THEINC-HIM DAILY BIBLE MEDITATION: February 14

Sunday, October 25, 2009

February 14

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

FEBRUARY 14

PSALMS: 14, 44, 74, 104, 134

PROVERBS: 14

OLD TESTAMENT

RUTH 2:1 - 4:22

NEW TESTAMENT

JOHN 4:43 - 54

PSALMS: 14

For the director of music. Of David.

1The foolA says in his heart,

"There is no God."

They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;

there is no one who does good.

2The LORD looks down from heaven

on the sons of men

to see if there are any who understand,

any who seek God.

3All have turned aside,

they have together become corrupt;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.

4Will evildoers never learn--

those who devour my people as men eat bread

and who do not call on the LORD?

5There they are, overwhelmed with dread,

for God is present in the company of the righteous.

6You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,

but the LORD is their refuge.

7Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!

When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,

let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad! [1]

PSALMS: 44

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil.A

1We have heard with our ears, O God;

our fathers have told us

what you did in their days,

in days long ago.

2With your hand you drove out the nations

and planted our fathers;

you crushed the peoples

and made our fathers flourish.

3It was not by their sword that they won the land,

nor did their arm bring them victory;

it was your right hand, your arm,

and the light of your face, for you loved them.

4You are my King and my God,

who decreesB victories for Jacob.

5Through you we push back our enemies;

through your name we trample our foes.

6I do not trust in my bow,

my sword does not bring me victory;

7but you give us victory over our enemies,

you put our adversaries to shame.

8In God we make our boast all day long,

and we will praise your name forever.

Selah

9But now you have rejected and humbled us;

you no longer go out with our armies.

10You made us retreat before the enemy,

and our adversaries have plundered us. [2]

11You gave us up to be devoured like sheep

and have scattered us among the nations.

12You sold your people for a pittance,

gaining nothing from their sale.

13You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,

the scorn and derision of those around us.

14You have made us a byword among the nations;

the peoples shake their heads at us.

15My disgrace is before me all day long,

and my face is covered with shame

16at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me,

because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.

17All this happened to us,

though we had not forgotten you

or been false to your covenant.

18Our hearts had not turned back;

our feet had not strayed from your path.

19But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals

and covered us over with deep darkness.

20If we had forgotten the name of our God

or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

21would not God have discovered it,

since he knows the secrets of the heart?

22Yet for your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

23Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep?

Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever. [3]

24Why do you hide your face

and forget our misery and oppression?

25We are brought down to the dust;

our bodies cling to the ground.

26Rise up and help us;

redeem us because of your unfailing love. [4]

PSALMS: 74

A maskilA of Asaph.

1Why have you rejected us forever, O God?

Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

2Remember the people you purchased of old,

the tribe of your inheritance, whom you redeemed--

Mount Zion, where you dwelt.

3Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins,

all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.

4Your foes roared in the place where you met with us;

they set up their standards as signs.

5They behaved like men wielding axes

to cut through a thicket of trees.

6They smashed all the carved paneling

with their axes and hatchets.

7They burned your sanctuary to the ground;

they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.

8They said in their hearts, "We will crush them completely!"

They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.

9We are given no miraculous signs;

no prophets are left,

and none of us knows how long this will be.

10How long will the enemy mock you, O God?

Will the foe revile your name forever?

11Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?

Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!

12But you, O God, are my king from of old;

you bring salvation upon the earth. [5]

13It was you who split open the sea by your power;

you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.

14It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan

and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert.

15It was you who opened up springs and streams;

you dried up the ever flowing rivers.

16The day is yours, and yours also the night;

you established the sun and moon.

17It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;

you made both summer and winter.

18Remember how the enemy has mocked you, O LORD,

how foolish people have reviled your name.

19Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts;

do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever.

20Have regard for your covenant,

because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.

21Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace;

may the poor and needy praise your name.

22Rise up, O God, and defend your cause;

remember how fools mock you all day long.

23Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries,

the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually. [6]

PSALMS: 104

1Praise the LORD, O my soul.

O LORD my God, you are very great;

you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

2He wraps himself in light as with a garment;

he stretches out the heavens like a tent

3and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot

and rides on the wings of the wind.

4He makes winds his messengers,A

flames of fire his servants.

5He set the earth on its foundations;

it can never be moved.

6You covered it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

7But at your rebuke the waters fled,

at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

8they flowed over the mountains,

they went down into the valleys,

to the place you assigned for them.

9You set a boundary they cannot cross;

never again will they cover the earth.

10He makes springs pour water into the ravines;

it flows between the mountains.

11They give water to all the beasts of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12The birds of the air nest by the waters;

they sing among the branches.

13He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;

the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

14He makes grass grow for the cattle,

and plants for man to cultivate--

bringing forth food from the earth: [7]

15wine that gladdens the heart of man,

oil to make his face shine,

and bread that sustains his heart.

16The trees of the LORD are well watered,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

17There the birds make their nests;

the stork has its home in the pine trees.

18The high mountains belong to the wild goats;

the crags are a refuge for the coneys.B

19The moon marks off the seasons,

and the sun knows when to go down.

20You bring darkness, it becomes night,

and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

21The lions roar for their prey

and seek their food from God.

22The sun rises, and they steal away;

they return and lie down in their dens.

23Then man goes out to his work,

to his labor until evening.

24How many are your works, O LORD!

In wisdom you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

25There is the sea, vast and spacious,

teeming with creatures beyond number--

living things both large and small.

26There the ships go to and fro,

and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. [8]

27These all look to you

to give them their food at the proper time.

28When you give it to them,

they gather it up;

when you open your hand,

they are satisfied with good things.

29When you hide your face,

they are terrified;

when you take away their breath,

they die and return to the dust.

30When you send your Spirit,

they are created,

and you renew the face of the earth.

31May the glory of the LORD endure forever;

may the LORD rejoice in his works--

32he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,

who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33I will sing to the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

34May my meditation be pleasing to him,

as I rejoice in the LORD.

35But may sinners vanish from the earth

and the wicked be no more.

Praise the LORD, O my soul.

Praise the LORD.C [9]

PSALMS: 134

A song of ascents.

1Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD

who minister by night in the house of the LORD.

2Lift up your hands in the sanctuary

and praise the LORD.

3May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth,

bless you from Zion. [10]

PROVERBS: 14

141 The wise woman builds her house,

but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

2He whose walk is upright fears the LORD,

but he whose ways are devious despises him.

3A fool's talk brings a rod to his back,

but the lips of the wise protect them.

4Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty,

but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest.

5A truthful witness does not deceive,

but a false witness pours out lies.

6The mocker seeks wisdom and finds none,

but knowledge comes easily to the discerning.

7Stay away from a foolish man,

for you will not find knowledge on his lips.

8The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways,

but the folly of fools is deception.

9Fools mock at making amends for sin,

but goodwill is found among the upright.

10Each heart knows its own bitterness,

and no one else can share its joy.

11The house of the wicked will be destroyed,

but the tent of the upright will flourish. [11]

12There is a way that seems right to a man,

but in the end it leads to death.

13Even in laughter the heart may ache,

and joy may end in grief.

14The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways,

and the good man rewarded for his.

15A simple man believes anything,

but a prudent man gives thought to his steps.

16A wise man fears the LORD and shuns evil,

but a fool is hotheaded and reckless.

17A quick-tempered man does foolish things,

and a crafty man is hated.

18The simple inherit folly,

but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

19Evil men will bow down in the presence of the good,

and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

20The poor are shunned even by their neighbors,

but the rich have many friends.

21He who despises his neighbor sins,

but blessed is he who is kind to the needy.

22Do not those who plot evil go astray?

But those who plan what is good findA love and faithfulness. [12]

23All hard work brings a profit,

but mere talk leads only to poverty.

24The wealth of the wise is their crown,

but the folly of fools yields folly.

25A truthful witness saves lives,

but a false witness is deceitful.

26He who fears the LORD has a secure fortress,

and for his children it will be a refuge.

27The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,

turning a man from the snares of death.

28A large population is a king's glory,

but without subjects a prince is ruined.

29A patient man has great understanding,

but a quick-tempered man displays folly.

30A heart at peace gives life to the body,

but envy rots the bones.

31He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker,

but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.

32When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down,

but even in death the righteous have a refuge.

33Wisdom reposes in the heart of the discerning

and even among fools she lets herself be known.B [13]

34Righteousness exalts a nation,

but sin is a disgrace to any people.

35A king delights in a wise servant,

but a shameful servant incurs his wrath. [14]

OLD TESTAMENT

RUTH 2:1 - 4:22

21 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz.

2And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor."

Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter." 3So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.

4Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!"

"The LORD bless you!" they called back.

5Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, "Whose young woman is that?"

6The foreman replied, "She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7She said, `Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter."

8So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. 9Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled." [15]10At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me--a foreigner?"

11Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband--how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."

13"May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant--though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls."

14At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar."

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass her. 16Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her."

17So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.A [16]

18She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

19Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!"

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. "The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz," she said.

20"The LORD bless him!" Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. "He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead." She added, "That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers."

21Then Ruth the Moabitess said, "He even said to me, `Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.' "

22Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else's field you might be harmed."

23So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

31One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a homeA for you, where you will be well provided for? 2Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the [17]threshing floor. 3Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do."

5"I will do whatever you say," Ruth answered. 6So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.

7When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet.

9"Who are you?" he asked.

"I am your servant Ruth," she said. "Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer."

10"The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character. 12Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. 13Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until [18]morning."

14So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, "Don't let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor."

15He also said, "Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out." When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and put it on her. Then heB went back to town.

16When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "How did it go, my daughter?"

Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17and added, "He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, `Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.' "

18Then Naomi said, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today."

41Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down.

2Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so. 3Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated [19]here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if youA will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line."

"I will redeem it," he said.

5Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquireB the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property."

6At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."

7(Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)

8So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal.

9Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. 10I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses!"

11Then the elders and all those at the gate said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of [20]Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah."

13So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth."

16Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him.

17The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

18This, then, is the family line of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,

19Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

20Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,C

21Salmon the father of Boaz,

Boaz the father of Obed,

22Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of David.[21]

NEW TESTAMENT

JOHN 4:43 - 54

43After the two days he left for Galilee. 44(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.

46Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

48"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."

49The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."

50Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live."

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."

53Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.

54This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.[22]

^{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. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever 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 ¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹But 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

THEINC-HIM DAILY BIBLE MEDITATION

Sunday, October 25, 2009

February 14

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John 3:16-21