Home > Reading > Daily Reading – April 22, 2019

Proverbs 6:1–19 (ESV)

Practical Warnings

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
have given your pledge for a stranger,

if you are snared in the words of your mouth,
caught in the words of your mouth,

then do this, my son, and save yourself,
for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.

Give your eyes no sleep
and your eyelids no slumber;

save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.

Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,

she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.

How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?

10  A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,

11  and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.

12  A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,

13  winks with his eyes, signals with his feet,
points with his finger,

14  with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;

15  therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

16  There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:

17  haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,

18  a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,

19  a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.

Psalm 103 (ESV)

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

103 Of David.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.

The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.

10  He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.

11  For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

12  as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

13  As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

14  For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

15  As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;

16  for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.

17  But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,

18  to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.

19  The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.

20  Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!

21  Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!

22  Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Hebrews 10:1–10 (ESV)

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

10 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”

When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Wilhelm Walther truthfully says: “It never entered the mind of Luther to deny all authority in the Church. Rather, by dethroning the mass of false authorities to which men bowed during the Catholic period, he enthroned another authority as the only one duly authenticated. Indeed, only to this end did he militate against the infallibility of the Church Fathers, Popes, Councils, and universities with such force, to make room for the ‘Empress’ who alone is worthy of all sovereignty, the Holy Scripture. Anyone to whom this must rst be proved lacks even elementary knowledge in the eld of the history of the Reformation. (19)

–Johann Michael Reu, Luther on the Scriptures

This daily Bible reading guide, Reading the Word of God, was conceived and prepared as a result of the ongoing discussions between representatives of three church bodies: Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The following individuals have represented their church bodies and approved this introduction and the reading guide: LCC: President Robert Bugbee; NALC: Bishop John Bradosky, Revs. Mark Chavez, James Nestingen, and David Wendel; LCMS: Revs. Albert Collver, Joel Lehenbauer, John Pless, and Larry Vogel.

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