Read To Me Daily Semester 3Sample

1CHRONICLES 11-12:
In yesterday’s reading in 1st Chronicles, we heard of the the priests and Levites who returned after the exile. Then, after hearing the genealogy of King Saul, we jumped forward to the story of how he died. This prepares us for the stories about King David.

PROVERBS 18a:
Our highlighted proverb today is this:

Pro. 18:10 [GNT The Lord is like a strong tower,
where the righteous can go and be safe.

[NLT translates this verse more literally:

The name of the LORD is a strong fortress;
the godly run to him and are safe.]

The GNT translates the Jewish metonymy of ‘the Lord’s name’ correctly. In other words, ‘the Lord’s name’ here is used as a figure of speech to point to the LORD generally. It really is hard to imagine how ‘the name of the Lord’ would be a strong tower. And translating as GNT does will help to keep naive readers from using the name of the LORD (‘YHWH’) as a magic charm.

1THESSALONIANS 2:
Chapter 1 of 1st Thessalonians ended with Paul saying what other people were saying about the Thessalonian believers: 

1Th. 1:10 NLT And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.

Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, help us to be like the Thessalonian believers. May we put our belief into practice. May our love for You motivate us to greater and greater work for You. Please keep our hope in You firm— no matter what happens. Please give us the inner conviction that the Father has chosen us, and confirm that by working powerfully through us by the Holy Spirit. Just like You empowered Paul, we pray that when we share about You, the Holy Spirit would give whoever is listening the complete conviction of the truth of what we say. Just like the Thessalonians turned from idols, may nothing replace You as the reigning king in our hearts. Give us also the firm belief that You are coming again. May we wait for You— not with fear and dread, but with joy and anticipation.