THEINC-HIM DAILY BIBLE MEDITATION: January 14

Sunday, October 25, 2009

January 14

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

JANUARY 14

PSALMS: 14, 44, 74, 104, 134

PROVERBS: 14

OLD TESTAMENT

DEUTERONOMY 28:1 - 68

NEW TESTAMENT

LUKE 11:14 - 36

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

DEUTERONOMY 28:1 - 68

281If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:

3You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

4The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock--the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

5Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

6You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

7The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

8The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

9The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. 10Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. 11The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity--in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground--in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.

12The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, [15]to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 13The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

15However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

16You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

17Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.

18The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

19You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

20The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.A 21The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. 22The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. 23The sky over your head will be [16]bronze, the ground beneath you iron. 24The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

25The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. 26Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. 27The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 29At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.

30You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. 31Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. 32Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. 33A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. 34The sights you see will drive you mad. 35The LORD will [17]afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

36The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. 37You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.

38You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. 39You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. 40You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. 41You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. 42Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

43The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. 44He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.

45All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.

46They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. 47Because you did not serve the LORD your [18]God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, 48therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

49The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. 51They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. 52They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you.

53Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you. 54Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, 55and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. 56The most gentle and sensitive woman among you--so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot--will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter 57the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in [19]the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.

58If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name--the LORD your God-- 59the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. 60He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egyt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. 61The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. 62You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God. 63Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.

64Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods--gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. 65Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. 66You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. 67In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"--because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.

68The LORD will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male [20]and female slaves, but no one will buy you.[21]

NEW TESTAMENT

LUKE 11:14 - 36

14Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. 15But some of them said, "By Beelzebub,G the prince of demons, he is driving out demons." 16Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.

17Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: "Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. 19Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

21"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils.

23"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.

24"When an evilH spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, `I will return to the house I left.' 25When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first." [22]27As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you."

28He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

29As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 30For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now oneI greater than Solomon is here. 32The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.

33"No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you." [23]

^{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

January 14

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