Day 63 – March 4, 2022

Deuteronomy 8-10

1 “Every commandment I command you today you must be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and inherit the land the Lord swore to your fathers. 2 Now you shall remember the whole way the Lord your God led you in the desert, to deal harshly with you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He dealt harshly with you and weakened you with hunger, and fed you with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word proceeding from the mouth of God man shall live. 4 Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your feet become callused these forty years. 5 You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. 6 Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good and great land, where torrents of waters and springs of bottomless depths flow through the plains and through the mountains; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you will not eat your bread in poverty, and in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you can dig copper. 10 Thus you shall eat and be full and bless the Lord your God for the good land He gave you.
11 “Watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, judgments, and ordinances I command you today, 12 lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them, 13 and when your cattle and sheep multiply, and your silver and gold are multiplied, and all you have is multiplied, 14 when your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, 15 who led you through that great and fearful desert, with its biting serpent and scorpion and thirst, where there was no water, who brought a spring of water for you out of the sharp-edged rock, 16 who fed you in the desert with manna your fathers did not know, that He might deal harshly with you and might test you, to do you good in the end of your days— 17 then do not say in your heart, ‘My strength and the might of my hand gained me this great power.’ 18 Then you shall remember the Lord your God, for He it is who gives you strength, that you may gain power, and He may establish His covenant the Lord swore to your fathers, as it is today. 19 Thus it shall be, if you forget the Lord your God, and follow after different gods and serve and worship them, I testify against you today, you shall surely perish. 20 As the remaining nations the Lord destroys before your face, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.
Israel’s Rebellion
1 “Hear, O Israel, You are to cross over the Jordan today and go in to inherit nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2 a people, great and large and tall, the sons of Anak, whom you know and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who can stand against the face of the sons of Anak?’ 3 Therefore understand today, the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and turn them from your face; and you will destroy them, as the Lord said to you. 4 Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God consumes these nations before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord brought me in to inherit this good land’; but because of the ungodliness of these nations, the Lord will destroy them before your face. 5 It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to inherit their land, but because of the ungodliness of these nations, the Lord will destroy them before your face, that He may establish His covenant He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 Thus you will know today, the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to inherit because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. 7 Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the desert. From the day you came out of Egypt until you came into this land, you continued being disobedient to the Lord. 8 Also in Horeb you provoked the Lord, and the Lord was angry enough with you to destroy you, 9 when I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant the Lord established with you; and I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 Then the Lord delivered two tablets of stone to me, written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words the Lord spoke to you on the mountain, in the day of the assembly. 11 And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
12 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people you brought out of Egypt have acted lawlessly; they turned aside quickly from the way I commanded them; they made themselves a molten image.’ 13 Furthermore, the Lord spoke to me, saying, ‘I told you once and twice, I see this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people. 14 Let Me destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation greater and stronger and larger than they.’
15 “So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets were in my two hands. 16 Then I looked, and you had sinned against the Lord your God and made for yourselves a molten image. You turned aside quickly from the way the Lord commanded you. 17 Then I took the two tablets and threw them down with my two hands, and broke them before you. 18 And I prayed before the Lord a second time, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sins you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him. 19 For I was afraid because of the anger and the wrath, for the Lord was provoked by you to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me at this time also. 20 The Lord was also very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him; so I also prayed for Aaron at that time. 21 Then I took the sin you committed, the calf you made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, and ground it very small until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain.
22 “Also at the Burning and the Temptation and the Graves of Lust, you provoked the Lord your God to wrath. 23 Likewise, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, ‘Go up and inherit the land I give you,’ then you disobeyed the word of the Lord your God, and you did not believe Him nor listen to His voice. 24 You were disobedient to the Lord from the day He became known to you.
25 “Thus I prayed before the Lord; forty days and forty nights I kept praying, because the Lord said He would destroy you. 26 Therefore, I prayed to God, and said, ‘O Lord, O Lord, O King of the gods, do not destroy Your people and Your portion You redeemed through Your great strength, whom You brought from the land of Egypt with Your great strength, Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm. 27 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself; do not look on the hardness of this people, or on their wickedness or their sins, 28 lest those who inhabit the land You brought us from should say, “Because the Lord was unable to bring them to the land He promised them, and because He hated them, He brought them out to kill them in the desert.” 29 Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and outstretched arm.’
The Second Set of Tablets
1 “At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make yourself an ark of wood. 2 And I will write on these tablets the words of the first tablets you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.’ 3 So I made an ark of wood not liable to decay, and hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, with the two tablets in my hands. 4 Then He wrote the Ten Commandments on the tablets according to the first writing which the Lord spoke to you in the mountain, from the midst of the fire; and the Lord gave them to me. 5 Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I made; and they were there, as the Lord commanded me.”
6 (Now the children of Israel journeyed from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his stead. 7 From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with rivers of water. 8 At that time, the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord, to minister to Him, and to bless in His name, to this day. 9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; the Lord is his inheritance, as He said to him.) 10 “I stayed in the mountain forty days and forty nights; the Lord also heard me at that time, and the Lord chose not to destroy you. 11 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go, and lead this people, so they may go in and inherit the land I swore to their fathers to give them.’
The Lord’s Requirements
12 “So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and His ordinances I command you today for your good? 14 Indeed, heaven and heaven of heaven belong to the Lord your God, also the earth and everything in it. 15 The Lord chose your fathers to love them; and He chose their seed after them, you above all nations, as it is this day. 16 Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. 18 He administers justice for the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore, love the resident aliens, for you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and hold fast to Him, and take oaths in His name. 21 He is your boast and your God, who did these great and glorious things for you, the things you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy-five souls, and now, the Lord your God made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.

Psalm 55

1 For the End, for the people far from the holy places; by David; for a pillar inscription, when foreigners conquered him in Gath.
2 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for man tramples me down;
All day long he afflicts me in war.
3 All day my enemies trample me down,
For many are those who war against me from on high.
4 I will not fear by day,
But I will hope in You.
5 I will praise God with my words all day long;
In God I hope; I will not be afraid; what will flesh do to me?
6 All day long they make my words repulsive;
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
7 They will dwell near and hide;
They will watch my heel
As they wait for my soul.
8 In no way will You save them;
In wrath You will bring down peoples, O God.
9 I declare my life to You;
You set my tears before You, as also in Your promise.
10 My enemies shall be turned back
In whatever day I may call upon You;
Behold, I know You are my God.
11 In God I will praise His word;
In the Lord I will praise His word.
12 In God I hope; I will not be afraid;
What will man do to me?
13 In me, O God, are vows
I will render in praise to You;
14 For You delivered my soul from death,
And my feet from slipping;
That I may be well-pleasing before God in the light of the living.

Proverbs 11:21–25

21 Like a ring in the nose of a wild swine,
So is beauty to an evil-minded woman.
22 Every desire of the righteous is good,
But the hope of the ungodly is destruction.
23 There are those who sow their own things and produce more things,
And there are those who gather but have less.
24 Every sincere soul is blessed,
But an angry man is not graceful.
25 May the one who hoards grain leave it to the nations,
But may blessing be upon the head of the one who shares it.

Mark 8:22-9:1

22 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him.
23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.
24 And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”
25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.
26 Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.”
Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ
27 Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?”
28 So they answered, “John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”
29 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”
30 Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.
Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection
31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32 He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
33 But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Take Up the Cross and Follow Him
34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
35 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
36 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
37 “Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
38 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
Jesus Transfigured on the Mount

1 And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.”