Home > Reading > Daily Reading – October 1, 2018

Job 5 (ESV)

“Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
Surely vexation kills the fool,
and jealousy slays the simple.
I have seen the fool taking root,
but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.
His children are far from safety;
they are crushed in the gate,
and there is no one to deliver them.
The hungry eat his harvest,
and he takes it even out of thorns,
and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
For affliction does not come from the dust,
nor does trouble sprout from the ground,
but man is born to trouble
as the sparks fly upward.

“As for me, I would seek God,
and to God would I commit my cause,
who does great things and unsearchable,
marvelous things without number:
10  he gives rain on the earth
and sends waters on the fields;
11  he sets on high those who are lowly,
and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12  He frustrates the devices of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.
13  He catches the wise in their own craftiness,
and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
14  They meet with darkness in the daytime
and grope at noonday as in the night.
15  But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth
and from the hand of the mighty.
16  So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts her mouth.

17  “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves;
therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.
18  For he wounds, but he binds up;
he shatters, but his hands heal.
19  He will deliver you from six troubles;
in seven no evil shall touch you.
20  In famine he will redeem you from death,
and in war from the power of the sword.
21  You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue,
and shall not fear destruction when it comes.
22  At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
and shall not fear the beasts of the earth.
23  For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,
and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.
24  You shall know that your tent is at peace,
and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.
25  You shall know also that your offspring shall be many,
and your descendants as the grass of the earth.
26  You shall come to your grave in ripe old age,
like a sheaf gathered up in its season.
27  Behold, this we have searched out; it is true.
Hear, and know it for your good.”

Psalm 90 (ESV)

From Everlasting to Everlasting

90 A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”

For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.

You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:

in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.

For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.

You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.

For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.

10  The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.

11  Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?

12  So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.

13  Return, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!

14  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15  Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.

16  Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.

17  Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!

Luke 8:26–39 (ESV)

Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon

26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

In the passage cited above, that is taken from the Exposition of the First and Second Chapter of John, 1537 and 1538, there is the statement: “But these are questions that remain questions which I will not solve and that do not give me much concern, only there are people so sly and keen that they raise all kinds of questions for which they want to have answers. If one, however, has a correct understanding of Scripture and possesses the true statement of our faith that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has suffered and died for us, it will not be a serious defect if we are not able to answer them.” And following this: “When discrepancies occur in Holy Scripture (namely concerning such chronological questions as these: how many years Jesus taught openly, how the account of the Temple cleansing in John agrees with Matthew, and similar questions) and
we cannot harmonize them, let it pass, it does not endanger the article of the Christian faith.” In these statements Luther does not say that it is a matter of indi erence to him whether they contain errors or not but only that his faith would not be endangered, if, in spite of his best efforts, he would be unable to solve the apparent contradictions or to prove the inconsequence of all skeptical questions. He dismisses the matter if he cannot prove it conclusively, but his inability to do so neither commits him to the opinion that these passages really contain error, nor is his faith in salvation thereby imperiled. (49–50)

–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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