March 14: Psalms 56–58; Psalms 64–65; Genesis 41:46–57; 1 Corinthians 4:8–21; Mark 3:7–19 - a podcast by Crossway

Psalms 56–58(Listen)

In God I Trust

To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A Miktam¹of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.

56   Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;
    all day long an attacker oppresses me;
2   my enemies trample on me all day long,
    for many attack me proudly.
3   When I am afraid,
    I put my trust in you.
4   In God, whose word I praise,
    in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
    What can flesh do to me?
5   All day long they injure my cause;²
    all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6   They stir up strife, they lurk;
    they watch my steps,
    as they have waited for my life.
7   For their crime will they escape?
    In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!
8   You have kept count of my tossings;³
    put my tears in your bottle.
    Are they not in your book?
9   Then my enemies will turn back
    in the day when I call.
    This I know, that⁴God is for me.
10   In God, whose word I praise,
    in the LORD, whose word I praise,
11   in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
    What can man do to me?
12   I must perform my vows to you, O God;
    I will render thank offerings to you.
13   For you have delivered my soul from death,
    yes, my feet from falling,
  that I may walk before God
    in the light of life.

Let Your Glory Be over All the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam⁵of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.

57   Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
    for in you my soul takes refuge;
  in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
    till the storms of destruction pass by.
2   I cry out to God Most High,
    to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
3   He will send from heaven and save me;
    he will put to shame him who tramples on me.Selah
  God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!
4   My soul is in the midst of lions;
    I lie down amid fiery beasts—
  the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows,
    whose tongues are sharp swords.
5   Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!
6   They set a net for my steps;
    my soul was bowed down.
  They dug a pit in my way,
    but they have fallen into it themselves.Selah
7   My heart is steadfast, O God,
    my heart is steadfast!
  I will sing and make melody!
8     Awake, my glory!⁶
  Awake, O harp and lyre!
    I will awake the dawn!
9   I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
    I will sing praises to you among the nations.
10   For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the clouds.
11   Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!

God Who Judges the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam⁷of David.

58   Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?⁸
    Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
2   No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
    your hands deal out violence on earth.
3   The wicked are estranged from the womb;
    they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
4   They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
    like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5   so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
    or of the cunning enchanter.
6   O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
    tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7   Let them vanish like water that runs away;
    when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
8   Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,
    like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
9   Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
    whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!⁹
10   The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
    he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11   Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
    surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

(ESV)

Psalms 64–65(Listen)

Hide Me from the Wicked

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

64   Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
    preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
2   Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
    from the throng of evildoers,
3   who whet their tongues like swords,
    who aim bitter words like arrows,
4   shooting from ambush at the blameless,
    shooting at him suddenly and without fear.
5   They hold fast to their evil purpose;
    they talk of laying snares secretly,
  thinking, “Who can see them?”
6     They search out injustice,
  saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.”
    For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.
7   But God shoots his arrow at them;
    they are wounded suddenly.
8   They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them;
    all who see them will wag their heads.
9   Then all mankind fears;
    they tell what God has brought about
    and ponder what he has done.
10   Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD
    and take refuge in him!
  Let all the upright in heart exult!

O God of Our Salvation

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

65   Praise is due to you,¹O God, in Zion,
    and to you shall vows be performed.
2   O you who hear prayer,
    to you shall all flesh come.
3   When iniquities prevail against me,
    you atone for our transgressions.
4   Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
    to dwell in your courts!
  We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
    the holiness of your temple!
5   By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
    O God of our salvation,
  the hope of all the ends of the earth
    and of the farthest seas;
6   the one who by his strength established the mountains,
    being girded with might;
7   who stills the roaring of the seas,
    the roaring of their waves,
    the tumult of the peoples,
8   so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
  You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
9   You visit the earth and water it;²
    you greatly enrich it;
  the river of God is full of water;
    you provide their grain,
    for so you have prepared it.
10   You water its furrows abundantly,
    settling its ridges,
  softening it with showers,
    and blessing its growth.
11   You crown the year with your bounty;
    your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
12   The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
    the hills gird themselves with joy,
13   the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
    the valleys deck themselves with grain,
    they shout and sing together for joy.

(ESV)

Genesis 41:46–57(Listen)

46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.47 During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly,48 and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it.49 And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.

50 Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him.51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.”¹52 The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”²

53 The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end,54 and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.55 When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”

56 So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses³and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.57 Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.

(ESV)

1 Corinthians 4:8–21(Listen)

8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless,12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.15 For though you have countless¹guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.17 That is why I sent²you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ,³as I teach them everywhere in every church.18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power.20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

(ESV)

Mark 3:7–19(Listen)

A Great Crowd Follows Jesus

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him,10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

The Twelve Apostles

13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach15 and have authority to cast out demons.16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter);17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder);18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot,¹19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

(ESV)