February 19: Psalms 107:33–108:13; Psalm 33; Genesis 35:1–20; 1 John 3:11–18; John 11:1–16 - a podcast by Crossway

Psalms 107:33–108:13(Listen)

33   He turns rivers into a desert,
    springs of water into thirsty ground,
34   a fruitful land into a salty waste,
    because of the evil of its inhabitants.
35   He turns a desert into pools of water,
    a parched land into springs of water.
36   And there he lets the hungry dwell,
    and they establish a city to live in;
37   they sow fields and plant vineyards
    and get a fruitful yield.
38   By his blessing they multiply greatly,
    and he does not let their livestock diminish.
39   When they are diminished and brought low
    through oppression, evil, and sorrow,
40   he pours contempt on princes
    and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
41   but he raises up the needy out of affliction
    and makes their families like flocks.
42   The upright see it and are glad,
    and all wickedness shuts its mouth.
43   Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
    let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.

With God We Shall Do Valiantly

A Song. A Psalm of David.

108   My heart is steadfast, O God!
    I will sing and make melody with all my being!¹
2   Awake, O harp and lyre!
    I will awake the dawn!
3   I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples;
    I will sing praises to you among the nations.
4   For your steadfast love is great above the heavens;
    your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5   Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!
6   That your beloved ones may be delivered,
    give salvation by your right hand and answer me!
7   God has promised in his holiness:²
    “With exultation I will divide up Shechem
    and portion out the Valley of Succoth.
8   Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
    Ephraim is my helmet,
    Judah my scepter.
9   Moab is my washbasin;
    upon Edom I cast my shoe;
    over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
10   Who will bring me to the fortified city?
    Who will lead me to Edom?
11   Have you not rejected us, O God?
    You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
12   Oh grant us help against the foe,
    for vain is the salvation of man!
13   With God we shall do valiantly;
    it is he who will tread down our foes.

(ESV)

Psalm 33(Listen)

The Steadfast Love of theLord

33   Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous!
    Praise befits the upright.
2   Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre;
    make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
3   Sing to him a new song;
    play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
4   For the word of the LORD is upright,
    and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5   He loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.
6   By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
    and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7   He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
    he puts the deeps in storehouses.
8   Let all the earth fear the LORD;
    let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9   For he spoke, and it came to be;
    he commanded, and it stood firm.
10   The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
    he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11   The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
    the plans of his heart to all generations.
12   Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
    the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
13   The LORD looks down from heaven;
    he sees all the children of man;
14   from where he sits enthroned he looks out
    on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15   he who fashions the hearts of them all
    and observes all their deeds.
16   The king is not saved by his great army;
    a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17   The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
    and by its great might it cannot rescue.
18   Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
    on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19   that he may deliver their soul from death
    and keep them alive in famine.
20   Our soul waits for the LORD;
    he is our help and our shield.
21   For our heart is glad in him,
    because we trust in his holy name.
22   Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
    even as we hope in you.

(ESV)

Genesis 35:1–20(Listen)

God Blesses and Renames Jacob

35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him,7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,¹because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.8 And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.²

9 God appeared³to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel.11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:⁴be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.⁵12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac

16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance⁶from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor.17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.”18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;⁷but his father called him Benjamin.⁸19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem),20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day.

(ESV)

1 John 3:11–18(Listen)

Love One Another

11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.13 Do not be surprised, brothers,¹that the world hates you.14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

(ESV)

John 11:1–16(Listen)

The Death of Lazarus

11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”4 But when Jesus heard it he said,“This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.6 So, when he heard that Lazarus¹was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.7 Then after this he said to the disciples,“Let us go to Judea again.”8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”9 Jesus answered,“Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”11 After saying these things, he said to them,“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.14 Then Jesus told them plainly,“Lazarus has died,15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”16 So Thomas, called the Twin,²said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

(ESV)