+ DAILY PRAYER +
Reading Deut 32:17-47 – They sacrificed to the demons, not God, to gods whom they had not known, new gods who came from recent times; their ancestors had not known them, The rock who bore you, you neglected, and you forgot God, the one giving you birth…
This Daily Devotion covers the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy also called the Books of Moses or the Pentateuch, in a period of one year in a Monday through Friday format, the Psalms and order of devotion follow those presented in The Treasury of Daily Prayer from Concordia Publishing House.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice.
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you;
He will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 14
1 To the choirmaster. Of David.
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.
2 The LORD looks down from heaven
on the children of man, to see if there are any
who understand, who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside;
together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good, not even one.
4 Have they no knowledge,
all the evildoers who eat up my people
as they eat bread and do not call upon the LORD?
5 There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
6 You would shame the plans of the poor,
but the LORD is his refuge.
7 Oh, that salvation for Israel
would come out of Zion!
When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
Reading Deut 32:17-47
17 They sacrificed to the demons, not God,
to gods whom they had not known,
new gods who came from recent times;
?their ancestors had not known them?.
18 The rock who bore you, you neglected,
and you forgot God, the one giving you birth.
19 Then Yahweh saw, and he spurned them,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20 So he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
I will see what will be their end,
for they are a generation of perversity,
?children in whom there is no faithfulness?.
21 They annoyed me with what is not a god;
they provoked me with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those not a people,
with a foolish nation I will provoke them.
22 For a fire was kindled by my anger,
and it burned ?up to the depths of Sheol?,
and it devoured the earth and its produce,
and it set afire the foundation of the mountains.
23 I will heap disasters upon them;
my arrows I will spend on them.
24 They will become weakened by famine,
and consumed by plague and bitter pestilence;
and the teeth of wild animals I will send against them,
with the poison of the creeping things in the dust;
25 From outside her boundaries the sword will make her childless,
and from inside, terror;
both for the young man and also the young woman,
the infant along with the gray-headed man.
26 I thought, “I will wipe them out;
?I will make people forget they ever existed?.”
27 If I had not feared a provocation of the enemy,
lest their foes might misunderstand,
lest they should say, “Our hand is
?triumphant?, and Yahweh did not do all this.” ’
28 For ?they are a nation void of sense?,
and there is not any understanding in them.
29 If only they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern ?for themselves their end?.
30 How could one chase a thousand
and two could cause a myriad to flee,
if their Rock had not sold them,
and Yahweh had not given them up?
31 For the fact of the matter is,
their rock is not like our Rock,
and our enemies recognize this.
32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
and from the terraces of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison;
?their clusters are bitter?.
33 Their wine is the poison of snakes,
and the deadly poison of horned vipers.
34 ‘Is not this stored up with me,
sealed in my treasuries?’
35 ?Vengeance belongs to me? and also recompense,
?for at the time their foot slips?,
because the day of their disaster is near,
?and fate comes quickly for them?.’
36 For Yahweh will judge on behalf of his people,
and concerning his servants;
he will change his mind when he sees that their power has disappeared,
and there is no one left, confined or free.
37 And he will say, ‘Where are their gods,
their rock in whom they took refuge?
38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their libations?
Let them rise up, and let them help you;
?Let them be to you a refuge?.
39 See, now, that I, even I am he,
and there is not a god besides me;
I put to death and I give life;
I wound and I heal;
there is not one who delivers from my hand!
40 For indeed I lift up my hand to heaven,
And I promise ?as I live forever?,
41 When I sharpen ?my flashing sword?,
and my hand takes hold of it in judgment,
?I will take reprisals against my foes?,
and my haters I will repay.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain,
and captives from the heads of the leaders of the enemy.’
43 Call for songs of joy, O nations, concerning his people,
for the blood of his servants he will avenge,
?and he will take reprisals against his foes?,
and he will make atonement for his land, his people.”
44 And Moses came, and he spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people; that is, he and Joshua the son of Nun. 45 ?And when Moses finished speaking? all these words to all Israel, 46 then he said to them, “?Take to heart all the words? that I am admonishing against you ?today? concerning which you should instruct them with respect to your children ?so that they will observe diligently? all the words of this law, 47 for it is not a trifling matter among you, but it is your life, and through this word ?you will live long in the land? that you are about to cross the Jordan to get there to take possession of it.”
Lord’s Prayer
Daily Prayer
Almighty God, You called Lawrence to be a deacon in Your Church to serve Your saints with deeds of love, and You gave him the crown of martyrdom. Give us the same charity of heart that we may fulfill Your love by defending and supporting the poor, that by loving them we may love You with all our hearts; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Concluding Prayer
Heavenly Father, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts to direct and rule us according to Your will, to comfort us in all our afflictions, to defend us from all error, and to lead us into all truth; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
