Bible League: Living His Word LORD, you have heard what the poor want. Listen to their prayers, and do what they ask.— Psalm 10:17 ERV Lord, you have heard what the poor want, for they cry out to you day and night. They are in trouble. They are in trouble in many different ways. It's not just the money. It's not just that they don't have enough. People are taking advantage of them. There are wicked people among them that have devised evil plans to use them and hurt them. The wicked are "like lions hiding in the bushes to catch weak and helpless animals. They lay their traps for the poor who are caught in their nets. Again and again they hurt people who are already weak and suffering," (Psalm 10:9-10). The poor don't have the resources necessary to fight them off. They cry out to you because you are all they have. Lord, listen to their prayers. Don't stay far away. Don't hide from them in their times of trouble. The wicked don't take you seriously. They don't turn to you for help or cry out to you. They're too proud to ask you for help. You don't fit into their plans at all. Instead, they say to themselves, "God has forgotten about us. He is not watching. He will never see what we are doing," (Psalm 10:11). It's the poor that look to you. It's the poor that hold you in high regard and count on you. They're not too proud to admit their dependency on you. Turn to them, Lord. Listen to what they have to say. And Lord, please do what they ask. They're not asking for things that are against your will. They need help with money and finances. They need mercy and justice. Don't let them be driven from their homes and thrown into the streets. Give them what they need. Stop the wicked from succeeding with their evil schemes. Don't let the poor fall into their traps. If anyone is going to fall into their traps, then let it be the wicked themselves (Proverbs 28:10). Arise Lord! "If you would tear open the skies and come down to earth, then everything would change," (Isaiah 64:1). If you listen and act, then the poor will be helped and there will be justice and righteousness on the earth. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingPsalm 119:49-104 Psalm 119 -- Blessed are those whose ways are blameless NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 1 Corinthians 4 1 Corinthians 4 -- Apostles Are Servants of Christ NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Jesus replied, “My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going. Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.”Insight Jesus said he would be with them in person for only a short time, and they should take advantage of his presence while they had it. Like a light shining in a dark place, he would point out the way they should walk. If they walked in his light, they would become “children of the light,” revealing the truth and pointing people to God. Challenge As Christians, we are to be Christ's light bearers, letting his light shine through us. How brightly is your light shining? Can others see Christ in your actions? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Songs 5:8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.Such is the language of the believer panting after present fellowship with Jesus, he is sick for his Lord. Gracious souls are never perfectly at ease except they are in a state of nearness to Christ; for when they are away from him they lose their peace. The nearer to him, the nearer to the perfect calm of heaven; the nearer to him, the fuller the heart is, not only of peace, but of life, and vigor, and joy, for these all depend on constant intercourse with Jesus. What the sun is to the day, what the moon is to the night, what the dew is to the flower, such is Jesus Christ to us. What bread is to the hungry, clothing to the naked, the shadow of a great rock to the traveller in a weary land, such is Jesus Christ to us; and, therefore, if we are not consciously one with him, little marvel if our spirit cries in the words of the Song, "I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, tell him that I am sick of love." This earnest longing after Jesus has a blessing attending it: "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness;" and therefore, supremely blessed are they who thirst after the Righteous One. Blessed is that hunger, since it comes from God: if I may not have the full-blown blessedness of being filled, I would seek the same blessedness in its sweet bud-pining in emptiness and eagerness till I am filled with Christ. If I may not feed on Jesus, it shall be next door to heaven to hunger and thirst after him. There is a hallowedness about that hunger, since it sparkles among the beatitudes of our Lord. But the blessing involves a promise. Such hungry ones "shall be filled" with what they are desiring. If Christ thus causes us to long after himself, he will certainly satisfy those longings; and when he does come to us, as come he will, oh, how sweet it will be! Daily Light on the Daily Path Romans 14:7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself;Romans 14:8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. 1 Corinthians 10:24 Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor. 1 Corinthians 6:20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. Philippians 1:20-23 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. • For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. • But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. • But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; Galatians 2:19,20 "For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. • "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. 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