1In God alone my soul finds rest; my salvation comes from Him. 2He alone is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress; I will never be shaken. 3How long will you threaten a man? Will all of you throw him down like a leaning wall or a tottering fence? 4They fully intend to cast him down from his lofty perch; they delight in lies; with their mouths they bless, but inwardly they curse. Selah 5Rest in God alone, O my soul, for my hope comes from Him. 6He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I will not be shaken. 7My salvation and my honor rest on God, my strong rock; my refuge is in God. 8Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah 9Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor. 10Place no trust in extortion, or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them. 11God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: that power belongs to God, 12and loving devotion to You, O Lord. For You will repay each man according to his deeds.
New Testament·Luke 8:1–17
1Soon afterward, Jesus traveled from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with Him, 2as well as some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3Joanna the wife of Herod’s household manager Chuza, Susanna, and many others. These women were ministering to them out of their own means. 4While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, He told them this parable: 5“A farmer went out to sow his seed. And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, where it was trampled, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the seedlings withered because they had no moisture. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the seedlings. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprang up and produced a crop—a hundredfold.” As Jesus said this, He called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” 9Then His disciples asked Him what this parable meant. 10He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’ 11Now this is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12The seeds along the path are those who hear, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13The seeds on rocky ground are those who hear the word and receive it with joy, but they have no root. They believe for a season, but in the time of testing, they fall away. 14The seeds that fell among the thorns are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature. 15But the seeds on good soil are those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, cling to it, and by persevering produce a crop. 16No one lights a lamp and covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light. 17For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be made known and brought to light.
Old Testament·Deuteronomy 11
1You shall therefore love the LORD your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments. 2Know this day that it is not your children who have known and seen the discipline of the LORD your God: His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm; 3the signs and works He did in Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land; 4what He did to the Egyptian army and horses and chariots when He made the waters of the Red Sea engulf them as they pursued you, and how He destroyed them completely, even to this day; 5what He did for you in the wilderness until you reached this place; 6and what He did in the midst of all the Israelites to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that belonged to them. 7For it is your own eyes that have seen every great work that the LORD has done. 8You shall therefore keep every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and possess the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 9and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden. 11But the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven. 12It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year. 13So if you carefully obey the commandments I am giving you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14then I will provide rain for your land in season, the autumn and spring rains, that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil. 15And I will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods, 17or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you. 18Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates, 21so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to give your fathers. 22For if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him— 23then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you. 24Every place where the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea. 25No man will be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the fear and dread of you upon all the land, wherever you set foot, as He has promised you. 26See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse— 27a blessing if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, 28but a curse if you disobey the commandments of the LORD your God and turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. 29When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30Are not these mountains across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh? 31For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. When you take possession of it and settle in it, 32be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.
Reflect
Is there a sin to confess or a habit to turn from?