THEINC-HIM DAILY BIBLE MEDITATION: June 18

Thursday, October 22, 2009

June 18

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

JUNE 18

PSALMS: 18, 48, 78, 108, 138

PROVERBS: 18

OLD TESTAMENT

SONG OF SONGS 5:1 - 8:14

NEW TESTAMENT

2 CORINTHIANS 9:1 - 15

PSALMS: 18

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD. He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

1I love you, O LORD, my strength.

2The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.

He is my shield and the hornA of my salvation, my stronghold.

3I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,

and I am saved from my enemies.

4The cords of death entangled me;

the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

5The cords of the graveB coiled around me;

the snares of death confronted me.

6In my distress I called to the LORD;

I cried to my God for help.

From his temple he heard my voice;

my cry came before him, into his ears.

7The earth trembled and quaked,

and the foundations of the mountains shook;

they trembled because he was angry.

8Smoke rose from his nostrils;

consuming fire came from his mouth,

burning coals blazed out of it.

9He parted the heavens and came down;

dark clouds were under his feet.

10He mounted the cherubim and flew;

he soared on the wings of the wind. [1]

11He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him--

the dark rain clouds of the sky.

12Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,

with hailstones and bolts of lightning.

13The LORD thundered from heaven;

the voice of the Most High resounded.C

14He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies,

great bolts of lightning and routed them.

15The valleys of the sea were exposed

and the foundations of the earth laid bare

at your rebuke, O LORD,

at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

16He reached down from on high and took hold of me;

he drew me out of deep waters.

17He rescued me from my powerful enemy,

from my foes, who were too strong for me.

18They confronted me in the day of my disaster,

but the LORD was my support.

19He brought me out into a spacious place;

he rescued me because he delighted in me.

20The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;

according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

21For I have kept the ways of the LORD;

I have not done evil by turning from my God.

22All his laws are before me;

I have not turned away from his decrees.

23I have been blameless before him

and have kept myself from sin.

24The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,

according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.[2]

25To the faithful you show yourself faithful,

to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

26to the pure you show yourself pure,

but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

27You save the humble

but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.

28You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning;

my God turns my darkness into light.

29With your help I can advance against a troopD;

with my God I can scale a wall.

30As for God, his way is perfect;

the word of the LORD is flawless.

He is a shield

for all who take refuge in him.

31For who is God besides the LORD?

And who is the Rock except our God?

32It is God who arms me with strength

and makes my way perfect.

33He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;

he enables me to stand on the heights.

34He trains my hands for battle;

my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

35You give me your shield of victory,

and your right hand sustains me;

you stoop down to make me great.

36You broaden the path beneath me,

so that my ankles do not turn.

37I pursued my enemies and overtook them;

I did not turn back till they were destroyed.

38I crushed them so that they could not rise;

they fell beneath my feet. [3]

39You armed me with strength for battle;

you made my adversaries bow at my feet.

40You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,

and I destroyed my foes.

41They cried for help, but there was no one to save them--

to the LORD, but he did not answer.

42I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind;

I poured them out like mud in the streets.

43You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;

you have made me the head of nations;

people I did not know are subject to me.

44As soon as they hear me, they obey me;

foreigners cringe before me.

45They all lose heart;

they come trembling from their strongholds.

46The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock!

Exalted be God my Savior!

47He is the God who avenges me,

who subdues nations under me,

48who saves me from my enemies.

You exalted me above my foes;

from violent men you rescued me.

49Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD;

I will sing praises to your name.

50He gives his king great victories;

he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed,

to David and his descendants forever. [4]

PSALMS: 48

A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.

1Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise,

in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

2It is beautiful in its loftiness,

the joy of the whole earth.

Like the utmost heights of ZaphonA is Mount Zion,

theB city of the Great King.

3God is in her citadels;

he has shown himself to be her fortress.

4When the kings joined forces,

when they advanced together,

5they saw her and were astounded;

they fled in terror.

6Trembling seized them there,

pain like that of a woman in labor.

7You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish

shattered by an east wind.

8As we have heard,

so have we seen

in the city of the LORD Almighty,

in the city of our God:

God makes her secure forever.

Selah

9Within your temple, O God,

we meditate on your unfailing love.

10Like your name, O God,

your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;

your right hand is filled with righteousness. [5]

11Mount Zion rejoices,

the villages of Judah are glad

because of your judgments.

12Walk about Zion, go around her,

count her towers,

13consider well her ramparts,

view her citadels,

that you may tell of them to the next generation.

14For this God is our God for ever and ever;

he will be our guide even to the end. [6]

PSALMS: 78

A maskilA of Asaph.

1O my people, hear my teaching;

listen to the words of my mouth.

2I will open my mouth in parables,

I will utter hidden things, things from of old--

3what we have heard and known,

what our fathers have told us.

4We will not hide them from their children;

we will tell the next generation

the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,

his power, and the wonders he has done.

5He decreed statutes for Jacob

and established the law in Israel,

which he commanded our forefathers

to teach their children,

6so the next generation would know them,

even the children yet to be born,

and they in turn would tell their children.

7Then they would put their trust in God

and would not forget his deeds

but would keep his commands.

8They would not be like their forefathers--

a stubborn and rebellious generation,

whose hearts were not loyal to God,

whose spirits were not faithful to him.

9The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,

turned back on the day of battle;

10they did not keep God's covenant

and refused to live by his law.

11They forgot what he had done,

the wonders he had shown them.

12He did miracles in the sight of their fathers

in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.

13He divided the sea and led them through;

he made the water stand firm like a wall.

14He guided them with the cloud by day

and with light from the fire all night.

15He split the rocks in the desert

and gave them water as abundant as the seas;

16he brought streams out of a rocky crag

and made water flow down like rivers.

17But they continued to sin against him,

rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

18They willfully put God to the test

by demanding the food they craved.

19They spoke against God, saying,

"Can God spread a table in the desert?

20When he struck the rock, water gushed out,

and streams flowed abundantly.

But can he also give us food?

Can he supply meat for his people?"

21When the LORD heard them, he was very angry;

his fire broke out against Jacob,

and his wrath rose against Israel,

22for they did not believe in God

or trust in his deliverance.

23Yet he gave a command to the skies above

and opened the doors of the heavens;

24he rained down manna for the people to eat, [7]

he gave them the grain of heaven.

25Men ate the bread of angels;

he sent them all the food they could eat.

26He let loose the east wind from the heavens

and led forth the south wind by his power.

27He rained meat down on them like dust,

flying birds like sand on the seashore.

28He made them come down inside their camp,

all around their tents.

29They ate till they had more than enough,

for he had given them what they craved.

30But before they turned from the food they craved,

even while it was still in their mouths,

31God's anger rose against them;

he put to death the sturdiest among them,

cutting down the young men of Israel.

32In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;

in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.

33So he ended their days in futility

and their years in terror.

34Whenever God slew them, they would seek him;

they eagerly turned to him again.

35They remembered that God was their Rock,

that God Most High was their Redeemer.

36But then they would flatter him with their mouths,

lying to him with their tongues;

37their hearts were not loyal to him,

they were not faithful to his covenant.

38Yet he was merciful;

he forgave their iniquities

and did not destroy them.

Time after time he restrained his anger

and did not stir up his full wrath. [8]

39He remembered that they were but flesh,

a passing breeze that does not return.

40How often they rebelled against him in the desert

and grieved him in the wasteland!

41Again and again they put God to the test;

they vexed the Holy One of Israel.

42They did not remember his power--

the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,

43the day he displayed his miraculous signs in Egypt,

his wonders in the region of Zoan.

44He turned their rivers to blood;

they could not drink from their streams.

45He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,

and frogs that devastated them.

46He gave their crops to the grasshopper,

their produce to the locust.

47He destroyed their vines with hail

and their sycamore-figs with sleet.

48He gave over their cattle to the hail,

their livestock to bolts of lightning.

49He unleashed against them his hot anger,

his wrath, indignation and hostility--

a band of destroying angels.

50He prepared a path for his anger;

he did not spare them from death

but gave them over to the plague.

51He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,

the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.

52But he brought his people out like a flock;

he led them like sheep through the desert.

53He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;

but the sea engulfed their enemies.

54Thus he brought them to the border of his holy land, [9]

to the hill country his right hand had taken.

55He drove out nations before them

and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;

he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.

56But they put God to the test

and rebelled against the Most High;

they did not keep his statutes.

57Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless,

as unreliable as a faulty bow.

58They angered him with their high places;

they aroused his jealousy with their idols.

59When God heard them, he was very angry;

he rejected Israel completely.

60He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,

the tent he had set up among men.

61He sent the ark of his might into captivity,

his splendor into the hands of the enemy.

62He gave his people over to the sword;

he was very angry with his inheritance.

63Fire consumed their young men,

and their maidens had no wedding songs;

64their priests were put to the sword,

and their widows could not weep.

65Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,

as a man wakes from the stupor of wine.

66He beat back his enemies;

he put them to everlasting shame.

67Then he rejected the tents of Joseph,

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;

68but he chose the tribe of Judah, [10]

Mount Zion, which he loved.

69He built his sanctuary like the heights,

like the earth that he established forever.

70He chose David his servant

and took him from the sheep pens;

71from tending the sheep he brought him

to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,

of Israel his inheritance.

72And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;

with skillful hands he led them. [11]

PSALMS: 108

A song. A psalm of David.

1My heart is steadfast, O God;

I will sing and make music with all my soul.

2Awake, harp and lyre!

I will awaken the dawn.

3I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations;

I will sing of you among the peoples.

4For great is your love, higher than the heavens;

your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

5Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,

and let your glory be over all the earth.

6Save us and help us with your right hand,

that those you love may be delivered.

7God has spoken from his sanctuary:

"In triumph I will parcel out Shechem

and measure off the Valley of Succoth.

8Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine;

Ephraim is my helmet,

Judah my scepter.

9Moab is my washbasin,

upon Edom I toss my sandal;

over Philistia I shout in triumph."

10Who will bring me to the fortified city?

Who will lead me to Edom?

11Is it not you, O God, you who have rejected us

and no longer go out with our armies?

12Give us aid against the enemy,

for the help of man is worthless.

13With God we will gain the victory, [12]

and he will trample down our enemies. [13]

PSALMS: 138

Of David.

1I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;

before the "gods" I will sing your praise.

2I will bow down toward your holy temple

and will praise your name

for your love and your faithfulness,

for you have exalted above all things

your name and your word.

3When I called, you answered me;

you made me bold and stouthearted.

4May all the kings of the earth praise you, O LORD,

when they hear the words of your mouth.

5May they sing of the ways of the LORD,

6Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly,

but the proud he knows from afar.

7Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

you preserve my life;

you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes,

with your right hand you save me.

8The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;

your love, O LORD, endures forever--

do not abandon the works of your hands. [14]

PROVERBS: 18

181 An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends;

he defies all sound judgment.

2A fool finds no pleasure in understanding

but delights in airing his own opinions.

3When wickedness comes, so does contempt,

and with shame comes disgrace.

4The words of a man's mouth are deep waters,

but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

5It is not good to be partial to the wicked

or to deprive the innocent of justice.

6A fool's lips bring him strife,

and his mouth invites a beating.

7A fool's mouth is his undoing,

and his lips are a snare to his soul.

8The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;

they go down to a man's inmost parts.

9One who is slack in his work

is brother to one who destroys.

10The name of the LORD is a strong tower;

the righteous run to it and are safe.

11The wealth of the rich is their fortified city;

they imagine it an unscalable wall.[15]

12Before his downfall a man's heart is proud,

but humility comes before honor.

13He who answers before listening--

that is his folly and his shame.

14A man's spirit sustains him in sickness,

but a crushed spirit who can bear?

15The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge;

the ears of the wise seek it out.

16A gift opens the way for the giver

and ushers him into the presence of the great.

17The first to present his case seems right,

till another comes forward and questions him.

18Casting the lot settles disputes

and keeps strong opponents apart.

19An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city,

and disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel.

20From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled;

with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied.

21The tongue has the power of life and death,

and those who love it will eat its fruit.

22He who finds a wife finds what is good

and receives favor from the LORD. [16]

23A poor man pleads for mercy,

but a rich man answers harshly.

24A man of many companions may come to ruin,

but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. [17]

OLD TESTAMENT

SONG OF SONGS 5:1 - 8:14

51 I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.

I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;

I have drunk my wine and my milk.

Eat, O friends, and drink;

drink your fill, O lovers.

2I slept but my heart was awake.

Listen! My lover is knocking:

"Open to me, my sister, my darling,

my dove, my flawless one.

My head is drenched with dew,

my hair with the dampness of the night."

3I have taken off my robe--

must I put it on again?

I have washed my feet--

must I soil them again?

4My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening;

my heart began to pound for him.

5I arose to open for my lover,

and my hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with flowing myrrh,

on the handles of the lock.

6I opened for my lover, [18]

but my lover had left; he was gone.

My heart sank at his departure.A

I looked for him but did not find him.

I called him but he did not answer.

7The watchmen found me

as they made their rounds in the city.

They beat me, they bruised me;

they took away my cloak,

those watchmen of the walls!

8O daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you--

if you find my lover,

what will you tell him?

Tell him I am faint with love.

9How is your beloved better than others,

most beautiful of women?

How is your beloved better than others,

that you charge us so?

10My lover is radiant and ruddy,

outstanding among ten thousand.

11His head is purest gold;

his hair is wavy

and black as a raven.

12His eyes are like doves

by the water streams, [19]

washed in milk,

mounted like jewels.

13His cheeks are like beds of spice

yielding perfume.

His lips are like lilies

dripping with myrrh.

14His arms are rods of gold

set with chrysolite.

His body is like polished ivory

decorated with sapphires.B

15His legs are pillars of marble

set on bases of pure gold.

His appearance is like Lebanon,

choice as its cedars.

16His mouth is sweetness itself;

he is altogether lovely.

This is my lover, this my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem.

61 Where has your lover gone,

most beautiful of women?

Which way did your lover turn,

that we may look for him with you? [20]

2My lover has gone down to his garden,

to the beds of spices,

to browse in the gardens

and to gather lilies.

3I am my lover's and my lover is mine;

he browses among the lilies.

4You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah,

lovely as Jerusalem,

majestic as troops with banners.

5Turn your eyes from me;

they overwhelm me.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

descending from Gilead.

6Your teeth are like a flock of sheep

coming up from the washing.

Each has its twin,

not one of them is alone.

7Your temples behind your veil

are like the halves of a pomegranate.

8Sixty queens there may be,

and eighty concubines,

and virgins beyond number;

9but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,

the only daughter of her mother,

the favorite of the one who bore her. [21]

The maidens saw her and called her blessed;

the queens and concubines praised her.

10Who is this that appears like the dawn,

fair as the moon, bright as the sun,

majestic as the stars in procession?

11I went down to the grove of nut trees

to look at the new growth in the valley,

to see if the vines had budded

or the pomegranates were in bloom.

12Before I realized it,

my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.A

13Come back, come back, O Shulammite;

come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!

Why would you gaze on the Shulammite

as on the dance of Mahanaim?

71 How beautiful your sandaled feet,

O prince's daughter!

Your graceful legs are like jewels,

the work of a craftsman's hands.

2Your navel is a rounded goblet [22]

that never lacks blended wine.

Your waist is a mound of wheat

encircled by lilies.

3Your breasts are like two fawns,

twins of a gazelle.

4Your neck is like an ivory tower.

Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon

by the gate of Bath Rabbim.

Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon

looking toward Damascus.

5Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.

Your hair is like royal tapestry;

the king is held captive by its tresses.

6How beautiful you are and how pleasing,

O love, with your delights!

7Your stature is like that of the palm,

and your breasts like clusters of fruit.

8I said, "I will climb the palm tree;

I will take hold of its fruit."

May your breasts be like the clusters of the vine,

the fragrance of your breath like apples,

9 and your mouth like the best wine.

May the wine go straight to my lover,

flowing gently over lips and teeth.A

10I belong to my lover, [23]

and his desire is for me.

11Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside,

let us spend the night in the villages.B

12Let us go early to the vineyards

to see if the vines have budded,

if their blossoms have opened,

and if the pomegranates are in bloom--

there I will give you my love.

13The mandrakes send out their fragrance,

and at our door is every delicacy,

both new and old,

that I have stored up for you, my lover.

81 If only you were to me like a brother,

who was nursed at my mother's breasts!

Then, if I found you outside,

I would kiss you,

and no one would despise me.

2I would lead you

and bring you to my mother's house--

she who has taught me.

I would give you spiced wine to drink, [24]

the nectar of my pomegranates.

3His left arm is under my head

and his right arm embraces me.

4Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you:

Do not arouse or awaken love

until it so desires.

5Who is this coming up from the desert

leaning on her lover?

Under the apple tree I roused you;

there your mother conceived you,

there she who was in labor gave you birth.

6Place me like a seal over your heart,

like a seal on your arm;

for love is as strong as death,

its jealousyA unyielding as the grave.B

It burns like blazing fire,

like a mighty flame.C

7Many waters cannot quench love;

rivers cannot wash it away.

If one were to give

all the wealth of his house for love,

itD would be utterly scorned. [25]

8We have a young sister,

and her breasts are not yet grown.

What shall we do for our sister

for the day she is spoken for?

9If she is a wall,

we will build towers of silver on her.

If she is a door,

we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

10I am a wall,

and my breasts are like towers.

Thus I have become in his eyes

like one bringing contentment.

11Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon;

he let out his vineyard to tenants.

Each was to bring for its fruit

a thousand shekelsE of silver.

12But my own vineyard is mine to give;

the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon,

and two hundredF are for those who tend its fruit.

13You who dwell in the gardens

with friends in attendance,

let me hear your voice! [26]

14Come away, my lover,

and be like a gazelle

or like a young stag

on the spice-laden mountains.[27]

NEW TESTAMENT

2 CORINTHIANS 9:1 - 15

91There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints. 2For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. 3But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we--not to say anything about you--would be ashamed of having been so confident. 5So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.

6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:

"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever."A

10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. [28]

11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift![29]

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

Thursday, October 22, 2009

June 18

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