Reading the Bible Together

The Passage for the Day

A prayer of David.

 1 Hear me, LORD, and answer me, 
       for I am poor and needy.

    2 Guard my life, for I am faithful to you; 
       save your servant who trusts in you. 
       You are my God; 3 have mercy on me, Lord, 
       for I call to you all day long.

    4 Bring joy to your servant, Lord, 
       for I put my trust in you.

    5 You, Lord, are forgiving and good, 
       abounding in love to all who call to you.

    6 Hear my prayer, LORD; 
       listen to my cry for mercy.

    7 When I am in distress, I call to you, 
       because you answer me.

    8 Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; 
       no deeds can compare with yours.

    9 All the nations you have made 
       will come and worship before you, Lord; 
       they will bring glory to your name.

    10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds; 
       you alone are God.

    11 Teach me your way, LORD, 
       that I may rely on your faithfulness; 
       give me an undivided heart, 
       that I may fear your name.

    12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; 
       I will glorify your name forever.

    13 For great is your love toward me; 
       you have delivered me from the depths, 
       from the realm of the dead.

    14 Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God; 
       a band of ruthless people seeks my life— 
       they have no regard for you.

    15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, 
       slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

    16 Turn to me and have mercy on me; 
       show your strength in behalf of your servant 
       and save the son of a woman 
       who served you before me.

    17 Give me a sign of your goodness, 
       that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, 
       for you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

Points of interest:

·         ‘Among the gods there is none like you’—in yesterday’s psalm, the psalmist compared God to kings or judges.  Unlike many of the human kings and judges with whom the psalmist is familiar, God judges without bias and rules without favoritism.  In today’s psalm, David compares the Lord to other gods.  The difference between the Lord and other gods, at least in David’s experience, is that the Lord has a way of responding when he’s in trouble.

·         ‘All the nations you have made’—it’s not just that the Lord compares favorably with other gods.  He is, in fact, the true God of every nation.  He made them, after all.

·         ‘give me an undivided heart’—I’m encouraged by the fact that in the same song in which David speaks of his faithfulness and trust he also admits that he has a divided heart.  Apparently, he has a hard time completely believing that God does indeed hear and act.  He does, however, trust God enough to admit his weakness and to ask God for help in overcoming it.

·         ‘you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead’—like in Psalm 22 from last week, David is trusting God with his very life.  The neediness and dependence David expresses here is ultimately a need we all share: we can’t save our own lives.  Maybe that’s why David is so confident that ultimately all nations will turn to God.  God is the only one who can help us with our biggest problem.

Taking it home:

·         For you: You might not wake up each morning feeling, ‘I am poor and needy’, but pretend for a second you are.  Our society places high value on self-sufficiency, and we can live much of our lives without feeling like we need a single soul. God actually welcomes our sense of need.  Try telling God that you want to rely on him and ask him to come through for you in an area where you really need it.

·         For your six: Ask God to protect your six from anyone who is making their lives difficult.  Pray that any plans for their harm would come to nothing.

·         For America: Thank God for all the different nations he has made.  Ask him that all the nations of the world that are represented here in America would prosper and thrive.  Pray that America would be a place where people from all the many different nations of the world would be able to connect with and find God in a way that makes sense and honors the nations they come from.

The Healing at the Pool

¹ Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ^3-4 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ⁵ One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, ¹⁰ and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

¹¹ But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹² So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

¹³ The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

The Authority of the Son

¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

¹² All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. ¹³ For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. ¹⁴ (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) ¹⁶ This will take place on the day when God judges everyone’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

The Jews and the Law

¹⁷ Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; ¹⁸ if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; ¹⁹ if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— ²¹ you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? ²⁴ As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

Unfaithful Israel

⁶ During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. ⁷ I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. ⁸ I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. ⁹ Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. ¹⁰ In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.

¹¹ The LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. ¹² Go, proclaim this message toward the north:
” ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD,
‘I will frown on you no longer,
for I am faithful,’ declares the LORD,
‘I will not be angry forever.

¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt—
you have rebelled against the LORD your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods
under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me,’ ”
declares the LORD.

¹⁴ “Return, faithless people,” declares the LORD, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. ¹⁵ Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶ In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the LORD, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. ¹⁷ At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. ¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam. When Saul had sent men to watch David’s house in order to kill him.

¹ Deliver me from my enemies, O God;
be my fortress against those who are attacking me.

² Deliver me from evildoers
and save me from those who are after my blood.

³ See how they lie in wait for me!
Powerful people conspire against me
for no offense or sin of mine, LORD.

⁴ I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me.
Arise to help me; look on my plight!

⁵ You, LORD God Almighty,
you who are the God of Israel,
rouse yourself to punish all the nations;
show no mercy to wicked traitors.

⁶ They return at evening,
snarling like dogs,
and prowl about the city.

⁷ See what they spew from their mouths—
the words from their lips are sharp as swords,
and they think, “Who can hear us?”

⁸ But you laugh at them, LORD;
you scoff at all those nations.

⁹ You are my strength, I watch for you;
you, God, are my fortress,

¹⁰ my God on whom I can rely.
God will go before me
and will let me gloat over those who slander me.

¹¹ But do not kill them, Lord our shield,
or my people will forget.
In your might uproot them
and bring them down.

¹² For the sins of their mouths,
for the words of their lips,
let them be caught in their pride.
For the curses and lies they utter,

¹³ consume them in wrath,
consume them till they are no more.
Then it will be known to the ends of the earth
that God rules over Jacob.

¹⁴ They return at evening,
snarling like dogs,
and prowl about the city.

¹⁵ They wander about for food
and howl if not satisfied.

¹⁶ But I will sing of your strength,
in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.

¹⁷ You are my strength, I sing praise to you;
you, God, are my fortress,
my God on whom I can rely.