Open Word

FIRST READING

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Verse 1. Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have selected from his sons a king for Myself.” Verse 2. “How can I go?” Samuel asked. “Saul will hear of it and kill me!” The LORD answered, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ Verse 3. Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you are to do. You are to anoint for Me the one I indicate.” Verse 4. So Samuel did what the LORD had said and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town met him, they trembled and asked, “Do you come in peace?” Verse 5. “In peace,” he replied. “I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. Verse 6. When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, “Surely here before the LORD is His anointed.” Verse 7. But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.” Verse 8. Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel, who said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” Verse 9. Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” Verse 10. Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel told him, “The LORD has not chosen any of these.” Verse 11. And Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied, “but he is tending the sheep.” “Send for him,” Samuel replied. “For we will not sit down to eat until he arrives.” Verse 12. So Jesse sent for his youngest son and brought him in. He was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him, for he is the one.” Verse 13. So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah.

PSALM

Psalm 95

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout to the Rock of our salvation!

Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him in song.

For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods.

In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him.

The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.

O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care. Today, if you hear His voice,

do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness,

where your fathers tested and tried Me, though they had seen My work.

For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.”

So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”

SECOND READING

1 Peter 5:1-5

Verse 1. As a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings, and a partaker of the glory to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you: Verse 2. Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness; Verse 3. not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. Verse 4. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. Verse 5. Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”