Psalm 41 New International Version – UK

Psalm 41^[a]

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹Blessed are those who have regard for the weak;
    the Lord delivers them in times of trouble.
²The Lord protects and preserves them –
    they are counted among the blessed in the land –
    he does not give them over to the desire of their foes.
³The Lord sustains them on their sick-bed
    and restores them from their bed of illness.

⁴I said, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord;
    heal me, for I have sinned against you.’
⁵My enemies say of me in malice,
    ‘When will he die and his name perish?’
⁶When one of them comes to see me,
    he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander;
    then he goes out and spreads it around.

⁷All my enemies whisper together against me;
    they imagine the worst for me, saying,
⁸‘A vile disease has afflicted him;
    he will never get up from the place where he lies.’
⁹Even my close friend,
    someone I trusted,
one who shared my bread,
    has turned^[b] against me.

¹⁰But may you have mercy on me, Lord;
    raise me up, that I may repay them.
¹¹I know that you are pleased with me,
    for my enemy does not triumph over me.
¹²Because of my integrity you uphold me
    and set me in your presence for ever.

¹³Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.

1 Corinthians 13 New International Version – UK

13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹²For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Not so long ago The Salvation Army released music of the same title of today’s blog to which they put the words of a well known hymn.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.