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Happy Monday, {{first_name | everyone}}!
There is something about hearing a person tell you what God has actually done for them that lands differently than any logical argument ever could. Our verse this week is a reminder of the power of your testimony.
Also, this is a very special week because on Wednesday, September 30th, it’s Bible Translation Day!
Never heard of it? I hadn’t either until this year, which is why we’re so excited to be partnering with Seed Company to share why it’s so important.
More on that below and throughout the week!
In today’s email…
📖 A few statistics you will never forget…
📜 The stretch of the Psalms where a King keeps being announced
🌍 A simple way to start telling someone what God has done
🎵 A song to help you memorize and meditate…
MEMORIZE 🧠
Cyale'u' scyetz cyakil wunak yi at k'ej i'! Cyale'u' yi ba'n na bnix e'chk milawr ta'n.
Salmos 96:3 (Language: AWAKATEKO*)
*This is an indigenous Mayan language spoken mostly in parts of Guatemala that Seed Company has helped translate the Bible into.
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
Psalm 96:3
Want to memorize in your favorite translation? Try our new iPhone app here.
TOGETHER WITH SEED COMPANY
There are over 7,100 active languages in the world.
Only 807 have a complete Bible translation.
That means 1.4 billion (yes, billion with a ‘b’) people do not have access to a full Bible in their native tongue.
Even more staggering? Over 37 million people still don’t have a single verse of Scripture.
Which raises the question: how would not having a Bible affect your faith?
It's hard to even imagine. Our family has at least 7 Bibles in our house, in various English translations. And with a few taps on our phones, we can pull up dozens more.
For 1.4 billion people, that's not reality.
That’s why Seed Company exists: to make all of Scripture available, to all people.
They’ve served 2500+ language groups since 1993, and the work isn’t finished. Click below to learn more about how they’re doing it and how you can help.
CONTEXT 📕
In recent days, we have entered what scholars call post-Christendom.
For a while there, the way the world worked was heavily influenced by Western Christianity - with laws echoing the Ten Commandments.
But recently, the world has been leaning more and more secular (anything that is not connected to religion, faith, or the spiritual world) again.
The original community, receiving this song (Psalm 96) as encouragement and hope, knew what that felt like.
The people of God were surrounded by other nations with their own beliefs and ways of living. But their God was very different from all these other conceptions of god.
Many of the ‘gods’ were evil (even demanding child sacrifice), but the Lord is good and kind.
People had to pray to a whole collection of gods (one for the Sun, one for Protection, etc.), but the Creator is above them all.
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
It is into this setting that the hearers of the Word were encouraged to declare his glory among the nations who were different from them…
Psalm 96 forms part of a collection of psalms pointing to a King who will be enthroned and exalted over all the earth (including Psalms 93, 96-99).
These Psalms became the worship that God’s people lifted up to him.
In today’s modern culture, people are less likely to claim that something is a ‘god’ in their life…But a god is anything we give our best to - our devotion, our time, our talents, and our money.
In the words of Martin Luther, "A god means that from which we are to expect all good and in which we are to take refuge in all distress...That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is, I say, really your god."
Therefore, some ‘gods’ in our current culture are the idols in people’s hearts - things like success, money, approval, work, status, etc.
Psalm 96 still rings true thousands of years after it was written — and it offers God’s people a song we can sing out to God while surrounded by cultures that worship other ‘gods.’
APPLY AND RESPOND 🏃♂
📖 Read Psalm 96 - the whole chapter.
Use the following questions to guide your reading:
A: What happens when we sing to God in worship?
B: What other gods (or idols) are evident around you?
C: How is God different from those?
Using your answers and the template below, compile a testimony so that you are ready to share when the opportunity arises (1 Peter 3:15).
“My life was (B) but (C), now I live to (A).”
🙏 Pray
Father, thank you for your Word. It is a source of encouragement and hope to my heart. When I look at the world around me, it can be hard to see you. Help me this week to testify about you in all I say and do. Amen.
SONG OF THE WEEK 🎵
Pay-it-forward subscribers, enjoy the song we created below to help you memorize the verse of the week!
SCRIPTURE MEMORY SONG OF THE WEEK 🎵
Pay-it-forward subscribers, enjoy the song we created below to help you memorize the verse of the week!
It looks like you don’t currently pay-it-forward. If you’d like to, you can do that here.
FREE SONG OF THE WEEK 🎵
“How Great Is Our God” by Chris Tomlin, a song that does what Psalm 96:3 asks of us: it puts the greatness of God on the lips of the nations.
ANSWER KEY ✅
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
Psalm 96:3
See you in your inbox tomorrow! And don’t forget to check out Seed Company and give them a follow so you can stay up to date with the incredible work they’re doing to make the Bible accessible to all people!
Best,
The Malachi Daily team 🙏
Today’s Contributors
Eljoh is a South African writer, editor, and artist with a Master’s in Practical Theology. She creates resources to help believers of all ages abide in Christ and grow in faith. Explore more free resources and creative tools at Vine Creative Studio.
Kieran is a husband and father of 4 living in NJ. In addition to Malachi Daily, he writes a personal newsletter about the intersection of faith, fatherhood and entrepreneurship.
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Try our iPhone app 📱
Want to go even deeper with memorizing Scripture and learning its context?
Our iPhone app, Within allows you to:
Memorize 1 verse every single week and learn its context through daily devotionals you can read (or listen to)
Memorize any verse you want in your favorite bible translation
Store all of your previously memorized verses in one place (and review them regularly with interactive games)
And much more!
What are the differences between Within and Malachi Daily?
Malachi Daily 📧 | Within 📱 | |
|---|---|---|
Type of tool | Email newsletter | iOS mobile app |
Cost | Free | 7-day free trial, then $5.99/mo or $49.99/year |
# of verses | 4 verses per month as a community | 4 verses per month as a community + unlimited for any verse you want |
Who chooses the verse | We choose | We choose AND you can memorize any verse you want, anytime |
Bible translation(s) | ESV | ESV, NIV, NLT, KJV, and NASB |
Reviewing previously memorized verses | You do this on your own | Use the built-in memory bank |
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