Meditation:
Genesis 24:
34.So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant.
35.The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.
36.My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.
37.And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,
38.but go to my father’s family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.’
39.“Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?’
40.“He replied, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father’s family.
41.You will be released from my oath if, when you go to my clan, they refuse to give her to you—then you will be released from my oath.’
42.“When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come.
43.See, I am standing beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar,”
44.and if she says to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’
45.“Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
46.“She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels also.
47.“I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’“She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah bore to him.’“Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms,
48.and I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.
49.Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.”
50.Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other.
51.Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.”
52.When Abraham’s servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord.
53.Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother.
54.Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there.When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”
55.But her brother and her mother replied, “Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so; then you e may go.”
56.But he said to them, “Do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.”
57.Then they said, “Let’s call the young woman and ask her about it.”
58.So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?“I will go,” she said.
59.So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men.
60.And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.”
61.Then Rebekah and her attendants got ready and mounted the camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.
62.Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev.
63.He went out to the field one evening to meditate, f and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.
64.Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel
65.and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.
66.Then the servant told Isaac all he had done.
67.Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her, and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Joshua 1:
1.After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide:
2.“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.
3.I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.
4.Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
5.No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
6.Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
7.“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
8.Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
9.Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
10.So Joshua ordered the officers of the people:
11.“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’ ”
12.But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said,
13.“Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you after he said, ‘The Lord your God will give you rest by giving you this land.’
14.Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them
15.until the Lord gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.”
16.Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.
17.Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses.
18.Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”
Matthew 6:
1.“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2.“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
3.But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4.so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer:
5.“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
6.But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
7.And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
8.Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9.“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
10.your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11.Give us today our daily bread.
12.And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13.And lead us not into temptation, a but deliver us from the evil one. b ’
14.For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15.But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Fasting:
16.“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
17.But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,
18.so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Philippians 4:
4.Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
5.Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
6.Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
7.And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8.Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
9.Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you
Psalms 1:
1.Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
2. but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
3.That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
4.Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5.Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6.For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Psalms 19:
1.The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2.Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
3.They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.
4.Yet their voice b goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5.It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6.It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.
7.The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
8.The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
9.The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.
10.They are more precious than gold than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey from the honeycomb.
11.By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
12.But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
13.Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
14.May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalms 49:
1.Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world,
2.both low and high, rich and poor alike:
3.My mouth will speak words of wisdom;
the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.
4.I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle:
5.Why should I fear when evil days come when wicked deceivers surround me—
6.those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?
7.No one can redeem the life of another
or give to God a ransom for them—
8.the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—
9.so that they should live on forever and not see decay.
10.For all can see that the wise die,
that the foolish and the senseless also perish,
leaving their wealth to others.
11.Their tombs will remain their houses b forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had c named lands after themselves.
12.People, despite their wealth, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish.
13.This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings.
14.They are like sheep and are destined to die;
death will be their shepherd (but the upright will prevail over them in the morning). Their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions.
15.But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead;
he will surely take me to himself.
16. Do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses increases;
17.for they will take nothing with them when they die,
their splendor will not descend with them.
18.Though while they live they count themselves blessed—
and people praise you when you prosper—
19.they will join those who have gone before them,
who will never again see the light of life.
20.People who have wealth but lack understanding
are like the beasts that perish.
Psalms 119:
9.How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.
10.I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11.I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
12.Praise be to you, Lord;
teach me your decrees.
13.With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth.
14.I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.
15. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.
16.I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.
Psalms 119:
73.Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands. 74.May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word.
75.I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
76.May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant.
77.Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight.
78.May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause; but I will meditate on your precepts.
79.May those who fear you turn to me,
those who understand your statutes.
80.May I wholeheartedly follow your decrees, that I may not be put to shame.
Psalms 119:
97.Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
98.Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies.
99.I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. 100.I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.
101.I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.
102.I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.
103.How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104.I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path
Psalms 77:
10.Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
11.I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
12.I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
13.Your ways, God, are holy.
What god is as great as our God?
14.You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.
15.With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
Proverbs 4:
20.My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words.
21.Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;
22.for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. 23. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. 24. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
25.Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.
26.Give careful thought to the c paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.
27.Do did not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
