Daily Bible CEV June 07 Scroll

Christ Brings New Life

Romans 12 Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That's the most sensible way to serve God. ²Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.

³I realize how kind God has been to me, and so I tell each of you not to think you are better than you really are. Use good sense and measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you. ⁴A body is made up of many parts, and each of them has its own use. ⁵That's how it is with us. There are many of us, but we each are part of the body of Christ, as well as part of one another.

⁶God has also given each of us different gifts to use. If we can prophesy, we should do it according to the amount of faith we have. ⁷If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach. ⁸If we can encourage others, we should encourage them. If we can give, we should be generous. If we are leaders, we should do our best. If we are good to others, we should do it cheerfully.

Rules for Christian Living

⁹Be sincere in your love for others. Hate everything that is evil and hold tight to everything that is good. ¹⁰Love each other as brothers and sisters and honor others more than you do yourself. ¹¹Never give up. Eagerly follow the Holy Spirit and serve the Lord. ¹²Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying. ¹³Take care of God's needy people and welcome strangers into your home.

¹⁴Ask God to bless everyone who mistreats you. Ask him to bless them and not to curse them. ¹⁵When others are happy, be happy with them, and when they are sad, be sad. ¹⁶Be friendly with everyone. Don't be proud and feel that you are smarter than others. Make friends with ordinary people. ¹⁷Don't mistreat someone who has mistreated you. But try to earn the respect of others, ¹⁸and do your best to live at peace with everyone.

¹⁹Dear friends, don't try to get even. Let God take revenge. In the Scriptures the Lord says,

"I am the one to take revenge

and pay them back."
²⁰The Scriptures also say,

"If your enemies are hungry, give them something to eat.

And if they are thirsty, give them something to drink.

This will be the same as piling burning coals on their heads."
²¹Don't let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good.

David Rescues the Town of Keilah

1 Samuel 23 One day some people told David, "The Philistines keep attacking the town of Keilah and stealing grain from the threshing place."

²David asked the LORD, "Should I attack these Philistines?"

"Yes," the LORD answered. "Attack them and rescue Keilah."

³But David's men said, "Look, even here in Judah we're afraid of the Philistines. We will be terrified if we try to fight them at Keilah!"

⁴David asked the LORD about it again. "Leave right now," the LORD answered. "I will give you victory over the Philistines at Keilah."

⁵David and his men went there and fiercely attacked the Philistines. They killed many of them, then led away their cattle, and rescued the people of Keilah.

^6-8Meanwhile, Saul heard that David was in Keilah. "God has let me catch David," Saul said. "David is trapped inside a walled town where the gates can be locked." Saul decided to go there and surround the town, in order to trap David and his men. He sent messengers who told the towns and villages, "Send men to serve in Saul's army!"

By this time, Abiathar had joined David in Keilah and had brought along everything he needed to get answers from God.

⁹David heard about Saul's plan to capture him, and he told Abiathar, "Let's ask God what we should do."

¹⁰David prayed, "LORD God of Israel, I was told that Saul is planning to come here. What should I do? Suppose he threatens to destroy the town because of me. ¹¹Would the leaders of Keilah turn me over to Saul? Or is he really coming? Please tell me, LORD."

"Yes, he will come," the LORD answered.

¹²David asked, "Would the leaders of Keilah hand me and my soldiers over to Saul?"

"Yes, they would," the LORD answered.

¹³David and his six hundred men got out of there fast and started moving from place to place. Saul heard that David had left Keilah, and he decided not to go after him.

Jonathan Says David Will Be King

¹⁴David stayed in hideouts in the hill country of Ziph Desert. Saul kept searching, but God never let Saul catch him.

¹⁵One time, David was at Horesh in Ziph Desert. He was afraid because Saul had come to the area to kill him. ¹⁶But Jonathan went to see David, and God helped him encourage David. ¹⁷"Don't be afraid," Jonathan said. "My father Saul will never get his hands on you. In fact, you're going to be the next king of Israel, and I'll be your highest official. Even my father knows it's true."

¹⁸They both promised the LORD that they would always be loyal to each other. Then Jonathan went home, but David stayed at Horesh.

David Escapes from Saul

¹⁹Some people from the town of Ziph went to Saul at Gibeah and said, "Your Majesty, David has a hideout not far from us! It's near Horesh, somewhere on Mount Hachilah south of Jeshimon. ²⁰If you come, we will help you catch him."

²¹Saul told them:

You've done me a big favor, and I pray that the LORD will bless you. ²²Now please do just a little more for me. Find out exactly where David is, as well as where he goes, and who has seen him there. I've been told that he's very tricky. ²³Find out where all his hiding places are and come back when you're sure. Then I'll go with you. If he is still in the area, or anywhere among the clans of Judah, I'll find him.

²⁴The people from Ziph went back ahead of Saul, and they found out that David and his men were still south of Jeshimon in the Maon Desert. ²⁵Saul and his army set out to find David. But David heard that Saul was coming, and he went to a place called The Rock, one of his hideouts in Maon Desert.

Saul found out where David was and started closing in on him. ²⁶Saul was going around a hill on one side, and David and his men were on the other side, trying to get away. Saul and his soldiers were just about to capture David and his men, ²⁷when a messenger came to Saul and said, "Come quickly! The Philistines are attacking Israel and taking everything."

²⁸Saul stopped going after David and went back to fight the Philistines. That's why the place is called "Escape Rock."

²⁹David left and went to live in the hideouts at En-Gedi.

David Lets Saul Live

1 Samuel 24 When Saul got back from fighting off the Philistines, he heard that David was in the desert around En-Gedi. ²Saul led three thousand of Israel's best soldiers out to look for David and his men near Wild Goat Rocks at En-Gedi. ³There were some sheep pens along the side of the road, and one of them was built around the entrance to a cave. Saul went into the cave to relieve himself.

David and his men were hiding at the back of the cave. ⁴They whispered to David, "The LORD told you he was going to let you defeat your enemies and do whatever you want with them. This must be the day the LORD was talking about."

David sneaked over and cut off a small piece of Saul's robe, but Saul didn't notice a thing. ⁵Afterwards, David was sorry that he had even done that, ^6-7and he told his men, "Stop talking foolishly. We're not going to attack Saul. He's my king, and I pray that the LORD will keep me from doing anything to harm his chosen king."

Saul left the cave and started down the road. ⁸Soon, David also got up and left the cave. "Your Majesty!" he shouted from a distance.

Saul turned around to look. David bowed down very low ⁹and said:

Your Majesty, why do you listen to people who say that I'm trying to harm you? ¹⁰You can see for yourself that the LORD gave me the chance to catch you in the cave today. Some of my men wanted to kill you, but I wouldn't let them do it. I told them, "I will not harm the LORD's chosen king!" ¹¹Your Majesty, look at what I'm holding. You can see that it's a piece of your robe. If I could cut off a piece of your robe, I could have killed you. But I let you live, and that should prove I'm not trying to harm you or to rebel. I haven't done anything to you, and yet you keep trying to ambush and kill me.

¹²I'll let the LORD decide which one of us has done right. I pray that the LORD will punish you for what you're doing to me, but I won't do anything to you. ¹³An old proverb says, "Only evil people do evil things," and so I won't harm you.

¹⁴Why should the king of Israel be out chasing me, anyway? I'm as worthless as a dead dog or a flea. ¹⁵I pray that the LORD will help me escape and show that I am in the right.

¹⁶"David, my son--is that you?" Saul asked. Then he started crying ¹⁷and said:

David, you're a better person than I am. You treated me with kindness, even though I've been cruel to you. ¹⁸You've told me how you were kind enough not to kill me when the LORD gave you the chance. ¹⁹If you really were my enemy, you wouldn't have let me leave here alive. I pray that the LORD will give you a big reward for what you did today.

²⁰I realize now that you will be the next king, and a powerful king at that. ²¹Promise me with the LORD as your witness, that you won't wipe out my descendants. Let them live to keep my family name alive.

²²So David promised, and Saul went home. David and his men returned to their hideout.

Psalm 67
[A psalm and a song for the music leader. Use with stringed instruments.]
Tell the Nations To Praise God

¹Our God, be kind and bless us! Be pleased and smile.

²Then everyone on earth will learn to follow you,

and all nations will see your power to save us.

³Make everyone praise you and shout your praises.

⁴Let the nations celebrate with joyful songs,

because you judge fairly and guide all nations.

⁵Make everyone praise you and shout your praises.

⁶Our God has blessed the earth with a wonderful harvest!

⁷Pray for his blessings to continue

and for everyone on earth to worship our God.

These daily Bible readings from the Contemporary English Version (CEV) are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. BibleCard® images copyright iCreative. All rights reserved.