Verse 22, Day 22

Psalm 144:9-10
I will sing a new song to you, O God;
on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,
to the One who gives victory to kings,
who delivers his servant David from the deadly sword.

Verse 21, Day 21

This is an example of when just a few lines of a verse doesn't make much sense, so here is the entire passage.

2 Kings 4:8-37
One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. [9] She said to her husband, "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. [10] Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us."
[11] One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. [12] He said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite." So he called her, and she stood before him. [13] Elisha said to him, "Tell her, 'You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?' "
She replied, "I have a home among my own people."
[14] "What can be done for her?" Elisha asked.
Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old."
[15] Then Elisha said, "Call her." So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. [16] "About this time next year," Elisha said, "you will hold a son in your arms."
"No, my lord," she objected. "Don't mislead your servant, O man of God!"
[17] But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
[18] The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. [19] "My head! My head!" he said to his father.
His father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother." [20] After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. [21] She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.
[22] She called her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return."
[23] "Why go to him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or the Sabbath."
"It's all right," she said.
[24] She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Lead on; don't slow down for me unless I tell you." [25] So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, "Look! There's the Shunammite! [26] Run to meet her and ask her, 'Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?' "
"Everything is all right," she said.
[27] When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why."
[28] "Did I ask you for a son, my lord?" she said. "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes'?"
[29] Elisha said to Gehazi, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face."
[30] But the child's mother said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So he got up and followed her.
[31] Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, "The boy has not awakened."
[32] When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. [33] He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. [34] Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm. [35] Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
[36] Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." And he did. When she came, he said, "Take your son." [37] She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

Verse 19 & 20, Day 20

2 Chron. 25:1-4
Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly. After the kingdom was firmly in his control, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king. Yet he did not put their sons to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded: "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sins."



Isaiah 57:1-2
The righteous perish,
and no one ponders it in his heart;
devout men are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.
Those who walk uprightly
enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.

Amen to that!

Verse 17 & 18, Day 18

Keeping up with this everyday is more of a commitment than I expected it to be, so once again, we have 2 for the price of one.

Numbers 23:27-29
Then Balak said to Balaam, "Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there." And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me."


OH how I love the Psalms! I really just pointed to the first verse but decided to print the whole Psalm. The first line really does sum up how I feel sometimes - "Just answer me!" But I know that God does answer in His time and in His way (which rarely seems to match up with mine)

Psalm 4:1-8
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.

Answer me when I call to you,
O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
be merciful to me and hear my prayer.
How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
Selah
Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
the Lord will hear when I call to him.

In your anger do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
Selah

Offer right sacrifices
and trust in the Lord.

Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.
You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.
I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O Lord,
make me dwell in safety.

Verse 16, Day 16

Job 16:1-5
Then Job replied:

"I have heard many things like these;
miserable comforters are you all!
Will your long-winded speeches never end?
What ails you that you keep on arguing?
I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head at you.
But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

Verse 15, Day 15

Proverbs 17:8
A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it;
wherever he turns, he succeeds.

While this is true, in verse 23, Proverbs condems bribery.

Day 14, Verse 14

Jeremiah 47:6-7
" 'Ah, sword of the Lord,' you cry,
'how long till you rest?
Return to your scabbard;
cease and be still.'
But how can it rest
when the Lord has commanded it,
when he has ordered it
to attack Ashkelon and the coast?"