THEINC-HIM DAILY BIBLE MEDITATION: June 23

Thursday, October 22, 2009

June 23

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

JUNE 23

PSALMS: 23, 53, 83, 113, 143

PROVERBS: 23

OLD TESTAMENT

ISAIAH 10:1 - 11:16

NEW TESTAMENT

2 CORINTHIANS 12:11 - 21

PSALMS: 23

A psalm of David.

1The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

3he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

4Even though I walk

through the valley of the shadow of death,A

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6Surely goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD

forever. [1]

PSALMS: 53

For the director of music. According to mahalath.A A maskilB of David.

1The fool says in his heart,

"There is no God."

They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;

there is no one who does good.

2God looks down from heaven

on the sons of men

to see if there are any who understand,

any who seek God.

3Everyone has turned away,

they have together become corrupt;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.

4Will the evildoers never learn--

those who devour my people as men eat bread

and who do not call on God?

5There they were, overwhelmed with dread,

where there was nothing to dread.

God scattered the bones of those who attacked you;

you put them to shame, for God despised them.

6Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!

When God restores the fortunes of his people,

let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad! [2]

PSALMS: 83

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

1O God, do not keep silent;

be not quiet, O God, be not still.

2See how your enemies are astir,

how your foes rear their heads.

3With cunning they conspire against your people;

they plot against those you cherish.

4"Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,

that the name of Israel be remembered no more."

5With one mind they plot together;

they form an alliance against you--

6the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

of Moab and the Hagrites,

7Gebal,A Ammon and Amalek,

Philistia, with the people of Tyre.

8Even Assyria has joined them

to lend strength to the descendants of Lot.

Selah

9Do to them as you did to Midian,

as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

10who perished at Endor

and became like refuse on the ground.

11Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,

all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

12who said, "Let us take possession

of the pasturelands of God." [3]

13Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,

like chaff before the wind.

14As fire consumes the forest

or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

15so pursue them with your tempest

and terrify them with your storm.

16Cover their faces with shame

so that men will seek your name, O LORD.

17May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;

may they perish in disgrace.

18Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD--

that you alone are the Most High over all the earth. [4]

PSALMS: 113

1Praise the LORD.A

Praise, O servants of the LORD,

praise the name of the LORD.

2Let the name of the LORD be praised,

both now and forevermore.

3From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,

the name of the LORD is to be praised.

4The LORD is exalted over all the nations,

his glory above the heavens.

5Who is like the LORD our God,

the One who sits enthroned on high,

6who stoops down to look

on the heavens and the earth?

7He raises the poor from the dust

and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

8he seats them with princes,

with the princes of their people.

9He settles the barren woman in her home

as a happy mother of children.

Praise the LORD. [5]

PSALMS: 143

A psalm of David.

1O LORD, hear my prayer,

listen to my cry for mercy;

in your faithfulness and righteousness

come to my relief.

2Do not bring your servant into judgment,

for no one living is righteous before you.

3The enemy pursues me,

he crushes me to the ground;

he makes me dwell in darkness

like those long dead.

4So my spirit grows faint within me;

my heart within me is dismayed.

5I remember the days of long ago;

I meditate on all your works

and consider what your hands have done.

6I spread out my hands to you;

my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

Selah

7Answer me quickly, O LORD;

my spirit fails.

Do not hide your face from me

or I will be like those who go down to the pit.

8Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,

for I have put my trust in you.

Show me the way I should go,

for to you I lift up my soul.

9Rescue me from my enemies, O LORD, [6]

for I hide myself in you.

10Teach me to do your will,

for you are my God;

may your good Spirit

lead me on level ground.

11For your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life;

in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.

12In your unfailing love, silence my enemies;

destroy all my foes,

for I am your servant. [7]

PROVERBS: 23

231 When you sit to dine with a ruler,

note well whatA is before you,

2and put a knife to your throat

if you are given to gluttony.

3Do not crave his delicacies,

for that food is deceptive.

4Do not wear yourself out to get rich;

have the wisdom to show restraint.

5Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,

for they will surely sprout wings

and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

6Do not eat the food of a stingy man,

do not crave his delicacies;

7for he is the kind of man

who is always thinking about the cost.B

"Eat and drink," he says to you,

but his heart is not with you.

8You will vomit up the little you have eaten

and will have wasted your compliments.

9Do not speak to a fool,

for he will scorn the wisdom of your words.

10Do not move an ancient boundary stone

or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

11for their Defender is strong;

he will take up their case against you.

12Apply your heart to instruction

and your ears to words of knowledge. [8]

13Do not withhold discipline from a child;

if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.

14Punish him with the rod

and save his soul from death.C

15My son, if your heart is wise,

then my heart will be glad;

16my inmost being will rejoice

when your lips speak what is right.

17Do not let your heart envy sinners,

but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD.

18There is surely a future hope for you,

and your hope will not be cut off.

19Listen, my son, and be wise,

and keep your heart on the right path.

20Do not join those who drink too much wine

or gorge themselves on meat,

21for drunkards and gluttons become poor,

and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

22Listen to your father, who gave you life,

and do not despise your mother when she is old.

23Buy the truth and do not sell it;

get wisdom, discipline and understanding.

24The father of a righteous man has great joy;

he who has a wise son delights in him.

25May your father and mother be glad;

may she who gave you birth rejoice! [9]

26My son, give me your heart

and let your eyes keep to my ways,

27for a prostitute is a deep pit

and a wayward wife is a narrow well.

28Like a bandit she lies in wait,

and multiplies the unfaithful among men.

29Who has woe? Who has sorrow?

Who has strife? Who has complaints?

Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

30Those who linger over wine,

who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.

31Do not gaze at wine when it is red,

when it sparkles in the cup,

when it goes down smoothly!

32In the end it bites like a snake

and poisons like a viper.

33Your eyes will see strange sights

and your mind imagine confusing things.

34You will be like one sleeping on the high seas,

lying on top of the rigging. [10]

OLD TESTAMENT

ISAIAH 10:1 - 11:16

101 Woe to those who make unjust laws,

to those who issue oppressive decrees,

2to deprive the poor of their rights

and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,

making widows their prey

and robbing the fatherless.

3What will you do on the day of reckoning,

when disaster comes from afar?

To whom will you run for help?

Where will you leave your riches?

4Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives

or fall among the slain.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

5"Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger,

in whose hand is the club of my wrath!

6I send him against a godless nation,

I dispatch him against a people who anger me,

to seize loot and snatch plunder,

and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

7But this is not what he intends,

this is not what he has in mind;

his purpose is to destroy, [11]

to put an end to many nations.

8`Are not my commanders all kings?' he says.

9 `Has not Calno fared like Carchemish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad,

and Samaria like Damascus?

10As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols,

kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria--

11shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images

as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?' "

12When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, "I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. 13For he says:

" `By the strength of my hand I have done this,

and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.

I removed the boundaries of nations,

I plundered their treasures;

like a mighty one I subduedA their kings.

14As one reaches into a nest,

so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations;

as men gather abandoned eggs,

so I gathered all the countries;

not one flapped a wing,

or opened its mouth to chirp.' " [12]

15Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it,

or the saw boast against him who uses it?

As if a rod were to wield him who lifts it up,

or a club brandish him who is not wood!

16Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty,

will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors;

under his pomp a fire will be kindled

like a blazing flame.

17The Light of Israel will become a fire,

their Holy One a flame;

in a single day it will burn and consume

his thorns and his briers.

18The splendor of his forests and fertile fields

it will completely destroy,

as when a sick man wastes away.

19And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few

that a child could write them down.

20In that day the remnant of Israel,

the survivors of the house of Jacob,

will no longer rely on him

who struck them down

but will truly rely on the LORD,

the Holy One of Israel.

21A remnant will return,B a remnant of Jacob [13]

will return to the Mighty God.

22Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand by the sea,

only a remnant will return.

Destruction has been decreed,

overwhelming and righteous.

23The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will carry out

the destruction decreed upon the whole land.

24Therefore, this is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says:

"O my people who live in Zion,

do not be afraid of the Assyrians,

who beat you with a rod

and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.

25Very soon my anger against you will end

and my wrath will be directed to their destruction."

26The LORD Almighty will lash them with a whip,

as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb;

and he will raise his staff over the waters,

as he did in Egypt.

27In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders,

their yoke from your neck;

the yoke will be broken

because you have grown so fat.C [14]

28They enter Aiath;

they pass through Migron;

they store supplies at Micmash.

29They go over the pass, and say,

"We will camp overnight at Geba."

Ramah trembles;

Gibeah of Saul flees.

30Cry out, O Daughter of Gallim!

Listen, O Laishah!

Poor Anathoth!

31Madmenah is in flight;

the people of Gebim take cover.

32This day they will halt at Nob;

they will shake their fist

at the mount of the Daughter of Zion,

at the hill of Jerusalem.

33See, the Lord, the LORD Almighty,

will lop off the boughs with great power.

The lofty trees will be felled,

the tall ones will be brought low.

34He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax;

Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One. [15]

111 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

2The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him--

the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of power,

the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD--

3and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,

or decide by what he hears with his ears;

4but with righteousness he will judge the needy,

with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;

with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

5Righteousness will be his belt

and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

6The wolf will live with the lamb,

the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearlingA together;

and a little child will lead them.

7The cow will feed with the bear,

their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

8The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,

and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.

9They will neither harm nor destroy [16]

on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD

as the waters cover the sea.

10In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. 11In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt,B from Cush,C from Elam, from Babylonia,D from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.

12He will raise a banner for the nations

and gather the exiles of Israel;

he will assemble the scattered people of Judah

from the four quarters of the earth.

13Ephraim's jealousy will vanish,

and Judah's enemiesE will be cut off;

Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,

nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.

14They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;

together they will plunder the people to the east.

They will lay hands on Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

15The LORD will dry up

the gulf of the Egyptian sea;

with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand [17]

over the Euphrates River.F

He will break it up into seven streams

so that men can cross over in sandals.

16There will be a highway for the remnant of his people

that is left from Assyria,

as there was for Israel

when they came up from Egypt. [18]

NEW TESTAMENT

2 CORINTHIANS 12:11 - 21

11I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the "super-apostles," even though I am nothing. 12The things that mark an apostle--signs, wonders and miracles--were done among you with great perseverance. 13How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

14Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 15So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? 16Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery! 17Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent you? 18I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not act in the same spirit and follow the same course?

19Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. 20For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. 21I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they [19]have indulged.[20]

^{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 23

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John 3:16-21