Read To Me Daily Semester 3Намуна

2SAMUEL 24:
Yesterday in 2nd Samuel we heard David’s final words, and the listing of the 38 mighty warriors who loyally helped David in his victories. Note that Uriah the Hittite was so poignantly included at the end of the list. Today’s chapter seems like a postscript.

PSALM 119:17-32:
Yesterday’s reading in Psalm 119 included two of the most famous verses from this psalm:

Verses 9 and 11:

119:9 (NLT) How can a young person stay pure?
By obeying your word.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.

JOHN 4a:
Yesterday in John 3 we heard the words of John the Baptist at what I consider his finest hour. That was where he said, “He (Jesus) must grow greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” This is a worthy goal for all of us.

GNT Translation note:
In my podcast series, I include translation notes in the episode notes, which I normally don’t read for the audio podcast. But  I think that the one for John 4:21 perhaps should be read.
4:21 NLT Jesus replied, “Believe me, [0//GNT woman//NLT dear woman], the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem.
[I don’t think there is any good equivalent in English for the Greek here. GNT runs the risk of sounding terribly rude, while NLT runs the risk of misunderstanding the ‘dear’ness of the woman to Jesus. In this case, I think English translations would be better off to just not translate the word ‘woman’. One thing is for sure, Jesus’ response was not impolite or overly familiar, but was a normal polite way of speaking to the Samaritan woman.]

Let’s pray.
Our heavenly Father, thank you again for the incredible gift you have given us in your Word. “How can young people keep their lives pure?” It is by knowing and obeying your commands— which are found in your Word. Move us to follow the psalmist’s example of putting your Word in our hearts— memorizing it. In this way, Lord, You give us power to resist sin. And we agree in this example also, when the psalmist said, “I delight in following your commands more than in having great wealth.” Heavenly Father, teach us how to be content with what we have on this earth, because we have every spiritual treasure in heaven through our union with Christ Jesus. So today, our Father, we confess that we don’t need anything except Jesus. Jesus must become more important, while we become less important. May that be our goal today: Jesus first.