Monday, September 9 | 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.
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.
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.

Job 32:1-10, 19-33:1, 19-28

¹ So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. ²Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. ³He burned with anger also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. ⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. ⁵And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger. ⁶And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said:
    “I am young in years,
    and you are aged;
    therefore I was timid and afraid
    to declare my opinion to you.
⁷I said, ‘Let days speak,
    and many years teach wisdom.’
⁸But it is the spirit in man,
    the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.
⁹It is not the old who are wise,
    nor the aged who understand what is right.
¹⁰Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;
    let me also declare my opinion.’ …
¹⁹Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent;
    like new wineskins ready to burst.
²⁰I must speak, that I may find relief;
    I must open my lips and answer.
²¹I will not show partiality to any man
    or use flattery toward any person.
²²For I do not know how to flatter,
    else my Maker would soon take me away.
^33:1 “But now, hear my speech, O Job,
    and listen to all my words. …
¹⁹“Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed
    and with continual strife in his bones,
²⁰so that his life loathes bread,
    and his appetite the choicest food.
²¹His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen,
    and his bones that were not seen stick out.
²²His soul draws near the pit,
    and his life to those who bring death.
²³If there be for him an angel,
    a mediator, one of the thousand,
    to declare to man what is right for him,
²⁴and he is merciful to him, and says,
    ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit;
    I have found a ransom;
²⁵let his flesh become fresh with youth;
    let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;
²⁶then man prays to God, and he accepts him;
    he sees his face with a shout of joy,
    and he restores to man his righteousness.
²⁷He sings before men and says:
    ‘I sinned and perverted what was right,
    and it was not repaid to me.
²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit,
    and my life shall look upon the light.’

Acts 13:44-52

⁴⁴The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. ⁴⁶And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
⁴⁸And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. ⁴⁹And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. ⁵⁰But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. ⁵¹But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. ⁵²And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

John 10:19-30

¹⁹There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. ²⁰Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” ²¹Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” ²²At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. ²⁴So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” ²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, ²⁶but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.”