The Daily Readings
THURSDAY, October 22, 2020
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17; Deuteronomy 31:14-22; Titus 1:5-16
The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV)
Today’s Verse-of-the-Day:
A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!Words are powerful: they can either build up or destroy. Solomon devoted many of his proverbs to the consequences of speech. Just as foolish words can bring about a person’s own destruction, a wise word can bring joy to all who hear it. The apostle James wrote of the destructive power of words (in James 3:5, 6); the author of Hebrews also exhorted us to encourage one another (Heb. 10:24, 25) (NKJV Study Bible).
Today’s Readings:
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
Show your servants your works
1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.Commentary
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
13 Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
It is supposed that this psalm refers to the sentence passed on Israel in the wilderness, Numbers 14. God's favor and protection are the only sure rest and comfort of the soul in this evil world. Christ Jesus is the refuge and dwelling-place to which we may repair. We are dying creatures. All our comforts in the world are dying comforts, but God is an ever-living God, and believers find him so. When God, by sickness, or other afflictions, turns men to destruction, he thereby calls men to return unto him to repent of their sins and live a new life. A thousand years are nothing to God's eternity: between a minute and a million years, there is some proportion; between time and eternity, there is none. All the events of a thousand years, whether past or to come, are more present to the Eternal Mind than what was done in the last hour is to us. And in the resurrection, the body and soul shall both return and be united again. Time passes unobserved by us, as with men asleep, and when it is past, it is as nothing. It is a short and quickly-passing life, as the waters of a flood. Man flourish as the grass, which will wither when the winter of old age comes, but he may be mown down by disease or disaster.
Those who would learn true wisdom must pray for Divine instruction, must beg to be taught by the Holy Spirit, and for comfort and joy in the returns of God's favor. They pray for the mercy of God, for they pretend not to plead any merit of their own. His favor would be a full fountain of future joys. It would be a sufficient balance to former griefs. Let the grace of God in us produce the light of good works. And let Divine consolations put gladness into our hearts and a luster upon our countenances. The work of our hands, establish thou it, and, to that, establish us in it. Instead of wasting our precious, fleeting days pursuing fancies, which leave the possessors for ever poor, let us seek the forgiveness of sins and an inheritance in heaven. Let us pray that the work of the Holy Spirit may appear in converting our hearts and that the beauty of holiness may be seen in our conduct.
Deuteronomy 31:14-22
Moses’ time to die draws near
31:14 And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.Commentary
15 And the Lord appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.
16 And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?
18 And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.
19 Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.
21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.
22 Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.
Moses and Joshua attended the Divine Majesty at the door of the tabernacle. Moses is told again that he must shortly die; even those who are most ready and willing to die need to be often reminded of its coming. The Lord tells Moses that, after his death, the covenant he had taken so many pains to make between Israel and their God would undoubtedly be broken. Israel would forsake Him; then, God would forsake Israel. Justly does he cast those off who so unjustly cast him off? Moses is directed to deliver them a song, which should remain a standing testimony for God, as faithful to them in giving them warning, and against them, as persons false to themselves in not taking the warning. The word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of men's hearts and meets them by reproofs and correction. Ministers who preach the word know not the imaginations of men, but God, whose word it is, knows perfectly.
Titus 1:5-16
Troublemakers deny God
1:5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:Commentary
6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
The character and qualification of pastors, here called elders and bishops, agree with what the apostle wrote to Timothy. Being such bishops and overseers of the flock, to be examples to them, and God's stewards to take care of his household's affairs, there is a great reason that they should be blameless. What they are not to be, is plainly shown, as well as what they are to be, as servants of Christ, and able ministers of the letter and practice of the gospel. And here are described the spirit and practice becoming such as should be examples of good works.
False teachers are described. Faithful ministers must oppose such in good time that their folly being made manifest. They may go no further. They had a base end in what they did, serving a worldly interest under the pretense of religion: for the love of money is the root of all evil. Such should be resisted, and put to shame, by sound doctrine from the Scriptures. Shameful actions, the reproach of heathens, should be far from Christians; falsehood and lying, envious craft and cruelty, brutal and sensual practices, and idleness and sloth are sins condemned even by the light of nature. But Christian meekness is as far from cowardly passing over sin and error as from anger and impatience. There may be national differences of character, yet the heart of man in every age and place is deceitful and desperately wicked. But the sharpest reproofs must aim at the good of the reproved, and soundness in the faith is most desirable and necessary. To those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; they abuse and turn things lawful and good into sin. Many profess to know God, yet in their lives, deny and reject him. See the miserable state of hypocrites, such as have a form of godliness, but are without the power, yet let us not be so ready to fix this charge on others, as careful that it does not apply to ourselves.
The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lessons are from The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV).
Commentaries from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible.
The Daily Bible Readings are selected from the Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, a three-year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year A. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2020, we will be in Year B. The year which ended at Advent 2019 was Year C. These readings complement the Sunday and festival readings: Thursday through Saturday readings help prepare the reader for the Sunday ahead; Monday through Wednesday readings help the reader reflect and digest what they heard in worship. Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org
The Daily Readings for THURSDAY, October 22, 2020
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17; Deuteronomy 31:14-22; Titus 1:5-16 (KJV)
