in the assembly.

² Great are the works of the LORD;

they are pondered by all who delight in them.

³ Glorious and majestic are his deeds,

and his righteousness endures forever.

⁴ He has caused his wonders to be remembered;

the LORD is gracious and compassionate.

⁵ He provides food for those who fear him;

he remembers his covenant forever.

⁶ He has shown his people the power of his works,

giving them the lands of other nations.

⁷ The works of his hands are faithful and just;

all his precepts are trustworthy.

⁸ They are steadfast for ever and ever,

done in faithfulness and uprightness.

⁹ He provided redemption for his people;

he ordained his covenant forever--

holy and awesome is his name.

¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;

all who follow his precepts have good understanding.

To him belongs eternal praise. ⁷

PSALMS: 141

A psalm of David.

¹ O LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me.

Hear my voice when I call to you.

² May my prayer be set before you like incense;

may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

³ Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD;

keep watch over the door of my lips.

⁴ Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil,

to take part in wicked deeds

with men who are evildoers;

let me not eat of their delicacies.

⁵ Let a righteous man ^A strike me--it is a kindness;

let him rebuke me--it is oil on my head.

My head will not refuse it.

Yet my prayer is ever against the deeds of evildoers;

⁶ their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs,

and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.

⁷ They will say, "As one plows and breaks up the earth,

so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave. ^B"

⁸ But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD;

in you I take refuge--do not give me over to death.

⁹ Keep me from the snares they have laid for me,

from the traps set by evildoers.

¹⁰ Let the wicked fall into their own nets,

while I pass by in safety. ⁸

PROVERBS: 21

21 ¹ The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD;

he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

² All a man's ways seem right to him,

but the LORD weighs the heart.

³ To do what is right and just

is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

⁴ Haughty eyes and a proud heart,

the lamp of the wicked, are sin!

⁵ The plans of the diligent lead to profit

as surely as haste leads to poverty.

⁶ A fortune made by a lying tongue

is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare. ^A

⁷ The violence of the wicked will drag them away,

for they refuse to do what is right.

⁸ The way of the guilty is devious,

but the conduct of the innocent is upright.

⁹ Better to live on a corner of the roof

than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

¹⁰ The wicked man craves evil;

his neighbor gets no mercy from him. ⁹

¹¹ When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom;

when a wise man is instructed, he gets knowledge.

¹² The Righteous One ^B takes note of the house of the wicked

and brings the wicked to ruin.

¹³ If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor,

he too will cry out and not be answered.

¹⁴ A gift given in secret soothes anger,

and a bribe concealed in the cloak pacifies great wrath.

¹⁵ When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous

but terror to evildoers.

¹⁶ A man who strays from the path of understanding

comes to rest in the company of the dead.

¹⁷ He who loves pleasure will become poor;

whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.

¹⁸ The wicked become a ransom for the righteous,

and the unfaithful for the upright.

¹⁹ Better to live in a desert

than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.

²⁰ In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil,

but a foolish man devours all he has.

²¹ He who pursues righteousness and love

finds life, prosperity ^C and honor. ¹⁰

²² A wise man attacks the city of the mighty

and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust.

²³ He who guards his mouth and his tongue

keeps himself from calamity.

²⁴ The proud and arrogant man--"Mocker" is his name;

he behaves with overweening pride.

²⁵ The sluggard's craving will be the death of him,

because his hands refuse to work.

²⁶ All day long he craves for more,

but the righteous give without sparing.

²⁷ The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable--

how much more so when brought with evil intent!

²⁸ A false witness will perish,

and whoever listens to him will be destroyed forever. ^D

²⁹ A wicked man puts up a bold front,

but an upright man gives thought to his ways.

³⁰ There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan

that can succeed against the LORD.

³¹ The horse is made ready for the day of battle,

but victory rests with the LORD. ¹¹

OLD TESTAMENT: JOSHUA 5:1 - 7:15

5 ¹ Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.

² At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again." ³ So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth. ^A

⁴ Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt--all the men of military age--died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt. ⁵ All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the desert during the journey from Egypt had not. ⁶ The Israelites had moved about in the desert forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land that he had solemnly promised their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁷ So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. ⁸ And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.

⁹ Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." So the place has been called Gilgal ^B to this day. ¹²

¹⁰ On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. ¹¹ The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. ¹² The manna stopped the day after ^C they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.

¹³ Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"

¹⁴ "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord ^D have for his servant?"

¹⁵ The commander of the LORD's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

6 ¹ Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

² Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. ³ March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. ⁴ Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. ⁵ When you hear them sound a long ¹³ blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in."

⁶ So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it." ⁷ And he ordered the people, "Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD."

⁸ When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the LORD's covenant followed them. ⁹ The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. ¹⁰ But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" ¹¹ So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. Then the people returned to camp and spent the night there.

¹² Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.

¹³ The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding. ¹⁴ So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that ¹⁴ day they circled the city seven times.

¹⁶ The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! ¹⁷ The city and all that is in it are to be devoted ^A to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute ^B and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. ¹⁸ But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. ¹⁹ All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury."

²⁰ When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. ²¹ They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it--men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

²² Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." ²³ So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

²⁴ Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD's house. ²⁵ But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she ¹⁵ hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho--and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

²⁶ At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:

"At the cost of his firstborn son

will he lay its foundations;

at the cost of his youngest

will he set up its gates."

²⁷ So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

7 ¹ But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things ^A; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, ^B the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD's anger burned against Israel.

² Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, "Go up and spy out the region." So the men went up and spied out Ai.

³ When they returned to Joshua, they said, "Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there." ⁴ So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed ¹⁶

NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 15:1 - 32

15 ¹ Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders

⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, `Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

⁸ "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins ^A and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, `Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

¹¹ Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.

¹³ "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild ¹⁷ living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ "When he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

²¹ "The son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. ^B'

²² "But the father said to his servants, `Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

²⁵ "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.

²⁷ `Your brother has come,' he replied, `and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' ¹⁸

²⁸ "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, `Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

³¹ "`My son,' the father said, `you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 

³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'" ¹⁹

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

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

19 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