Daily Office - May 18

Psalm 42
 As the deer longs for the water brooks,
so longs my soul for you, O God.

My soul is athirst for God, even for the living God;
when shall I come before the presence of God?

My tears have been my bread day and night,
while all day long they say to me, ‘Where is now your God?’

Now when I think on these things, I pour out my soul:
how I went with the multitude and led the procession to the house of God,
With the voice of praise and thanksgiving, among those who kept holy day.

Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul and why are you so disquieted within me?

O put your trust in God; for I will yet give him thanks,
who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

My soul is heavy within me;
therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan,
and from Hermon and the hill of Mizar.

Deep calls to deep in the thunder of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and waves have gone over me.

The Lord will grant his loving-kindness in the daytime;
through the night his song will be with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God my rock,
‘Why have you forgotten me, and why go I so heavily, while the enemy oppresses me?’

As they crush my bones, my enemies mock me;
while all day long they say to me, ‘Where is now your God?’

Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul?
and why are you so disquieted within me?

O put your trust in God;
for I will yet give him thanks,
who is the help of my countenance, and my god.

Psalm 43
Give judgement for me, O God,
and defend my cause against an ungodly people;
deliver me from the deceitful and the wicked.

For you are the God of my refuge;
why have you cast me from you,
and why go I so heavily, while the enemy oppresses me?

O send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me,
and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling,

That I may go to the altar of God,
to the God of my joy and gladness;
and on the lyre I will give thanks to you, O God my God.

Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul,
and why are you so disquieted within me?

O put your trust in God;
for I will yet give him thanks,
who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

Deuteronomy 32.48-end, 34
On that very day the Lord addressed Moses as follows: ‘Ascend this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites for a possession; you shall die there on the mountain that you ascend and shall be gathered to your kin, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin; because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to maintain my holiness among the Israelites. Although you may view the land from a distance, you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the Israelites.’
Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries?

1 John 5
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.

We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

The Collect
O God the King of glory,
you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ
with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:
we beseech you, leave us not comfortless,
but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us
and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.