Psalm 84 and LUKE 12:13–31

PSALM 84

¹   How lovely is your dwelling place, 
          O LORD of hosts! 
²   My soul longs, indeed it faints 
          for the courts of the LORD; 
     my heart and my flesh sing for joy 
          to the living God.

³   Even the sparrow finds a home, 
          and the swallow a nest for herself, 
          where she may lay her young, 
     at your altars, O LORD of hosts, 
          my King and my God. 
⁴   Happy are those who live in your house, 
          ever singing your praise. Selah

⁵   Happy are those whose strength is in you, 
          in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 
⁶   As they go through the valley of Baca 
          they make it a place of springs; 
          the early rain also covers it with pools. 
⁷   They go from strength to strength; 
          the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

⁸   O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; 
          give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah 
⁹   Behold our shield, O God; 
          look on the face of your anointed.

¹⁰  For a day in your courts is better 
          than a thousand elsewhere. 
     I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God 
          than live in the tents of wickedness. 
¹¹  For the LORD God is a sun and shield; 
          he bestows favor and honor. 
     No good thing does the LORD withhold 
          from those who walk uprightly. 
¹²  O LORD of hosts, 
          happy is everyone who trusts in you.

________________________________

LUKE 12:13–31

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." ¹⁴But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" ¹⁵And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." ¹⁶Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' ¹⁸Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.¹⁹And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' ²⁰But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' ²¹So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

 

²²He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. ²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.²⁴Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! ²⁵And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?²⁶If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? ²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ²⁸But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you - you of little faith! ²⁹And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. ³⁰For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.