Monday, July 22 | St. Andrew's Anglican Church

Psalm 41

¹ Blessed is the one who considers the poor!
    In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
²the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
    he is called blessed in the land;
    you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
³The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
    in his illness you restore him to full health.
⁴As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
    heal me, for I have sinned against you!”
⁵My enemies say of me in malice,
    “When will he die, and his name perish?”
⁶And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,
    while his heart gathers iniquity;
    when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
⁷All who hate me whisper together about me;
    they imagine the worst for me.
⁸They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him;
    he will not rise again from where he lies.”
⁹Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
    who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
¹⁰But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
    and raise me up, that I may repay them!
¹¹By this I know that you delight in me:
    my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
¹²But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
    and set me in your presence forever.
¹³Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting!
    Amen and Amen.

Psalm 44

¹ O God, we have heard with our ears,
    our fathers have told us,
    what deeds you performed in their days,
    in the days of old:
²you with your own hand drove out the nations,
    but them you planted;
    you afflicted the peoples,
    but them you set free;
³for not by their own sword did they win the land,
    nor did their own arm save them,
    but your right hand and your arm,
    and the light of your face,
    for you delighted in them.
⁴You are my King, O God;
    ordain salvation for Jacob!
⁵Through you we push down our foes;
    through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.
⁶For not in my bow do I trust,
    nor can my sword save me.
⁷But you have saved us from our foes
    and have put to shame those who hate us.
⁸In God we have boasted continually,
    and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
⁹But you have rejected us and disgraced us
    and have not gone out with our armies.
¹⁰You have made us turn back from the foe,
    and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
¹¹You have made us like sheep for slaughter
    and have scattered us among the nations.
¹²You have sold your people for a trifle,
    demanding no high price for them.
¹³You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and scorn of those around us.
¹⁴You have made us a byword among the nations,
    a laughingstock among the peoples.
¹⁵All day long my disgrace is before me,
    and shame has covered my face
¹⁶at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
    at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
¹⁷All this has come upon us,
    though we have not forgotten you,
    and we have not been false to your covenant.
¹⁸Our heart has not turned back,
    nor have our steps departed from your way;
¹⁹yet you have broken us in the place of jackals
    and covered us with the shadow of death.
²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God
    or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
²¹would not God discover this?
    For he knows the secrets of the heart.
²²Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
²³Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
    Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
²⁴Why do you hide your face?
    Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
²⁵For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
    our belly clings to the ground.
²⁶Rise up; come to our help!
    Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

Psalm 52

¹ Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
    The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
²Your tongue plots destruction,
    like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
³You love evil more than good,
    and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
⁴You love all words that devour,
    O deceitful tongue.
⁵But God will break you down forever;
    he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
    he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
⁶The righteous shall see and fear,
    and shall laugh at him, saying,
⁷“See the man who would not make
    God his refuge,
    but trusted in the abundance of his riches
    and sought refuge in his own destruction!”
⁸But I am like a green olive tree
    in the house of God.
    I trust in the steadfast love of God
    forever and ever.
⁹I will thank you forever,
    because you have done it.
    I will wait for your name, for it is good,
    in the presence of the godly.

Joshua 7:1-13

¹ But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel. ²Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. ³And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.” ⁴So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, ⁵and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water. ⁶Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. ⁷And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! ⁸O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! ⁹For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?” ¹⁰The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? ¹¹Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. ¹²Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. ¹³Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”

Romans 13:8-14

⁸Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. ¹¹Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. ¹²The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. ¹³Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Matthew 26:36-46

³⁶Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷ And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸ Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” ³⁹ And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” ⁴⁰ And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? ⁴¹ Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴² Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴³ And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴ So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. ⁴⁵ Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶ Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”