THEINC-HIM DAILY BIBLE MEDITATION: January 5

Sunday, October 25, 2009

January 5

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

JANUARY 5

PSALMS: 5, 35, 65, 95, 125

PROVERBS: 5

OLD TESTAMENT

DEUTERONOMY 7:1 - 8:20

NEW TESTAMENT

LUKE 7:1 - 8:3

PSALMS: 5

For the director of music. For flutes. A psalm of David.

1Give ear to my words, O LORD,

consider my sighing.

2Listen to my cry for help,

my King and my God,

for to you I pray.

3In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before you

and wait in expectation.

4You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;

with you the wicked cannot dwell.

5The arrogant cannot stand in your presence;

you hate all who do wrong.

6You destroy those who tell lies;

bloodthirsty and deceitful men

the LORD abhors.

7But I, by your great mercy,

will come into your house;

in reverence will I bow down

toward your holy temple.

8Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness

because of my enemies--

make straight your way before me. [1]

9Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;

their heart is filled with destruction.

Their throat is an open grave;

with their tongue they speak deceit.

10Declare them guilty, O God!

Let their intrigues be their downfall.

Banish them for their many sins,

for they have rebelled against you.

11But let all who take refuge in you be glad;

let them ever sing for joy.

Spread your protection over them,

that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

12For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;

you surround them with your favor as with a shield. [2]

PSALMS: 35

Of David.

1Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;

fight against those who fight against me.

2Take up shield and buckler;

arise and come to my aid.

3Brandish spear and javelinA

against those who pursue me.

Say to my soul,

"I am your salvation."

4May those who seek my life

be disgraced and put to shame;

may those who plot my ruin

be turned back in dismay.

5May they be like chaff before the wind,

with the angel of the LORD driving them away;

6may their path be dark and slippery,

with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.

7Since they hid their net for me without cause

and without cause dug a pit for me,

8may ruin overtake them by surprise--

may the net they hid entangle them,

may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.

9Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD

and delight in his salvation.

10My whole being will exclaim,

"Who is like you, O LORD?

You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,

the poor and needy from those who rob them."[3]

11Ruthless witnesses come forward;

they question me on things I know nothing about.

12They repay me evil for good

and leave my soul forlorn.

13Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth

and humbled myself with fasting.

When my prayers returned to me unanswered,

14I went about mourning

as though for my friend or brother.

I bowed my head in grief

as though weeping for my mother.

15But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;

attackers gathered against me when I was unaware.

They slandered me without ceasing.

16Like the ungodly they maliciously mockedB;

they gnashed their teeth at me.

17O Lord, how long will you look on?

Rescue my life from their ravages,

my precious life from these lions.

18I will give you thanks in the great assembly;

among throngs of people I will praise you.

19Let not those gloat over me

who are my enemies without cause;

let not those who hate me without reason

maliciously wink the eye.

20They do not speak peaceably,

but devise false accusations

against those who live quietly in the land.

21They gape at me and say, "Aha! Aha!

With our own eyes we have seen it."[4]

22O LORD, you have seen this; be not silent.

Do not be far from me, O Lord.

23Awake, and rise to my defense!

Contend for me, my God and Lord.

24Vindicate me in your righteousness, O LORD my God;

do not let them gloat over me.

25Do not let them think, "Aha, just what we wanted!"

or say, "We have swallowed him up."

26May all who gloat over my distress

be put to shame and confusion;

may all who exalt themselves over me

be clothed with shame and disgrace.

27May those who delight in my vindication

shout for joy and gladness;

may they always say, "The LORD be exalted,

who delights in the well-being of his servant."

28My tongue will speak of your righteousness

and of your praises all day long. [5]

PSALMS: 65

For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.

1Praise awaitsA you, O God, in Zion;

to you our vows will be fulfilled.

2O you who hear prayer,

to you all men will come.

3When we were overwhelmed by sins,

you forgaveB our transgressions.

4Blessed are those you choose

and bring near to live in your courts!

We are filled with the good things of your house,

of your holy temple.

5You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness,

O God our Savior,

the hope of all the ends of the earth

and of the farthest seas,

6who formed the mountains by your power,

having armed yourself with strength,

7who stilled the roaring of the seas,

the roaring of their waves,

and the turmoil of the nations.

8Those living far away fear your wonders;

where morning dawns and evening fades

you call forth songs of joy.

9You care for the land and water it;

you enrich it abundantly.

The streams of God are filled with water

to provide the people with grain, [6]

for so you have ordained it.C

10You drench its furrows

and level its ridges;

you soften it with showers

and bless its crops.

11You crown the year with your bounty,

and your carts overflow with abundance.

12The grasslands of the desert overflow;

the hills are clothed with gladness.

13The meadows are covered with flocks

and the valleys are mantled with grain;

they shout for joy and sing. [7]

PSALMS: 95

1Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;

let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

2Let us come before him with thanksgiving

and extol him with music and song.

3For the LORD is the great God,

the great King above all gods.

4In his hand are the depths of the earth,

and the mountain peaks belong to him.

5The sea is his, for he made it,

and his hands formed the dry land.

6Come, let us bow down in worship,

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

7for he is our God

and we are the people of his pasture,

the flock under his care.

Today, if you hear his voice,

8do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,A

as you did that day at MassahB in the desert,

9where your fathers tested and tried me,

though they had seen what I did.

10For forty years I was angry with that generation;

I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray,

and they have not known my ways."

11So I declared on oath in my anger,

"They shall never enter my rest." [8]

PSALMS: 125

A song of ascents.

1Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,

which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

2As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so the LORD surrounds his people

both now and forevermore.

3The scepter of the wicked will not remain

over the land allotted to the righteous,

for then the righteous might use

their hands to do evil.

4Do good, O LORD, to those who are good,

to those who are upright in heart.

5But those who turn to crooked ways

the LORD will banish with the evildoers.

Peace be upon Israel. [9]

PROVERBS: 5

51 My son, pay attention to my wisdom,

listen well to my words of insight,

2that you may maintain discretion

and your lips may preserve knowledge.

3For the lips of an adulteress drip honey,

and her speech is smoother than oil;

4but in the end she is bitter as gall,

sharp as a double-edged sword.

5Her feet go down to death;

her steps lead straight to the grave.A

6She gives no thought to the way of life;

her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.

7Now then, my sons, listen to me;

do not turn aside from what I say.

8Keep to a path far from her,

do not go near the door of her house,

9lest you give your best strength to others

and your years to one who is cruel,

10lest strangers feast on your wealth

and your toil enrich another man's house.

11At the end of your life you will groan,

when your flesh and body are spent.

12You will say, "How I hated discipline!

How my heart spurned correction!

13I would not obey my teachers

or listen to my instructors.

14I have come to the brink of utter ruin

in the midst of the whole assembly."

15Drink water from your own cistern,

running water from your own well.

16Should your springs overflow in the streets,

your streams of water in the public squares?

17Let them be yours alone, [10]

never to be shared with strangers.

18May your fountain be blessed,

and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19A loving doe, a graceful deer--

may her breasts satisfy you always,

may you ever be captivated by her love.

20Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress?

Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife?

21For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD,

and he examines all his paths.

22The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him;

the cords of his sin hold him fast.

23He will die for lack of discipline,

led astray by his own great folly. [11]

OLD TESTAMENT

DEUTERONOMY 7:1 - 8:20

71When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations--the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you-- 2and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally.A Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 3Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 5This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah polesB and burn their idols in the fire. 6For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

7The LORD did not set his affection on you [12]and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. 10But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.

11Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.

12If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. 13He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of [13]your land--your grain, new wine and oil--the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. 14You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. 15The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you. 16You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

17You may say to yourselves, "These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?" 18But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. 19You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the miraculous signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.

20Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors [14]who hide from you have perished. 21Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. 22The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. 23But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed. 24He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them. 25The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the LORD your God. 26Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.[15]

81Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. 2Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

6Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. 7For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land--a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; 8a land with wheat and barley, vines and [16]fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

10When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

11Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and

brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

17You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my [17]hands have produced this wealth for me." 18But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

19If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.[18]

NEW TESTAMENT

LUKE 7:1 - 8:3

71When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, 5because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." 6So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, `Go,' and he goes; and that one, `Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, `Do this,' and he does it."

9When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." 10Then the men who had [19]been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

11Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out--the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."

14Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" 15The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

16They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." 17This news about Jesus spread throughout JudeaA and the surrounding country.

18John's disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19he sent them to the Lord to ask, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" [20]20When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, `Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?' "

21At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosyB are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 23Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

24After John's messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?

25If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. 26But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27This is the one about whom it is written:

" `I will send my messenger ahead of you, [21]who will prepare your way before you.'C

28I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."

29(All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' words, acknowledged that God's way was right, because they had been baptized by John. 30But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

31"To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:

" `We played the flute for you,

and you did not dance;

we sang a dirge,

and you did not cry.'

33For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, `He has a demon.' 34The Son of Man came [22]who will prepare your way before you.'C

28I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."

31"To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:

" `We played the flute for you,

and you did not dance;

we sang a dirge,

and you did not cry.'

33For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, `He has a demon.' 34The Son of Man came [23]eating and drinking, and you say, `Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' 35But wisdom is proved right by all her children."

36Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

39When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner."

40Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."

"Tell me, teacher," he said.

41"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,D and the other fifty. 42Neither of them [24]had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"

43Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."

"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

44Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."

48Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

49The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

50Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."[25]

81After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. [26]

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 5

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John 3:16-21