February 15: Psalm 97; Psalms 99–100; Psalms 94–95; Genesis 31:1–24; 1 John 2:1–11; John 9:18–41 - a podcast by Crossway

Psalm 97(Listen)

TheLordReigns

97   The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice;
    let the many coastlands be glad!
2   Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
    righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3   Fire goes before him
    and burns up his adversaries all around.
4   His lightnings light up the world;
    the earth sees and trembles.
5   The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
    before the Lord of all the earth.
6   The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
    and all the peoples see his glory.
7   All worshipers of images are put to shame,
    who make their boast in worthless idols;
    worship him, all you gods!
8   Zion hears and is glad,
    and the daughters of Judah rejoice,
    because of your judgments, O LORD.
9   For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
    you are exalted far above all gods.
10   O you who love the LORD, hate evil!
    He preserves the lives of his saints;
    he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11   Light is sown¹for the righteous,
    and joy for the upright in heart.
12   Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous,
    and give thanks to his holy name!

(ESV)

Psalms 99–100(Listen)

TheLordOur God Is Holy

99   The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble!
    He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
2   The LORD is great in Zion;
    he is exalted over all the peoples.
3   Let them praise your great and awesome name!
    Holy is he!
4   The King in his might loves justice.¹
    You have established equity;
  you have executed justice
    and righteousness in Jacob.
5   Exalt the LORD our God;
    worship at his footstool!
    Holy is he!
6   Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
    Samuel also was among those who called upon his name.
    They called to the LORD, and he answered them.
7   In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them;
    they kept his testimonies
    and the statute that he gave them.
8   O LORD our God, you answered them;
    you were a forgiving God to them,
    but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
9   Exalt the LORD our God,
    and worship at his holy mountain;
    for the LORD our God is holy!

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

A Psalm for giving thanks.

100   Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
2     Serve the LORD with gladness!
    Come into his presence with singing!
3   Know that the LORD, he is God!
    It is he who made us, and we are his;²
    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4   Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
    and his courts with praise!
    Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5   For the LORD is good;
    his steadfast love endures forever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.

(ESV)

Psalms 94–95(Listen)

TheLordWill Not Forsake His People

94   O LORD, God of vengeance,
    O God of vengeance, shine forth!
2   Rise up, O judge of the earth;
    repay to the proud what they deserve!
3   O LORD, how long shall the wicked,
    how long shall the wicked exult?
4   They pour out their arrogant words;
    all the evildoers boast.
5   They crush your people, O LORD,
    and afflict your heritage.
6   They kill the widow and the sojourner,
    and murder the fatherless;
7   and they say, “The LORD does not see;
    the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
8   Understand, O dullest of the people!
    Fools, when will you be wise?
9   He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
  He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10   He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
  He who teaches man knowledge—
11     the LORD—knows the thoughts of man,
    that they are but a breath.¹
12   Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD,
    and whom you teach out of your law,
13   to give him rest from days of trouble,
    until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14   For the LORD will not forsake his people;
    he will not abandon his heritage;
15   for justice will return to the righteous,
    and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16   Who rises up for me against the wicked?
    Who stands up for me against evildoers?
17   If the LORD had not been my help,
    my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
18   When I thought, “My foot slips,”
    your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
19   When the cares of my heart are many,
    your consolations cheer my soul.
20   Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
    those who frame²injustice by statute?
21   They band together against the life of the righteous
    and condemn the innocent to death.³
22   But the LORD has become my stronghold,
    and my God the rock of my refuge.
23   He will bring back on them their iniquity
    and wipe them out for their wickedness;
    the LORD our God will wipe them out.

Let Us Sing Songs of Praise

95   Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2   Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3   For the LORD is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
4   In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
5   The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.
6   Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
7   For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
  Today, if you hear his voice,
8     do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9   when your fathers put me to the test
    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10   For forty years I loathed that generation
    and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
    and they have not known my ways.”
11   Therefore I swore in my wrath,
    “They shall not enter my rest.”

(ESV)

Genesis 31:1–24(Listen)

Jacob Flees from Laban

31 Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.”2 And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before.3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was5 and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me.6 You know that I have served your father with all my strength,7 yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me.8 If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped.9 Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.10 In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled.11 Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’12 And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’”14 Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house?15 Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money.16 All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”

17 So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels.18 He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.19 Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods.20 And Jacob tricked¹Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee.21 He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates,²and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled,23 he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead.24 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

(ESV)

1 John 2:1–11(Listen)

Christ Our Advocate

2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

The New Commandment

7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because¹the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him²there is no cause for stumbling.11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

(ESV)

John 9:18–41(Listen)

18 The Jews¹did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus²to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.)23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said,“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”³36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”37 Jesus said to him,“You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.39 Jesus said,“For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”41 Jesus said to them,“If you were blind, you would have no guilt;⁴but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

(ESV)