July 10: Psalms 20–21; Psalm 110; Psalms 116–117; 1 Samuel 17:31–49; Acts 11:1–18; Mark 1:14–28 - a podcast by Crossway

Psalms 20–21 (Listen)

Trust in the Name of the Lord Our God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

20   May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
    May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
2   May he send you help from the sanctuary
    and give you support from Zion!
3   May he remember all your offerings
    and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah


4   May he grant you your heart’s desire
    and fulfill all your plans!
5   May we shout for joy over your salvation,
    and in the name of our God set up our banners!
  May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!


6   Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
    he will answer him from his holy heaven
    with the saving might of his right hand.
7   Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
    but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
8   They collapse and fall,
    but we rise and stand upright.


9   O LORD, save the king!
    May he answer us when we call.

The King Rejoices in the Lord’s Strength

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

21   O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices,
    and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
2   You have given him his heart’s desire
    and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
3   For you meet him with rich blessings;
    you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
4   He asked life of you; you gave it to him,
    length of days forever and ever.
5   His glory is great through your salvation;
    splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
6   For you make him most blessed forever;¹
    you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
7   For the king trusts in the LORD,
    and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.


8   Your hand will find out all your enemies;
    your right hand will find out those who hate you.
9   You will make them as a blazing oven
    when you appear.
  The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath,
    and fire will consume them.
10   You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
    and their offspring from among the children of man.
11   Though they plan evil against you,
    though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
12   For you will put them to flight;
    you will aim at their faces with your bows.


13   Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength!
    We will sing and praise your power.

(ESV)

Psalm 110 (Listen)

Sit at My Right Hand

A Psalm of David.

110   The LORD says to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand,
  until I make your enemies your footstool.”


2   The LORD sends forth from Zion
    your mighty scepter.
    Rule in the midst of your enemies!
3   Your people will offer themselves freely
    on the day of your power,¹
    in holy garments;²
  from the womb of the morning,
    the dew of your youth will be yours.³
4   The LORD has sworn
    and will not change his mind,
  “You are a priest forever
    after the order of Melchizedek.”


5   The Lord is at your right hand;
    he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6   He will execute judgment among the nations,
    filling them with corpses;
  he will shatter chiefs⁴
    over the wide earth.
7   He will drink from the brook by the way;
    therefore he will lift up his head.

(ESV)

Psalms 116–117 (Listen)

I Love the Lord

116   I love the LORD, because he has heard
    my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2   Because he inclined his ear to me,
    therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3   The snares of death encompassed me;
    the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
    I suffered distress and anguish.
4   Then I called on the name of the LORD:
    “O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!”


5   Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
    our God is merciful.
6   The LORD preserves the simple;
    when I was brought low, he saved me.
7   Return, O my soul, to your rest;
    for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.


8   For you have delivered my soul from death,
    my eyes from tears,
    my feet from stumbling;
9   I will walk before the LORD
    in the land of the living.


10   I believed, even when¹ I spoke:
    “I am greatly afflicted”;
11   I said in my alarm,
    “All mankind are liars.”


12   What shall I render to the LORD
    for all his benefits to me?
13   I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the LORD,
14   I will pay my vows to the LORD
    in the presence of all his people.


15   Precious in the sight of the LORD
    is the death of his saints.
16   O LORD, I am your servant;
    I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
    You have loosed my bonds.
17   I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
    and call on the name of the LORD.
18   I will pay my vows to the LORD
    in the presence of all his people,
19   in the courts of the house of the LORD,
    in your midst, O Jerusalem.
  Praise the LORD!

The Lord’s Faithfulness Endures Forever

117   Praise the LORD, all nations!
    Extol him, all peoples!
2   For great is his steadfast love toward us,
    and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
  Praise the LORD!

(ESV)

1 Samuel 17:31–49 (Listen)

31 When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. 32 And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”

38 Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, 39 and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.

41 And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42 And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43 And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” 45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

48 When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

(ESV)

Acts 11:1–18 (Listen)

Peter Reports to the Church

11 Now the apostles and the brothers¹ who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party² criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

(ESV)

Mark 1:14–28 (Listen)

Jesus Begins His Ministry

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;¹ repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”² 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Spirit

21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

(ESV)