Evening Prayer: October 9th, 2021

Job 29–30:15

29 And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

2   “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
    as in the days when God watched over me,
3   when his lamp shone upon my head,
    and by his light I walked through darkness,
4   as I was in my prime,
    when the friendship of God was upon my tent,
5   when the Almighty was yet with me,
    when my children were all around me,
6   when my steps were washed with butter,
    and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
7   When I went out to the gate of the city,
    when I prepared my seat in the square,
8   the young men saw me and withdrew,
    and the aged rose and stood;
9   the princes refrained from talking
    and laid their hand on their mouth;
10   the voice of the nobles was hushed,
    and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11   When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
    and when the eye saw, it approved,
12   because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
    and the fatherless who had none to help him.
13   The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
    and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14   I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
    my justice was like a robe and a turban.
15   I was eyes to the blind
    and feet to the lame.
16   I was a father to the needy,
    and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
17   I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
    and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
18   Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
    and I shall multiply my days as the sand,
19   my roots spread out to the waters,
    with the dew all night on my branches,
20   my glory fresh with me,
    and my bow ever new in my hand.’


21   “Men listened to me and waited
    and kept silence for my counsel.
22   After I spoke they did not speak again,
    and my word dropped upon them.
23   They waited for me as for the rain,
    and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
24   I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
    and the light of my face they did not cast down.
25   I chose their way and sat as chief,
    and I lived like a king among his troops,
    like one who comforts mourners.


30   “But now they laugh at me,
    men who are younger than I,
  whose fathers I would have disdained
    to set with the dogs of my flock.
2   What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
    men whose vigor is gone?
3   Through want and hard hunger
    they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;
4   they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
    and the roots of the broom tree for their food.
5   They are driven out from human company;
    they shout after them as after a thief.
6   In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
    in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7   Among the bushes they bray;
    under the nettles they huddle together.
8   A senseless, a nameless brood,
    they have been whipped out of the land.


9   “And now I have become their song;
    I am a byword to them.
10   They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
    they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
11   Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
    they have cast off restraint in my presence.
12   On my right hand the rabble rise;
    they push away my feet;
    they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13   They break up my path;
    they promote my calamity;
    they need no one to help them.
14   As through a wide breach they come;
    amid the crash they roll on.
15   Terrors are turned upon me;
    my honor is pursued as by the wind,
    and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

ESV

The Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

A brief silence is kept after the reading.
Please pause the service if you would like more time.

2 Corinthians 9

9 Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, 2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3 But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4 Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.

6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written,

  “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
    his righteousness endures forever.”

10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

ESV

The Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

A brief silence is kept after the reading.