May 20, 2020
Please read today’s Scriptures and use the comment section on this page to share your insights from today’s reading. You can also just mention a verse that impacted you or post a question!
Read (and Hear) the Bible in One Year
New American Standard Bible for 2020
Text: 2 Chronicles 35-36
Audio: 2 Chronicles 35-36
Psalm 140 (ESV)
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men;
preserve me from violent men,
2 who plan evil things in their heart
and stir up wars continually.
3 They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s,
and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah
4 Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
preserve me from violent men,
who have planned to trip up my feet.
5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
and with cords they have spread a net;
beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah
6 I say to the Lord, You are my God;
give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O Lord!
7 O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation,
you have covered my head in the day of battle.
8 Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked;
do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted! Selah
9 As for the head of those who surround me,
let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!
10 Let burning coals fall upon them!
Let them be cast into fire,
into miry pits, no more to rise!
11 Let not the slanderer be established in the land;
let evil hunt down the violent man speedily!
12 I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
and will execute justice for the needy.
13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name;
the upright shall dwell in your presence.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Shelter Me
Deliver me from evil
Preserve me from those who harm
Protect me from the things
In their hearts and in mine
Guard me from the wicked
I know you will disarm
Those who plot against me
In you I'll be fine
You are my God
I know you hear me
You hear my cries
And pleas for mercy
You are my God
My strength and my song
My salvation from all wrong
In you I belong
Shelter me
Every. Single. Day. That's how often God shows me that He hears me, that He knows my concerns, and that He is in control. Every single day, multiple times a day.
There could not have been a more appropriate time for me to have read this particular chapter, and He planned it that way.
When God speaks to me through these readings, He is showing me that He is indeed right there with me, listening and guiding and loving me. There are no words sometimes.
There is none greater. He is love and all good things, all the time. He is my King.
Amen!
Brynne, I remember reading this psalm many, many years ago and connecting to it with what was going on in my life. The last two verses gave me hope when I had none. How blessed we are to know that nothing goes unseen by God's eyes!
"I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
and will execute justice for the needy.
Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name;
the upright shall dwell in your presence."
On February 23, a man named Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed in a quiet neighborhood in Savannah, Georgia after being chased and confronted by a father and son who saw him enter and leave a house under construction. The father aimed his shotgun at Ahmaud, who ran at the man and tried to wrestle the gun away — and that's when he was shot.
"Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
preserve me from violent men,
who have planned to trip up my feet.
The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
and with cords they have spread a net;
beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah
I say to the Lord, You are my God;
give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O Lord!"
My only solace as I think about the tragedy of this story is God's compassion and justice. Left to our own devices, the world is a terribly dark place.
"I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
and will execute justice for the needy.
Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name;
the upright shall dwell in your presence."
Only God can execute righteous justice. And He is the one I place my hope in.
“Our solace is found not in man’s justice, but in the righteous justice of God. He alone executes perfect judgment, not lacking in wisdom or knowledge, and always full of compassion and mercy.” From “Crying for Justice in an Unjust World.”