Meditate
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Daily Light's Morning Reading
I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee.—DEUT. 18:18.
[Moses] stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid.—There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.—Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.—Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Deut. 5:5. -I Tim. 2:5.Num. 12:3. -Matt. 11:29. -Phi. 2:5-7.Heb. 3:5,6.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“She bound the scarlet line in the window.”
Joshua 2:21
Rahab depended for her preservation upon the promise of the spies, whom she looked upon as the representatives of the God of Israel. Her faith was simple and firm, but it was very obedient. To tie the scarlet line in the window was a very trivial act in itself, but she dared not run the risk of omitting it. Come, my soul, is there not here a lesson for thee? Hast thou been attentive to all thy Lord’s will, even though some of his commands should seem non-essential? Hast thou observed in his own way the two ordinances of believers’ baptism and the Lord’s Supper? These neglected, argue much unloving disobedience in thy heart. Be henceforth in all things blameless, even to the tying of a thread, if that be matter of command.
This act of Rahab sets forth a yet more solemn lesson. Have I implicitly trusted in the precious blood of Jesus? Have I tied the scarlet cord, as with a Gordian knot in my window, so that my trust can never be removed? Or can I look out towards the Dead Sea of my sins, or the Jerusalem of my hopes, without seeing the blood, and seeing all things in connection with its blessed power? The passer-by can see a cord of so conspicuous a colour, if it hangs from the window: it will be well for me if my life makes the efficacy of the atonement conspicuous to all onlookers. What is there to be ashamed of? Let men or devils gaze if they will, the blood is my boast and my song. My soul, there is One who will see that scarlet line, even when from weakness of faith thou canst not see it thyself; Jehovah, the Avenger, will see it and pass over thee. Jericho’s walls fell flat: Rahab’s house was on the wall, and yet it stood unmoved; my nature is built into the wall of humanity, and yet when destruction smites the race, I shall be secure. My soul, tie the scarlet thread in the window afresh, and rest in peace.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Job 1
1. Job's First Test
Job and His Family
1
There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.2There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.3He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.4His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another’s houses in turn; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.5And when the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” This is what Job always did.
Attack on Job’s Character
6 One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.7The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”8The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.”9Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing?10Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.11But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”12The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Job Loses Property and Children
13 One day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother’s house,14a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them,15and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.”16While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you.”17While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.”18While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house,19and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped.21He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.
New Testament in Four Years - James 3:1-6
3. Taming the Tongue
Taming the Tongue
3
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.2For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.3If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies.4Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.5So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!6And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 78:1-72
78. Psalm 78
Psalm 78
God’s Goodness and Israel’s Ingratitude
A Maskil of Asaph.
1
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3
things that we have heard and known,
that our ancestors have told us.
4
We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
5
He established a decree in Jacob,
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach to their children;
6
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and rise up and tell them to their children,
7
so that they should set their hope in God,
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
8
and that they should not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9
The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.
10
They did not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11
They forgot what he had done,
and the miracles that he had shown them.
12
In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13
He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14
In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all night long with a fiery light.
15
He split rocks open in the wilderness,
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16
He made streams come out of the rock,
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17
Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18
They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19
They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20
Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out
and torrents overflowed,
can he also give bread,
or provide meat for his people?”
21
Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of rage;
a fire was kindled against Jacob,
his anger mounted against Israel,
22
because they had no faith in God,
and did not trust his saving power.
23
Yet he commanded the skies above,
and opened the doors of heaven;
24
he rained down on them manna to eat,
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25
Mortals ate of the bread of angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27
he rained flesh upon them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28
he let them fall within their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29
And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
30
But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31
the anger of God rose against them
and he killed the strongest of them,
and laid low the flower of Israel.
32
In spite of all this they still sinned;
they did not believe in his wonders.
33
So he made their days vanish like a breath,
and their years in terror.
34
When he killed them, they sought for him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35
They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their redeemer.
36
But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
37
Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not true to his covenant.
38
Yet he, being compassionate,
forgave their iniquity,
and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39
He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and does not come again.
40
How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert!
41
They tested God again and again,
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42
They did not keep in mind his power,
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;
43
when he displayed his signs in Egypt,
and his miracles in the fields of Zoan.
44
He turned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
45
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
and frogs, which destroyed them.
46
He gave their crops to the caterpillar,
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47
He destroyed their vines with hail,
and their sycamores with frost.
48
He gave over their cattle to the hail,
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49
He let loose on them his fierce anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of destroying angels.
50
He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.
51
He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52
Then he led out his people like sheep,
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53
He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid;
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54
And he brought them to his holy hill,
to the mountain that his right hand had won.
55
He drove out nations before them;
he apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56
Yet they tested the Most High God,
and rebelled against him.
They did not observe his decrees,
57
but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors;
they twisted like a treacherous bow.
58
For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
59
When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
60
He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mortals,
61
and delivered his power to captivity,
his glory to the hand of the foe.
62
He gave his people to the sword,
and vented his wrath on his heritage.
63
Fire devoured their young men,
and their girls had no marriage song.
64
Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lamentation.
65
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a warrior shouting because of wine.
66
He put his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting disgrace.
67
He rejected the tent of Joseph,
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68
but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loves.
69
He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70
He chose his servant David,
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71
from tending the nursing ewes he brought him
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel, his inheritance.
72
With upright heart he tended them,
and guided them with skillful hand.