Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / September 22 - Psalm 83

Transcript

September 22 - Psalm 83 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends and a happy Friday to you.
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  Well done on making it to the end of another week.
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  And this is a very special Friday because it is the 22nd of
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  September. So we get to say happy birthday
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  to Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Yes, those two hobbits from the
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  fictional world and imagination of JRR Tolkien.
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  This is their birthday. And for the last 40-5 years,
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  September 22nd has also been Hobbit Day as so many people
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  around the world celebrate these much beloved characters and the
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  wonderful, the wonderful creature of The Hobbit, this
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  little quiet gentle soul that in many ways the the mind of
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  Tolkien was trying to communicate the gospel story and
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  and this fight between good and evil and God and and Satan and
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  the world. All of these incredible
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  theological themes and the small servant hearted Christian
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  represented in The Hobbit, that's you and me.
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  We are hobbits in this great story of God's interaction in
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  the world. So I think it's a wonderful day
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  to celebrate. So you should eat 6 meals today,
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  or at least have a second breakfast.
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  Or or be kind to your friends, or take off your shoes and go
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  for a walk outside. Or whatever you can do to to
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  celebrate the quiet, gentle way of being in this world that was
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  so beautifully typified. In this race of being the
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  hobbits. That is a whole lot of
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  hobbitness, and I wish you a very happy Hobbit Day.
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  And today we will continue to read a Psalm on a Friday, which
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  is what we do. And today we will read another
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  song, a Psalm of Asaf. And this is another lament Psalm
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  as Israel cries out for rescue from their neighbors.
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  To join me, friend, as you and I read together, Psalm 83.
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  Oh God, do not be silent. Do not be deaf.
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  Do not be quiet. Oh God, don't you hear the
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  uproar of your enemies? Don't you see that your arrogant
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  enemies are rising up? They devise crafty schemes
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  against your people. They conspire against your
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  precious ones. Come, they say, let us wipe out
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  Israel as a nation. We will destroy the very memory
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  of its existence. Yes, this was their unanimous
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  decision. They signed a treaty as allies
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  against you, these Edomites and Ishmaelites, Moabites and
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  Hagrites, Gebalites and Ammonites and Amalekites, the
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  people from Felicia and Tyre. Assyria has joined them too, and
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  is allied with the descendants of Lot.
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  Do to them as you did to the Midianites, as you did to Cecera
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  and Jabin at the Kishon River. They were destroyed at Endor,
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  and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil.
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  Let their mighty nobles die as Aureb and Zeb did.
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  Let all their princes die like Zeba and Zalmuna.
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  For they said, let us seize for our own use these pasture lands
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  of God, Oh my God. Scatter them like tumbleweed,
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  like chaff before the wind, as a fire burns a forest, and as a
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  flame sets mountains ablaze. Chase them with your fierce
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  storm. Terrify them with your Tempest.
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  Utterly disgrace them until they submit to your name.
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  O Lord, let them be ashamed and terrified forever.
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  Let them die in disgrace. Then they will learn that you
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  alone are called the Lord. That you alone are the Most High
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  supreme over all the earth. Lord, what wisdom we hear in
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  this, Sam? No, not just an angry rant
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  against one's enemies, but even in the midst of this persecution
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  from those enemies, Lord, we hear the Cymus cry out that you
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  would humble those who fought against them, but not to their
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  own end, not to the end of destruction and freedom for the
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  Cymus and their people, but so that those people would know
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  that you are sovereign. Lord, lift our eyes from our own
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  ends, from our own desires, so that we would see your will and
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  your ways as our ultimate desire.
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  So all of this, our victories, our peace, our crying out, our
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  deepest desires, we offer them all to you, that you would take
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  them, care for them, and mould them ultimately to your glory.
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  We just lift you up and pray all of these things in your mighty
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  name, Jesus. Amen.