Through the Bible – Day 220

Bible text(s)

Psalms 106

A nation asks for forgiveness

1We will celebrate

and praise you, LORD!

You are good to us,

and your love never fails.

2No one can praise you enough

for all the mighty things

you have done.

3You bless those people

who are honest and fair

in everything they do.

4Remember me, LORD,

when you show kindness

by saving your people.

5Let me prosper with the rest

of your chosen ones,

as they celebrate with pride

because they belong to you.

6We and our ancestors

have sinned terribly.

7When they were in Egypt,

they paid no attention

to your marvellous deeds

or your wonderful love.

And they turned against you

at the Red Sea.

8But you were true to your name,

and you rescued them to prove

how mighty you are.

9You said to the Red Sea,

“Dry up!”

Then you led your people across

on land as dry as a desert.

10You saved all of them

11and drowned every one

of their enemies.

12Then your people trusted you

and sang your praises.

13But they soon forgot

what you had done

and rejected your advice.

14They became greedy for food

and tested you there

in the desert.

15So you gave them

what they wanted,

but later you destroyed them

with a horrible disease.

16Everyone in camp was jealous

of Moses and of Aaron,

your chosen priest.

17Dathan and Abiram rebelled,

and the earth opened up

and swallowed them.

18Then fire broke out

and destroyed all

of their followers.

19At Horeb your people

made and worshipped the statue

20of a bull, instead of you,

their glorious God.

21You worked powerful miracles

to save them from Egypt,

but they forgot about you

22and the fearsome things

you did at the Red Sea.

23You were angry and started

to destroy them,

but Moses, your chosen leader,

begged you not to do it.

24They would not trust

you, LORD,

and they did not like

the promised land.

25They would not obey you,

and they grumbled

in their tents.

26So you threatened them

by saying, “I'll kill you

out here in the desert!

27I'll scatter your children

everywhere in the world.”

28Your people became followers

of a god named Baal-Peor,

and they ate sacrifices

offered to the dead.

29They did such terrible things

that you punished them

with a deadly disease.

30But Phinehas helped them,

and the sickness stopped.

31Now he will always

be highly honoured.

32At Meribah Spring

they turned against you

and made you furious.

33Then Moses got into trouble

for speaking in anger.

34Our LORD, they disobeyed you

by refusing to destroy

the nations.

35Instead they were friendly

with those foreigners

and followed their customs.

36Then they fell into the trap

of worshipping idols.

37They sacrificed their sons

and their daughters to demons

38and to the gods of Canaan.

Then they poured out the blood

of these innocent children

and made the land filthy.

39By doing such gruesome things,

they also became filthy.

40Finally, LORD, you were angry

and terribly disgusted

with your people.

41So you put them in the power

of nations that hated them.

42They were ill-treated and abused

by their enemies,

43but you saved them

time after time.

They were determined to rebel,

and their sins caused

their downfall.

44You answered their prayers

when they were in trouble.

45You kept your agreement

and were so merciful

46that their enemies

had pity on them.

47Save us, LORD God!

Bring us back

from among the nations.

Let us celebrate and shout

in praise of your holy name.

48LORD God of Israel,

you deserve to be praised

for ever and ever.

Let everyone say, “Amen!

Shout praises to the LORD!”

Psalms 106:1-48CEVOpen in Bible reader

Romans 8

Living by the power of God's Spirit

1If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won't be punished. 2The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death. 3The Law of Moses cannot do this, because our selfish desires make the Law weak. But God set you free when he sent his own Son to be like us sinners and to be a sacrifice for our sin. God used Christ's body to condemn sin. 4He did this, so that we would do what the Law commands by obeying the Spirit instead of our own desires.

5People who are ruled by their desires think only of themselves. Everyone who is ruled by the Holy Spirit thinks about spiritual things. 6If our minds are ruled by our desires, we will die. But if our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have life and peace. 7Our desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God's laws. 8If we follow our desires, we cannot please God.

9You are no longer ruled by your desires, but by God's Spirit, who lives in you. People who don't have the Spirit of Christ in them don't belong to him. 10But Christ lives in you. So you are alive because God has accepted you, even though your bodies must die because of your sins. 11Yet God raised Jesus to life! God's Spirit now lives in you, and he will raise you to life by his Spirit.

12My dear friends, we must not live to satisfy our desires. 13If you do, you will die. But you will live, if by the help of God's Spirit you say “No” to your desires. 14Only those people who are led by God's Spirit are his children. 15God's Spirit doesn't make us slaves who are afraid of him. Instead, we become his children and call him our Father. 16God's Spirit makes us sure that we are his children. 17His Spirit lets us know that together with Christ we will be given what God has promised. We will also share in the glory of Christ, because we have suffered with him.

A wonderful future for God's people

18I am sure that what we are suffering now cannot compare with the glory that will be shown to us. 19In fact, all creation is eagerly waiting for God to show who his children are. 20Meanwhile, creation is confused, but not because it wants to be confused. God made it this way in the hope 21that creation would be set free from decay and would share in the glorious freedom of his children. 22We know that all creation is still groaning and is in pain, like a woman about to give birth.

23The Spirit makes us sure about what we will be in the future. But now we groan silently, while we wait for God to show that we are his children. This means that our bodies will also be set free. 24And this hope is what saves us. But if we already have what we hope for, there is no need to keep on hoping. 25However, we hope for something we have not yet seen, and we patiently wait for it.

26In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is here to help us. For example, when we don't know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words. 27All our thoughts are known to God. He can understand what is in the mind of the Spirit, as the Spirit prays for God's people. 28We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. They are the ones God has chosen for his purpose, 29and he has always known who his chosen ones would be. He had decided to let them become like his own Son, so that his Son would be the first of many children. 30God then accepted the people he had already decided to choose, and he has shared his glory with them.

Romans 8:1-30CEVOpen in Bible reader
Canadian Bible Societyv.4.25.3
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