December 19: Psalm 139; Job 28; Isaiah 50; Revelation 10 - a podcast by Crossway

Psalm 139 (Listen)

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

139   O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
2   You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.
3   You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
4   Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5   You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
6   Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it.


7   Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8   If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9   If I take the wings of the morning
    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10   even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me.
11   If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light about me be night,”
12   even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you.


13   For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14   I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.¹
  Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
15   My frame was not hidden from you,
  when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16   Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
  in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.


17   How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18   If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
    I awake, and I am still with you.


19   Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
    O men of blood, depart from me!
20   They speak against you with malicious intent;
    your enemies take your name in vain.²
21   Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
    And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22   I hate them with complete hatred;
    I count them my enemies.


23   Search me, O God, and know my heart!
    Try me and know my thoughts!³
24   And see if there be any grievous way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting!⁴

(ESV)

Job 28 (Listen)

Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?

28   “Surely there is a mine for silver,
    and a place for gold that they refine.
2   Iron is taken out of the earth,
    and copper is smelted from the ore.
3   Man puts an end to darkness
    and searches out to the farthest limit
    the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
4   He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
    they are forgotten by travelers;
    they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.
5   As for the earth, out of it comes bread,
    but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6   Its stones are the place of sapphires,¹
    and it has dust of gold.


7   “That path no bird of prey knows,
    and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
8   The proud beasts have not trodden it;
    the lion has not passed over it.


9   “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock
    and overturns mountains by the roots.
10   He cuts out channels in the rocks,
    and his eye sees every precious thing.
11   He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
    and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.


12   “But where shall wisdom be found?
    And where is the place of understanding?
13   Man does not know its worth,
    and it is not found in the land of the living.
14   The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
    and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15   It cannot be bought for gold,
    and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
16   It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
    in precious onyx or sapphire.
17   Gold and glass cannot equal it,
    nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18   No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
    the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19   The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
    nor can it be valued in pure gold.


20   “From where, then, does wisdom come?
    And where is the place of understanding?
21   It is hidden from the eyes of all living
    and concealed from the birds of the air.
22   Abaddon and Death say,
    ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’


23   “God understands the way to it,
    and he knows its place.
24   For he looks to the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.
25   When he gave to the wind its weight
    and apportioned the waters by measure,
26   when he made a decree for the rain
    and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27   then he saw it and declared it;
    he established it, and searched it out.
28   And he said to man,
  ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
    and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

(ESV)

Isaiah 50 (Listen)

Israel’s Sin and the Servant’s Obedience

50   Thus says the LORD:
  “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce,
    with which I sent her away?
  Or which of my creditors is it
    to whom I have sold you?
  Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
    and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2   Why, when I came, was there no man;
    why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
  Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
    Or have I no power to deliver?
  Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,
    I make the rivers a desert;
  their fish stink for lack of water
    and die of thirst.
3   I clothe the heavens with blackness
    and make sackcloth their covering.”


4   The Lord GOD has given me
    the tongue of those who are taught,
  that I may know how to sustain with a word
    him who is weary.
  Morning by morning he awakens;
    he awakens my ear
    to hear as those who are taught.
5   The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
    and I was not rebellious;
    I turned not backward.
6   I gave my back to those who strike,
    and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
  I hid not my face
    from disgrace and spitting.


7   But the Lord GOD helps me;
    therefore I have not been disgraced;
  therefore I have set my face like a flint,
    and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
8     He who vindicates me is near.
  Who will contend with me?
    Let us stand up together.
  Who is my adversary?
    Let him come near to me.
9   Behold, the Lord GOD helps me;
    who will declare me guilty?
  Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
    the moth will eat them up.


10   Who among you fears the LORD
    and obeys the voice of his servant?
  Let him who walks in darkness
    and has no light
  trust in the name of the LORD
    and rely on his God.
11   Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
    who equip yourselves with burning torches!
  Walk by the light of your fire,
    and by the torches that you have kindled!
  This you have from my hand:
    you shall lie down in torment.

(ESV)

Revelation 10 (Listen)

The Angel and the Little Scroll

10 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, 7 but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

(ESV)