Day 249 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 138

¹I give You thanks with all my heart; before the gods I sing Your praises. ²I bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your loving devotion and Your faithfulness; You have exalted Your name and Your word above all else. ³On the day I called, You answered me; You emboldened me and strengthened my soul. ⁴All the kings of the earth will give You thanks, O LORD, when they hear the words of Your mouth. ⁵They will sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great. ⁶Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar. ⁷If I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve me from the anger of my foes; You extend Your hand, and Your right hand saves me. ⁸The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me. O LORD, Your loving devotion endures forever— do not abandon the works of Your hands.

New Testament·1 Corinthians 9:17–10:10

¹⁷If my preaching is voluntary, I have a reward. But if it is not voluntary, I am still entrusted with a responsibility. ¹⁸What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it. ¹⁹Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law. ²¹To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings. ²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize. ²⁵Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable. ²⁶Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air. ²⁷No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

10I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea. ²They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness. ⁶These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did. ⁷Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up to indulge in revelry.” ⁸We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. ⁹We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes. ¹⁰And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.

Old Testament·Job 24–26

¹“Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? Why may those who know Him never see His days? ²Men move boundary stones; they pasture stolen flocks. ³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox in pledge. ⁴They push the needy off the road and force all the poor of the land into hiding. ⁵Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go to work foraging for food; the wasteland is food for their children. ⁶They gather fodder in the fields and glean the vineyards of the wicked. ⁷Without clothing, they spend the night naked; they have no covering against the cold. ⁸Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter. ⁹The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt. ¹⁰Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry the sheaves, but still go hungry. ¹¹They crush olives within their walls; they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty. ¹²From the city, men groan, and the souls of the wounded cry out, yet God charges no one with wrongdoing. ¹³Then there are those who rebel against the light, not knowing its ways or staying on its paths. ¹⁴When daylight is gone, the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy; in the night he is like a thief. ¹⁵The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight. Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face. ¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in, never to experience the light. ¹⁷For to them, deep darkness is their morning; surely they are friends with the terrors of darkness! ¹⁸They are but foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one turns toward their vineyards. ¹⁹As drought and heat consume the melting snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned. ²⁰The womb forgets them; the worm feeds on them; they are remembered no more. So injustice is like a broken tree. ²¹They prey on the barren and childless, and show no kindness to the widow. ²²Yet by His power, God drags away the mighty; though rising up, they have no assurance of life. ²³He gives them a sense of security, but His eyes are on their ways. ²⁴They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain. ²⁵If this is not so, then who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?”

25Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: ²“Dominion and awe belong to God; He establishes harmony in the heights of heaven. ³Can His troops be numbered? On whom does His light not rise? ⁴How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure? ⁵If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight, ⁶how much less man, who is but a maggot, and the son of man, who is but a worm!”

26Then Job answered: ²“How you have helped the powerless and saved the arm that is feeble! ³How you have counseled the unwise and provided fully sound insight! ⁴To whom have you uttered these words? And whose spirit spoke through you? ⁵The dead tremble— those beneath the waters and those who dwell in them. ⁶Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering. ⁷He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing. ⁸He wraps up the waters in His clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their own weight. ⁹He covers the face of the full moon, spreading over it His cloud. ¹⁰He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness. ¹¹The foundations of heaven quake, astounded at His rebuke. ¹²By His power He stirred the sea; by His understanding He shattered Rahab. ¹³By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. ¹⁴Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”