February 9: Psalm 119:97–120; Psalms 81–82; Genesis 27:1–29; Romans 12:1–8; John 8:12–20 - a podcast by Crossway

Psalm 119:97–120(Listen)

Mem

97   Oh how I love your law!
    It is my meditation all the day.
98   Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
    for it is ever with me.
99   I have more understanding than all my teachers,
    for your testimonies are my meditation.
100   I understand more than the aged,¹
    for I keep your precepts.
101   I hold back my feet from every evil way,
    in order to keep your word.
102   I do not turn aside from your rules,
    for you have taught me.
103   How sweet are your words to my taste,
    sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104   Through your precepts I get understanding;
    therefore I hate every false way.

Nun

105   Your word is a lamp to my feet
    and a light to my path.
106   I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
    to keep your righteous rules.
107   I am severely afflicted;
    give me life, O LORD, according to your word!
108   Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O LORD,
    and teach me your rules.
109   I hold my life in my hand continually,
    but I do not forget your law.
110   The wicked have laid a snare for me,
    but I do not stray from your precepts.
111   Your testimonies are my heritage forever,
    for they are the joy of my heart.
112   I incline my heart to perform your statutes
    forever, to the end.²

Samekh

113   I hate the double-minded,
    but I love your law.
114   You are my hiding place and my shield;
    I hope in your word.
115   Depart from me, you evildoers,
    that I may keep the commandments of my God.
116   Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
    and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
117   Hold me up, that I may be safe
    and have regard for your statutes continually!
118   You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,
    for their cunning is in vain.
119   All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross,
    therefore I love your testimonies.
120   My flesh trembles for fear of you,
    and I am afraid of your judgments.

(ESV)

Psalms 81–82(Listen)

Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith.¹Of Asaph.

81   Sing aloud to God our strength;
    shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2   Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
    the sweet lyre with the harp.
3   Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
    at the full moon, on our feast day.
4   For it is a statute for Israel,
    a rule²of the God of Jacob.
5   He made it a decree in Joseph
    when he went out over³the land of Egypt.
  I hear a language I had not known:
6   “I relieved your⁴shoulder of the burden;
    your hands were freed from the basket.
7   In distress you called, and I delivered you;
    I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
    I tested you at the waters of Meribah.Selah
8   Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
    O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9   There shall be no strange god among you;
    you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10   I am the LORD your God,
    who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
    Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11   “But my people did not listen to my voice;
    Israel would not submit to me.
12   So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
    to follow their own counsels.
13   Oh, that my people would listen to me,
    that Israel would walk in my ways!
14   I would soon subdue their enemies
    and turn my hand against their foes.
15   Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him,
    and their fate would last forever.
16   But he would feed you⁵with the finest of the wheat,
    and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Rescue the Weak and Needy

A Psalm of Asaph.

82   God has taken his place in the divine council;
    in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2   “How long will you judge unjustly
    and show partiality to the wicked?Selah
3   Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
    maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4   Rescue the weak and the needy;
    deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5   They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
    they walk about in darkness;
    all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6   I said, “You are gods,
    sons of the Most High, all of you;
7   nevertheless, like men you shall die,
    and fall like any prince.”⁶
8   Arise, O God, judge the earth;
    for you shall inherit all the nations!

(ESV)

Genesis 27:1–29(Listen)

Isaac Blesses Jacob

27 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.”2 He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.3 Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me,4 and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”

5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it,6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau,7 ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the LORD before I die.’8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you.9 Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves.10 And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.”13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.”

14 So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved.15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.16 And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.17 And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

18 So he went in to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the LORD your God granted me success.”21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.”22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him.24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.”25 Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.”27 So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said,

  “See, the smell of my son
    is as the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed!
28   May God give you of the dew of heaven
    and of the fatness of the earth
    and plenty of grain and wine.
29   Let peoples serve you,
    and nations bow down to you.
  Be lord over your brothers,
    and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
  Cursed be everyone who curses you,
    and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

(ESV)

Romans 12:1–8(Listen)

A Living Sacrifice

12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers,¹by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.²2 Do not be conformed to this world,³but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.⁴

Gifts of Grace

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.4 For as in one body we have many members,⁵and the members do not all have the same function,5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,⁶with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

(ESV)

John 8:12–20(Listen)

I Am the Light of the World

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.”14 Jesus answered,“Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father¹who sent me.17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered,“You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

(ESV)