Night Watch Devotion

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
¹ Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
⁶ Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;
¹⁹ then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar. (ESV)

A Maskil of Asaph.
¹ O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
² Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
³ Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
⁴ Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they set up their own signs for signs.
⁵ They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees.
⁶ And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
⁷ They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.
⁸ They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
⁹ We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long.
¹⁰ How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
¹¹ Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!
¹² Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
¹³ You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
¹⁴ You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
¹⁵ You split open springs and brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams.
¹⁶ Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
¹⁷ You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.
¹⁸ Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name.
¹⁹ Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever.
²⁰ Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
²¹ Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.
²² Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
²³ Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually! (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 Then David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”
² So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
³ And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.
⁴ And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him.
⁵ Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?”
⁶ So that day Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.
⁷ And the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.
⁸ Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt.
⁹ And David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and come back to Achish.
¹⁰ When Achish asked, “Where have you made a raid today?” David would say, “Against the Negeb of Judah,” or, “Against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites,” or, “Against the Negeb of the Kenites.”
¹¹ And David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking, “lest they should tell about us and say, ‘So David has done.’” Such was his custom all the while he lived in the country of the Philistines.
¹² And Achish trusted David, thinking, “He has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant.”
¹ In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, “Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army.”
² David said to Achish, “Very well, you shall know what your servant can do.” And Achish said to David, “Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life.” (ESV)

¹ When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
² Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
³ Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
⁴ So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?
⁵ I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers,
⁶ but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?
⁷ To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
⁸ But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!
⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
¹² “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.
¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
¹⁴ And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
¹⁶ Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”
¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (ESV)

¹ Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.
² And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive.
³ But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
⁴ Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
⁵ The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.
⁶ Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
⁷ Again, I saw vanity under the sun:
⁸ one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
⁹ Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.
¹⁰ For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!
¹¹ Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?
¹² And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
¹³ Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.
¹⁴ For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor.
¹⁵ I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place.
¹⁶ There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

¹ Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.
² Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
³ For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.
⁴ When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.
⁵ It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.
⁶ Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?
⁷ For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear.
⁸ If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.
⁹ But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.
¹⁰ He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.
¹¹ When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?
¹² Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
¹³ There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt,
¹⁴ and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.
¹⁵ As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.
¹⁶ This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?
¹⁷ Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.
¹⁸ Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.
¹⁹ Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.
²⁰ For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

¹ There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind:
² a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil.
³ If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
⁴ For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered.
⁵ Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he.
⁶ Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place?
⁷ All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.
⁸ For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?
⁹ Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
¹⁰ Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he.
¹¹ The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man?
¹² For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? (ESV)

¹⁷ Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.
¹⁸ Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.
¹⁹ For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
²⁰ Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.
²¹ Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.)
²² For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ.
²³ You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.
²⁴ So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
²⁵ Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.
²⁶ I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is.
²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
²⁸ But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.
²⁹ This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none,
³⁰ and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods,
³¹ and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
³² I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.
³³ But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife,
³⁴ and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.
³⁵ I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. (ESV)

²³ The fear of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.
²⁴ The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth.
²⁵ Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.
²⁶ He who does violence to his father and chases away his mother is a son who brings shame and reproach.
²⁷ Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.
²⁸ A worthless witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.
²⁹ Condemnation is ready for scoffers, and beating for the backs of fools.

¹ Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
² The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion; whoever provokes him to anger forfeits his life.
³ It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling.
⁴ The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing. (ESV)