Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Evening Reading
All we like sheep have gone astray.—ISA. 53:6.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.—There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable.
Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.—I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteous for his name's sake.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
I John 1:8. -Rom. 3:10-12.I Pet. 2:25. -Psa. 119:176.Psa. 23:3.John 10:27,28.Luke 15:4.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“Lo, in the midst of the throne ... stood a Lamb as it had been slain.”
Revelation 5:6
Why should our exalted Lord appear in his wounds in glory? The wounds of Jesus are his glories, his jewels, his sacred ornaments. To the eye of the believer, Jesus is passing fair because he is “white and ruddy:” white with innocence, and ruddy with his own blood. We see him as the lily of matchless purity, and as the rose crimsoned with his own gore. Christ is lovely upon Olivet and Tabor, and by the sea, but oh! there never was such a matchless Christ as he that did hang upon the cross. There we beheld all his beauties in perfection, all his attributes developed, all his love drawn out, all his character expressed. Beloved, the wounds of Jesus are far more fair in our eyes than all the splendour and pomp of kings. The thorny crown is more than an imperial diadem. It is true that he bears not now the sceptre of reed, but there was a glory in it that never flashed from sceptre of gold. Jesus wears the appearance of a slain Lamb as his court dress in which he wooed our souls, and redeemed them by his complete atonement. Nor are these only the ornaments of Christ: they are the trophies of his love and of his victory. He has divided the spoil with the strong. He has redeemed for himself a great multitude whom no man can number, and these scars are the memorials of the fight. Ah! if Christ thus loves to retain the thought of his sufferings for his people, how precious should his wounds be to us!
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“Behold how every wound of his A precious balm distils, Which heals the scars that sin had made, And cures all mortal ills. “Those wounds are mouths that preach his grace; The ensigns of his love; The seals of our expected bliss In paradise above.” |
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Job 6
6. Job Speaks
Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just
6
Then Job answered:
2
“O that my vexation were weighed,
and all my calamity laid in the balances!
3
For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
therefore my words have been rash.
4
For the arrows of the Almighty are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
5
Does the wild ass bray over its grass,
or the ox low over its fodder?
6
Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,
or is there any flavor in the juice of mallows?
7
My appetite refuses to touch them;
they are like food that is loathsome to me.
8
“O that I might have my request,
and that God would grant my desire;
9
that it would please God to crush me,
that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!
10
This would be my consolation;
I would even exult in unrelenting pain;
for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
11
What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should be patient?
12
Is my strength the strength of stones,
or is my flesh bronze?
13
In truth I have no help in me,
and any resource is driven from me.
14
“Those who withhold kindness from a friend
forsake the fear of the Almighty.
15
My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed,
like freshets that pass away,
16
that run dark with ice,
turbid with melting snow.
17
In time of heat they disappear;
when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
18
The caravans turn aside from their course;
they go up into the waste, and perish.
19
The caravans of Tema look,
the travelers of Sheba hope.
20
They are disappointed because they were confident;
they come there and are confounded.
21
Such you have now become to me;
you see my calamity, and are afraid.
22
Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?
Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?
23
Or, ‘Save me from an opponent’s hand’?
Or, ‘Ransom me from the hand of oppressors’?
24
“Teach me, and I will be silent;
make me understand how I have gone wrong.
25
How forceful are honest words!
But your reproof, what does it reprove?
26
Do you think that you can reprove words,
as if the speech of the desperate were wind?
27
You would even cast lots over the orphan,
and bargain over your friend.
28
“But now, be pleased to look at me;
for I will not lie to your face.
29
Turn, I pray, let no wrong be done.
Turn now, my vindication is at stake.
30
Is there any wrong on my tongue?
Cannot my taste discern calamity?
New Testament in Four Years - James 4:13-17
4. Submit Yourselves to God
Boasting about Tomorrow
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.”14Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.15Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.”16As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.17Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 83
83. Psalm 83
Psalm 83
Prayer for Judgment on Israel’s Foes
A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.
1
O God, do not keep silence;
do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
2
Even now your enemies are in tumult;
those who hate you have raised their heads.
3
They lay crafty plans against your people;
they consult together against those you protect.
4
They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more.”
5
They conspire with one accord;
against you they make a covenant—
6
the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7
Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8
Assyria also has joined them;
they are the strong arm of the children of Lot.Selah
9
Do to them as you did to Midian,
as to Sisera and Jabin at the Wadi Kishon,
10
who were destroyed at En-dor,
who became dung for the ground.
11
Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12
who said, “Let us take the pastures of God
for our own possession.”
13
O my God, make them like whirling dust,
like chaff before the wind.
14
As fire consumes the forest,
as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15
so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your hurricane.
16
Fill their faces with shame,
so that they may seek your name, O Lord.
17
Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever;
let them perish in disgrace.
18
Let them know that you alone,
whose name is the Lord,
are the Most High over all the earth.