Night Watch Devotion

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.
¹ It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
² to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,
³ to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
⁴ For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
⁵ How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!
⁶ The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this:
⁷ that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever;
⁸ but you, O LORD, are on high forever.
⁹ For behold, your enemies, O LORD, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered.
¹⁰ But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil.
¹¹ My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
¹² The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
¹³ They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,
¹⁵ to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (ESV)

To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the LORD.
¹ Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.
² For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
³ The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
⁴ He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil.
⁵ Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD.
⁷ How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
⁹ For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.
¹⁰ Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
¹¹ Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
¹² There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise. (ESV)

²³ Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. (ESV)

¹ Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.
² And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
³ And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
⁴ Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.
⁵ But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”
⁶ And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”
⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
⁸ And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.
⁹ Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”
¹⁰ But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
¹¹ Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.
¹² And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.
¹³ And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
¹ After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
² And Job said:
³ “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’
⁴ Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.
⁵ Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
⁶ That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.
⁷ Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.
⁸ Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
⁹ Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,
¹⁰ because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. (ESV)

¹⁹ And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
²⁰ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
²¹ And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
²² So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
²³ He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
²⁴ (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)
²⁵ They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
²⁶ John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know,
²⁷ even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
²⁸ These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
³⁰ This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’
³¹ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”
³² And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.
³³ I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
³⁴ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” (ESV)

¹ And Elihu answered and said:
² “Do you think this to be just? Do you say, ‘It is my right before God,’
³ that you ask, ‘What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?’
⁴ I will answer you and your friends with you.
⁵ Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you.
⁶ If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
⁷ If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand?
⁸ Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.
⁹ “Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.
¹⁰ But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
¹¹ who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’
¹² There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.
¹³ Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.
¹⁴ How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!
¹⁵ And now, because his anger does not punish, and he does not take much note of transgression,
¹⁶ Job opens his mouth in empty talk; he multiplies words without knowledge.”

¹ And Elihu continued, and said:
² “Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.
³ I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
⁴ For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
⁵ “Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding.
⁶ He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right.
⁷ He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever, and they are exalted.
⁸ And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction,
⁹ then he declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.
¹⁰ He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity.
¹¹ If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness.
¹² But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.
¹³ “The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.
¹⁴ They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes.
¹⁵ He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.
¹⁶ He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness.
¹⁷ “But you are full of the judgment on the wicked; judgment and justice seize you.
¹⁸ Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.
¹⁹ Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength?
²⁰ Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place.
²¹ Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction.
²² Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?
²³ Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?
²⁴ “Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung.
²⁵ All mankind has looked on it; man beholds it from afar.
²⁶ Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.
²⁷ For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain,
²⁸ which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly.
²⁹ Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion?
³⁰ Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea.
³¹ For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance.
³² He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark.
³³ Its crashing declares his presence; the cattle also declare that he rises.

¹ “At this also my heart trembles and leaps out of its place.
² Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
³ Under the whole heaven he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners of the earth.
⁴ After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.
⁵ God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
⁶ For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.
⁷ He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he made may know it.
⁸ Then the beasts go into their lairs, and remain in their dens.
⁹ From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds.
¹⁰ By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast.
¹¹ He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning.
¹² They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.
¹³ Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen.
¹⁴ “Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God.
¹⁵ Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
¹⁶ Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,
¹⁷ you whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind?
¹⁸ Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror?
¹⁹ Teach us what we shall say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of darkness.
²⁰ Shall it be told him that I would speak? Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up?
²¹ “And now no one looks on the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them.
²² Out of the north comes golden splendor; God is clothed with awesome majesty.
²³ The Almighty—we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate.
²⁴ Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.” (ESV)

¹ Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple.
² But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
³ As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
⁴ And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.
⁵ For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.
⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
⁸ All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.
¹⁰ And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
¹¹ And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
¹² And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
¹³ But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
¹⁵ “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
¹⁷ Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house,
¹⁸ and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
¹⁹ And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!
²⁰ Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.
²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
²² And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
²³ Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.
²⁴ For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
²⁵ See, I have told you beforehand.
²⁶ So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.
²⁷ For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
²⁸ Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
²⁹ “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
³⁰ Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
³¹ And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (ESV)

¹ Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,
² for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching.
³ When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,
⁴ he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.
⁵ Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
⁶ Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.
⁷ The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.
⁸ Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.
⁹ She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.” (ESV)