Day 256 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 143:6–12

⁶I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah ⁷Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit. ⁸Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul. ⁹Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD; I flee to You for refuge. ¹⁰Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. ¹¹For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble. ¹²And in Your loving devotion, cut off my enemies. Destroy all who afflict me, for I am Your servant.

New Testament·1 Corinthians 14:31–15:12

³¹For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. ³²The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. ³³For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace—as in all the churches of the saints. ³⁴Women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. ³⁵If they wish to inquire about something, they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is dishonorable for a woman to speak in the church. ³⁶Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached? ³⁷If anyone considers himself a prophet or spiritual person, let him acknowledge that what I am writing you is the Lord’s command. ³⁸But if anyone ignores this, he himself will be ignored. ³⁹So, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. ⁴⁰But everything must be done in a proper and orderly manner.

15Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm. ²By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. ³For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. ⁶After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one of untimely birth. ⁹For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. ¹¹Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. ¹²But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

Old Testament·Job 38–39

¹Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: ²“Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge? ³Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me. ⁴Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. ⁵Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it? ⁶On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone, ⁷while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? ⁸Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, ⁹when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket, ¹⁰when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors, ¹¹and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’? ¹²In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place, ¹³that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it? ¹⁴The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment. ¹⁵Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken. ¹⁶Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep? ¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? ¹⁸Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. ¹⁹Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides, ²⁰so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home? ²¹Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great! ²²Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail, ²³which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle? ²⁴In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth? ²⁵Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt, ²⁶to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives, ²⁷to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass? ²⁸Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew? ²⁹From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven, ³⁰when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen? ³¹Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion? ³²Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs? ³³Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth? ³⁴Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you? ³⁵Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’? ³⁶Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind? ³⁷Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens ³⁸when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together? ³⁹Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions ⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket? ⁴¹Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?

39“Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the doe bear her fawn? ²Can you count the months they are pregnant? Do you know the time they give birth? ³They crouch down and bring forth their young; they deliver their newborn. ⁴Their young ones thrive and grow up in the open field; they leave and do not return. ⁵Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from the harness? ⁶I made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling. ⁷He scorns the tumult of the city and never hears the shouts of a driver. ⁸He roams the mountains for pasture, searching for any green thing. ⁹Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night? ¹⁰Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he plow the valleys behind you? ¹¹Can you rely on his great strength? Will you leave your hard work to him? ¹²Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing floor? ¹³The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork. ¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand. ¹⁵She forgets that a foot may crush them, or a wild animal may trample them. ¹⁶She treats her young harshly, as if not her own, with no concern that her labor was in vain. ¹⁷For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding. ¹⁸Yet when she proudly spreads her wings, she laughs at the horse and its rider. ¹⁹Do you give strength to the horse or adorn his neck with a mane? ²⁰Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? ²¹He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he charges into battle. ²²He laughs at fear, frightened of nothing; he does not turn back from the sword. ²³A quiver rattles at his side, along with a flashing spear and lance. ²⁴Trembling with excitement, he devours the distance; he cannot stand still when the ram’s horn sounds. ²⁵At the blast of the horn, he snorts with fervor. He catches the scent of battle from afar— the shouts of captains and the cry of war. ²⁶Does the hawk take flight by your understanding and spread his wings toward the south? ²⁷Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high? ²⁸He dwells on a cliff and lodges there; his stronghold is on a rocky crag. ²⁹From there he spies out food; his eyes see it from afar. ³⁰His young ones feast on blood; and where the slain are, there he is.”