February 23: Psalm 119:145–176; Psalms 128–130; Proverbs 6:1–19; 1 John 5:1–12; John 11:45–54 - a podcast by Crossway

Psalm 119:145–176(Listen)

Qoph

145   With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD!
    I will keep your statutes.
146   I call to you; save me,
    that I may observe your testimonies.
147   I rise before dawn and cry for help;
    I hope in your words.
148   My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
    that I may meditate on your promise.
149   Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;
    O LORD, according to your justice give me life.
150   They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;
    they are far from your law.
151   But you are near, O LORD,
    and all your commandments are true.
152   Long have I known from your testimonies
    that you have founded them forever.

Resh

153   Look on my affliction and deliver me,
    for I do not forget your law.
154   Plead my cause and redeem me;
    give me life according to your promise!
155   Salvation is far from the wicked,
    for they do not seek your statutes.
156   Great is your mercy, O LORD;
    give me life according to your rules.
157   Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,
    but I do not swerve from your testimonies.
158   I look at the faithless with disgust,
    because they do not keep your commands.
159   Consider how I love your precepts!
    Give me life according to your steadfast love.
160   The sum of your word is truth,
    and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

Sin and Shin

161   Princes persecute me without cause,
    but my heart stands in awe of your words.
162   I rejoice at your word
    like one who finds great spoil.
163   I hate and abhor falsehood,
    but I love your law.
164   Seven times a day I praise you
    for your righteous rules.
165   Great peace have those who love your law;
    nothing can make them stumble.
166   I hope for your salvation, O LORD,
    and I do your commandments.
167   My soul keeps your testimonies;
    I love them exceedingly.
168   I keep your precepts and testimonies,
    for all my ways are before you.

Taw

169   Let my cry come before you, O LORD;
    give me understanding according to your word!
170   Let my plea come before you;
    deliver me according to your word.
171   My lips will pour forth praise,
    for you teach me your statutes.
172   My tongue will sing of your word,
    for all your commandments are right.
173   Let your hand be ready to help me,
    for I have chosen your precepts.
174   I long for your salvation, O LORD,
    and your law is my delight.
175   Let my soul live and praise you,
    and let your rules help me.
176   I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
    for I do not forget your commandments.

(ESV)

Psalms 128–130(Listen)

Blessed Is Everyone Who Fears theLord

A Song of Ascents.

128   Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,
    who walks in his ways!
2   You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
    you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
3   Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
    within your house;
  your children will be like olive shoots
    around your table.
4   Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
    who fears the LORD.
5   The LORD bless you from Zion!
    May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
    all the days of your life!
6   May you see your children’s children!
    Peace be upon Israel!

They Have Afflicted Me from My Youth

A Song of Ascents.

129   “Greatly¹have they afflicted me from my youth”—
    let Israel now say—
2   “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,
    yet they have not prevailed against me.
3   The plowers plowed upon my back;
    they made long their furrows.”
4   The LORD is righteous;
    he has cut the cords of the wicked.
5   May all who hate Zion
    be put to shame and turned backward!
6   Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
    which withers before it grows up,
7   with which the reaper does not fill his hand
    nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
8   nor do those who pass by say,
    “The blessing of the LORD be upon you!
    We bless you in the name of the LORD!”

My Soul Waits for the Lord

A Song of Ascents.

130   Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
2     O Lord, hear my voice!
  Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3   If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?
4   But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.
5   I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
6   my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.
7   O Israel, hope in the LORD!
    For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
8   And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities.

(ESV)

Proverbs 6:1–19(Listen)

Practical Warnings

6   My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
    have given your pledge for a stranger,
2   if you are snared in the words of your mouth,
    caught in the words of your mouth,
3   then do this, my son, and save yourself,
    for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
    go, hasten,¹and plead urgently with your neighbor.
4   Give your eyes no sleep
    and your eyelids no slumber;
5   save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,²
    like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6   Go to the ant, O sluggard;
    consider her ways, and be wise.
7   Without having any chief,
    officer, or ruler,
8   she prepares her bread in summer
    and gathers her food in harvest.
9   How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
    When will you arise from your sleep?
10   A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest,
11   and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want like an armed man.
12   A worthless person, a wicked man,
    goes about with crooked speech,
13   winks with his eyes, signals³with his feet,
    points with his finger,
14   with perverted heart devises evil,
    continually sowing discord;
15   therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
    in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
16   There are six things that the LORD hates,
    seven that are an abomination to him:
17   haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
    and hands that shed innocent blood,
18   a heart that devises wicked plans,
    feet that make haste to run to evil,
19   a false witness who breathes out lies,
    and one who sows discord among brothers.

(ESV)

1 John 5:1–12(Listen)

Overcoming the World

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Testimony Concerning the Son of God

6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.7 For there are three that testify:8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

(ESV)

John 11:45–54(Listen)

The Plot to Kill Jesus

45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all.50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

(ESV)