Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Asaph wrote this psalm for the music leader. He should use special music.

God, help our nation^[a]

David prays

¹⁸ Then King David went into the Lord's tent.^[a] He sat down and he prayed to the Lord.

He said, ‘Almighty Lord, I am not a special person and my family is not special. You have helped me very much and I do not deserve it. ¹⁹ You have also made a promise about the descendants in my family, Almighty Lord. You have promised to help them in the future, as well as me. I am only a man but you have shown this to me, Almighty Lord.

²⁰ I am your servant, Almighty Lord, and you know me completely. There is nothing more that I can say. ²¹ Because of your covenant you have chosen to do all these great things. You have told me, your servant, what you promise to do. ²² Almighty Lord, you are very great. There is nobody like you. You alone are God. What we have heard about you is true!

Paul explains about sons

4 I will say it like this. Think about a son who will one day receive what belongs to his father. While he is still a child, he is like a slave in the family. That is true, even though all his father's things really belong to him. ² He has to wait until the time that his father has decided. Until then, the son has to obey his teachers and the guides who take care of him. ³ In the same way, we were children like that in God's family. We were slaves to the bad spirits that rule this world. ⁴ But when the time that God had decided arrived, he sent his Son into the world. A human mother gave birth to him. He was born a Jew, under the authority of God's Law. ⁵ In that way, he made us free from the authority of the Law. Before that, we were like slaves under the Law. But God's Son paid our debt, so that God would accept us as his true children. ⁶ Because we are his children, God has sent his Son's Spirit to live inside us. His Spirit causes us to call God, ‘Father, my Father’. ⁷ So you are not slaves any more, but you are God's children. And because of that, you will receive all the good things that God has promised.