July 12, 2009

Psalm 130
   Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.  Lord, hear my voice!  Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
   If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?  But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. 
   I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.
   O Israel, hope in the Lord!  For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.  It is he who will redeem Israel from all it s iniquities.

2 Corinthians 8:7-15
   Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want to excel also in this generous undertaking.
   I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others.  For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.  And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something—now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means.  For if eagerness is there. the gift is acceptable according to what one has—not according to what one does not have.  I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. 
   As it is written, “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.”

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