Morning Meditation 7-30-2012

Psalms 84 — ESV

1 To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of 

hosts!

2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts 

of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for 

joy to the living God.

3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.

4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they 


make it a place of springs; the early rain also 


covers it with pools.

7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.

8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!

10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Proverbs 16 — ESV

1 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.

2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit.

3 Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.

4 The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.

5 Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.

6 By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is 


atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one 


turns away from evil.

7 When a man's ways please the LORD, 


he makes even his enemies to


 be at peace with him.

8 Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice.

9 The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

10 An oracle is on the lips of a king; his mouth does not sin in judgment.

11 A just balance and scales are the LORD's; all the weights in the bag are his work.

12 It is an abomination to kings to do evil, for the throne is established by righteousness.

13 Righteous lips are the delight of a king, and he loves him who speaks what is right.

14 A king's wrath is a messenger of death, and a wise man will appease it.

15 In the light of a king's face there is life, and his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain.

16 How much better to get wisdom than gold! 


To get understanding is to be 


chosen rather than silver.

17 The highway of the upright turns aside from evil; whoever guards his way preserves his life.

18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

19 It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.

20 Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.

21 The wise of heart is called discerning, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.

22 Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it, but the instruction of fools is folly.

23 The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious and adds persuasiveness to his lips.

24 Gracious words are like a 


honeycomb, sweetness to the 


soul and health to the body.

25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

26 A worker's appetite works for him; his mouth urges him on.

27 A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

28 A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.

29 A man of violence entices his neighbor and leads him in a way that is not good.

30 Whoever winks his eyes plans dishonest things; he who purses his lips brings evil to pass.

31 Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.

32 Whoever is slow to anger is 


better than the mighty, and 


he who rules his spirit than 


he who takes a city.

33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

Isaiah 11 — ESV

1 There shall come forth a shoot 


from the stump of Jesse, 


and a branch from his roots 


shall bear fruit.

2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

3 And his delight shall be


 in the fear of the LORD.


He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,


 and the leopard shall lie down with


 the young goat, and the calf and


 the lion and the fattened calf together; 


and a little child shall lead them.

7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.

9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day the root of Jesse, 


who shall stand as a signal for 


the peoples--of him shall the nations


 inquire, and his resting place 


shall be glorious.

11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.

12 He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

14 But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.

15 And the LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching breath, and strike it into seven channels, and he will lead people across in sandals.

16 And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

James 1 — ESV

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, 


let him ask God, who gives generously


 to all without reproach, and 


it will be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,

10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.

11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

12 Blessed is the man who remains


 steadfast under trial, for when


 he has stood the test he will 


receive the crown of life, which


 God has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no one say when he is tempted,


 "I am being tempted by God," 


for God cannot be tempted


 with evil, and he himself 


tempts no one.

14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

18 Of his own will he brought us


 forth by the word of truth, that


 we should be a kind of firstfruits


 of his creatures.

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.

24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

27 Religion that is pure and undefiled


 before God, the Father, is this:


 to visit orphans and widows in


 their affliction, and to keep 


oneself unstained from the world.