The Daily Bible Readings for Thursday, February 10, 2022

 

Trees Planted by Streams of Water (Psalm 1)

The Daily Bible Readings
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Psalm 1; Jeremiah 13:12-19; Acts 13:26-34
with commentaries from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

Introduction & Summary

In today’s lectionary readings, our psalm is written to teach people what is right and what is wrong. The writer described the things that are pleasing to the Lord and how to do these things. It explains that there are consequences for not following the path of the Lord. In contrast, there are rewards for being a faithful and obedient worshiper.

In our reading in Jeremiah, the Lord continues painting pictures in the people’s minds to get through to them. He compared them to a belt. And now he pictures them as wine bottles. Jeremiah urges the people to repent while there’s still time—because, at this point, there was still time to turn back to the Lord.

In our reading in the Book of Acts, arriving in Antioch of Pisidia, Paul and John Mark attended the synagogue of the Jews on the Sabbath. Invited to speak, Paul introduced Jesus as the Savior crucified, buried and raised from the dead, and seen by eyewitnesses.

In our verse of the day, the Holy Spirit declares through Paul that the precondition for spiritual growth is active, persistent walking in love—walking in faith grounded in love.

Today’s Verse of the Day:
1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

We must always test our motives for everything we do. Do we sacrifice our lives and possessions out of loving obedience to the Lord, or in doing so are we fulfilling a selfish need in our own lives? Do we address our conduct with an attitude of godly service, or are we motivated by personal ambition and conceit? If our actions do not reflect the love of God, they will have no power and will certainly not last (John 13:34, 35; 15:4–14; 1 Cor. 3:11–15).

Today’s Lectionary Readings:
From the Psalter
Psalm 1
Trees Planted by Streams of Water

1 Blessed is the one
     who does not walk in step with the wicked
  or stand in the way that sinners take
     or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
     and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
     which yields its fruit in season
  and whose leaf does not wither—
     whatever they do prospers.

4 Not so the wicked!
     They are like chaff
     that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
     nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
     but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Commentary

The holiness and happiness of a godly man (vv. 1-3). The sinfulness and misery of a wicked man, The ground and reason of both (vv. 4-6).

Verses 1-3: To meditate in God's word, is to discourse with ourselves concerning the great things contained in it, with close application of mind and fixedness of thought. We must have constant regard to the word of God, as the rule of our actions, and the spring of our comforts; and have it in our thoughts night and day. For this purpose no time is amiss.

Verses 4-6: The ungodly are the reverse of the righteous, both in character and condition. The ungodly are not so, ver. 4; they are led by the counsel of the wicked, in the way of sinners, to the seat of the scornful; they have no delight in the law of God; they bring forth no fruit but what is evil. The righteous are like useful, fruitful trees: the ungodly are like the chaff which the wind drives away: the dust which the owner of the floor desires to have driven away, as not being of any use. They are of no worth in God's account, how highly soever they may value themselves. They are easily driven to and fro by every wind of temptation. The chaff may be, for a while, among the wheat, but He is coming, whose fan is in his hand, and who will thoroughly purge his floor. Those that, by their own sin and folly, make themselves as chaff, will be found so before the whirlwind and fire of Divine wrath. The doom of the ungodly is fixed, but whenever the sinner becomes sensible of this guilt and misery, he may be admitted into the company of the righteous by Christ the living way, and become in Christ a new creature. He has new desires, new pleasures, hopes, fears, sorrows, companions, and employments. His thoughts, words, and actions are changed. He enters on a new state, and bears a new character. Behold, all things are become new by Divine grace, which changes his soul into the image of the Redeemer. How different the character and end of the ungodly.

From the Prophetic Books of Major Prophets
Jeremiah 13:12-19
The Threat of Exile

13:12 “Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ 13 then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. 14 I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”

15 Hear and pay attention,
      do not be arrogant,
      for the Lord has spoken.
16 Give glory to the Lord your God
      before he brings the darkness,
   before your feet stumble
      on the darkening hills.
   You hope for light,
      but he will turn it to utter darkness
      and change it to deep gloom.
17 If you do not listen,
      I will weep in secret
      because of your pride;
   my eyes will weep bitterly,
      overflowing with tears,
      because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

18 Say to the king and to the queen mother,
      “Come down from your thrones,
   for your glorious crowns
      will fall from your heads.”
19 The cities in the Negev will be shut up,
      and there will be no one to open them.
   All Judah will be carried into exile,
      carried completely away.

Commentary

All ranks should suffer misery, An earnest exhortation to repentance.

As the bottle was fitted to hold the wine, so the sins of the people made them vessels of wrath, fitted for the judgments of God; with which they should be filled till they caused each other's destruction. The prophet exhorts them to give glory to God, by confessing their sins, humbling themselves in repentance, and returning to his service. Otherwise they would be carried into other countries in all the darkness of idolatry and wickedness. All misery, witnessed or foreseen, will affect a feeling mind, but the pious heart must mourn most over the afflictions of the Lord's flock.

From the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 13:26-34
God Raised Jesus from the Dead

13:26 “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. 27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. 28 Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.

32 “We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:

   “‘You are my son;
      today I have become your father.’

34 God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said,

   “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’

Commentary

Paul's discourse at Antioch.

Verses 26-31: Paul passes from David to the Son of David, and shows that this Jesus is his promised Seed; a Savior to do that for them, which the judges of old could not do, to save them from their sins, their worst enemies. When the apostles preached Christ as the Savior, they were so far from concealing his death, that they always preached Christ crucified. Our complete separation from sin, is represented by our being buried with Christ. But he rose again from the dead, and saw no corruption: this was the great truth to be preached.

Verses 32-34: The resurrection of Christ was the great proof of his being the Son of God. It was not possible he should be held by death, because he was the Son of God, and therefore had life in himself, which he could not lay down but with a design to take it again.

Today’s Lectionary Readings are selected from the Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, a three-year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year C. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2022, we will be in Year A. The year which ended at Advent 2021 was Year B. 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 Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lessons are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Commentaries from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible.