THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation - January 7 - Full Text!

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

THEINC-HIM Daily Bible Meditation

JANUARY 7

PSALMS: 7, 37, 67, 97, 127

PROVERBS: 7

OLD TESTAMENT: DEUTERONOMY 11:1 - 12:32

NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 8:22 - 39

PSALMS: 7

A shiggaion ^A of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning Cush, a Benjamite.

¹ O LORD my God, I take refuge in you;

save and deliver me from all who pursue me,

² or they will tear me like a lion

and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

³ O LORD my God, if I have done this

and there is guilt on my hands--

⁴ if I have done evil to him who is at peace with me

or without cause have robbed my foe--

⁵ then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;

let him trample my life to the ground

and make me sleep in the dust.

Selah

⁶ Arise, O LORD, in your anger;

rise up against the rage of my enemies.

Awake, my God; decree justice.

⁷ Let the assembled peoples gather around you.

Rule over them from on high;

⁸ let the LORD judge the peoples.

Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness,

according to my integrity, O Most High.

⁹ O righteous God,

who searches minds and hearts,

bring to an end the violence of the wicked

and make the righteous secure. ¹

¹⁰ My shield ^B is God Most High,

who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹ God is a righteous judge,

a God who expresses his wrath every day.

¹² If he does not relent,

he ^C will sharpen his sword;

he will bend and string his bow.

¹³ He has prepared his deadly weapons;

he makes ready his flaming arrows.

¹⁴ He who is pregnant with evil

and conceives trouble gives birth to disillusionment.

¹⁵ He who digs a hole and scoops it out

falls into the pit he has made.

¹⁶ The trouble he causes recoils on himself;

his violence comes down on his own head.

¹⁷ I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness

and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. ²

PSALMS: 37

Of David.

¹ Do ^A not fret because of evil men

or be envious of those who do wrong;

² for like the grass they will soon wither,

like green plants they will soon die away.

³ Trust in the LORD and do good;

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the LORD;

trust in him and he will do this:

⁶ He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,

the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

⁷ Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when men succeed in their ways,

when they carry out their wicked schemes.

⁸ Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;

do not fret--it leads only to evil.

⁹ For evil men will be cut off,

but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

¹⁰ A little while, and the wicked will be no more;

though you look for them, they will not be found.

¹¹ But the meek will inherit the land

and enjoy great peace. ³

¹² The wicked plot against the righteous

and gnash their teeth at them;

¹³ but the Lord laughs at the wicked,

for he knows their day is coming.

¹⁴ The wicked draw the sword

and bend the bow

to bring down the poor and needy,

to slay those whose ways are upright.

¹⁵ But their swords will pierce their own hearts,

and their bows will be broken.

¹⁶ Better the little that the righteous have

than the wealth of many wicked;

¹⁷ for the power of the wicked will be broken,

but the LORD upholds the righteous.

¹⁸ The days of the blameless are known to the LORD,

and their inheritance will endure forever.

¹⁹ In times of disaster they will not wither;

in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.

²⁰ But the wicked will perish:

The LORD's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields,

they will vanish--vanish like smoke.

²¹ The wicked borrow and do not repay,

but the righteous give generously;

²² those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,

but those he curses will be cut off. ⁴

²³ If the LORD delights in a man's way,

he makes his steps firm;

²⁴ though he stumble, he will not fall,

for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

²⁵ I was young and now I am old,

yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken

or their children begging bread.

²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely;

their children will be blessed.

²⁷ Turn from evil and do good;

then you will dwell in the land forever.

²⁸ For the LORD loves the just

and will not forsake his faithful ones.

They will be protected forever,

but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off;

²⁹ the righteous will inherit the land

and dwell in it forever.

³⁰ The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom,

and his tongue speaks what is just.

³¹ The law of his God is in his heart;

his feet do not slip.

³² The wicked lie in wait for the righteous,

seeking their very lives;

³³ but the LORD will not leave them in their power

or let them be condemned when brought to trial. ⁵

³⁴ Wait for the LORD

and keep his way.

He will exalt you to inherit the land;

when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

³⁵ I have seen a wicked and ruthless man

flourishing like a green tree in its native soil,

³⁶ but he soon passed away and was no more;

though I looked for him, he could not be found.

³⁷ Consider the blameless, observe the upright;

there is a future ^B for the man of peace.

³⁸ But all sinners will be destroyed;

the future ^C of the wicked will be cut off.

³⁹ The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;

he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

⁴⁰ The LORD helps them and delivers them;

he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they take refuge in him. ⁶

PSALMS: 67

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

¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make his face shine upon us,

Selah

² that your ways may be known on earth,

your salvation among all nations.

³ May the peoples praise you, O God;

may all the peoples praise you.

⁴ May the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you rule the peoples justly

and guide the nations of the earth.

Selah

⁵ May the peoples praise you, O God;

may all the peoples praise you.

⁶ Then the land will yield its harvest,

and God, our God, will bless us.

⁷ God will bless us,

and all the ends of the earth will fear him. ⁷

PSALMS: 97

¹ The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad;

let the distant shores rejoice.

² Clouds and thick darkness surround him;

righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

³ Fire goes before him

and consumes his foes on every side.

⁴ His lightning lights up the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

⁵ The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,

before the Lord of all the earth.

⁶ The heavens proclaim his righteousness,

and all the peoples see his glory.

⁷ All who worship images are put to shame,

those who boast in idols--

worship him, all you gods!

⁸ Zion hears and rejoices

and the villages of Judah are glad

because of your judgments, O LORD.

⁹ For you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth;

you are exalted far above all gods.

¹⁰ Let those who love the LORD hate evil,

for he guards the lives of his faithful ones

and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

¹¹ Light is shed upon the righteous

and joy on the upright in heart.

¹² Rejoice in the LORD, you who are righteous,

and praise his holy name. ⁸

PSALMS: 127

A song of ascents. Of Solomon.

¹ Unless the LORD builds the house,

its builders labor in vain.

Unless the LORD watches over the city,

the watchmen stand guard in vain.

² In vain you rise early

and stay up late,

toiling for food to eat--

for he grants sleep to ^A those he loves.

³ Sons are a heritage from the LORD,

children a reward from him.

⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior

are sons born in one's youth.

⁵ Blessed is the man

whose quiver is full of them.

They will not be put to shame

when they contend with their enemies in the gate. ⁹

PROVERBS: 7

7 ¹ My son, keep my words

and store up my commands within you.

² Keep my commands and you will live;

guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

³ Bind them on your fingers;

write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴ Say to wisdom, "You are my sister,"

and call understanding your kinsman;

⁵ they will keep you from the adulteress,

from the wayward wife with her seductive words.

⁶ At the window of my house

I looked out through the lattice.

⁷ I saw among the simple,

I noticed among the young men,

a youth who lacked judgment.

⁸ He was going down the street near her corner,

walking along in the direction of her house

⁹ at twilight, as the day was fading,

as the dark of night set in.

¹⁰ Then out came a woman to meet him,

dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.

¹¹ (She is loud and defiant,

her feet never stay at home;

¹² now in the street, now in the squares,

at every corner she lurks.)

¹³ She took hold of him and kissed him

and with a brazen face she said:

¹⁴ "I have fellowship offerings ^A at home;

today I fulfilled my vows.

¹⁵ So I came out to meet you; ¹⁰

I looked for you and have found you!

¹⁶ I have covered my bed

with colored linens from Egypt.

¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed

with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.

¹⁸ Come, let's drink deep of love till morning;

let's enjoy ourselves with love!

¹⁹ My husband is not at home;

he has gone on a long journey.

²⁰ He took his purse filled with money

and will not be home till full moon."

²¹ With persuasive words she led him astray;

she seduced him with her smooth talk.

²² All at once he followed her

like an ox going to the slaughter,

like a deer ^B stepping into a noose ^C

²³ till an arrow pierces his liver,

like a bird darting into a snare,

little knowing it will cost him his life.

²⁴ Now then, my sons, listen to me;

pay attention to what I say.

²⁵ Do not let your heart turn to her ways

or stray into her paths.

²⁶ Many are the victims she has brought down;

her slain are a mighty throng.

²⁷ Her house is a highway to the grave, ^D

leading down to the chambers of death. ¹¹

OLD TESTAMENT: DEUTERONOMY 11:1 - 12:32

11 ¹ Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. ² Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; ³ the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; ⁴ what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea ^A as they were pursuing you, and how the LORD brought lasting ruin on them. ⁵ It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the desert until you arrived at this place, ⁶ and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. ⁷ But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the LORD has done.

⁸ Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you ¹² are crossing the Jordan to possess,

⁹ and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your forefathers to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. ¹² It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

¹³ So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today--to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul—¹⁴ then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. ¹⁵ I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

¹⁶ Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down ¹³ to them. ¹⁷ Then the LORD's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. ¹⁸ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

¹⁹ Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, ²¹ so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

²² If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow--to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him—²³ then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. ²⁴ Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates ¹⁴ River to the western sea. ^{B 25} No man will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.

²⁶ See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—²⁷ the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; ²⁸ the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. ²⁹ When the LORD your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses. ³⁰ As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, west of the road, ^C toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal. ³¹ You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there, ³² be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today. ¹⁵

12 ¹ These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess--as long as you live in the land. ² Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods.

³ Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.

⁴ You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. ⁵ But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; ⁶ there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷ There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.

⁸ You are not to do as we do here today, ¹⁶ everyone as he sees fit, ⁹ since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you.

¹⁰ But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. ¹¹ Then to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name--there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the LORD.

¹² And there rejoice before the LORD your God, you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns, who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. ¹³ Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. ¹⁴ Offer them only at the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.

¹⁵ Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or ¹⁷ deer, according to the blessing the LORD your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.

¹⁶ But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. ¹⁷ You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts. ¹⁸ Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose--you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns--and you are to rejoice before the LORD your God in everything you put your hand to. ¹⁹ Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.

²⁰ When the LORD your God has enlarged your territory as he promised you, and you crave meat and say, "I would like some meat," then you may eat as much of it as you want. ²¹ If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the LORD has given you, as I have ¹⁸ commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want. ²² Eat them as you would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat. ²³ But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. ²⁴ You must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. ²⁵ Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

²⁶ But take your consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give, and go to the place the LORD will choose. ²⁷ Present your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God, both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices must be poured beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat. ²⁸ Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

²⁹ The LORD your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and ¹⁹ dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, ³⁰ and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same."

³¹ You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

³² See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. ²⁰

NEW TESTAMENT: LUKE 8:22 - 39

²² One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. ²³ As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.

²⁴ The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!"

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. ²⁵ "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples.

In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."

²⁶ They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, ^B which is across the lake from Galilee.

²⁷ When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most ²¹ High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" ²⁹ For Jesus had commanded the evil ^C spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

³⁰ Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"

"Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. ³¹ And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

³² A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. ³³ When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴ When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, ³⁵ and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were ²² afraid.

³⁶ Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. ³⁷ Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.

³⁸ The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹ "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. ²³

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

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

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 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