Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Evening Reading
Keep yourselves from idols.—I JOHN 5:21.
My son, give me thine heart.—Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?—Mortify . . . your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.—They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things.
If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.—My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.—The Lord looketh on the heart.
Prov. 23:26. -Col. 3:2.Ezek. 14:3. -Col. 3:5. -I Tim. 6:9-11.Psa. 62:10. -Prov. 8:19.Matt. 6:21. -I Sam. 16:7.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“These all died in faith.”
Hebrews 11:13
Behold the epitaph of all those blessed saints who fell asleep before the coming of our Lord! It matters nothing how else they died, whether of old age, or by violent means; this one point, in which they all agree, is the most worthy of record, “they all died in faith.” In faith they lived—it was their comfort, their guide, their motive and their support; and in the same spiritual grace they died, ending their life-song in the sweet strain in which they had so long continued. They did not die resting in the flesh or upon their own attainments; they made no advance from their first way of acceptance with God, but held to the way of faith to the end. Faith is as precious to die by as to live by.
Dying in faith has distinct reference to the past. They believed the promises which had gone before, and were assured that their sins were blotted out through the mercy of God. Dying in faith has to do with the present. These saints were confident of their acceptance with God, they enjoyed the beams of his love, and rested in his faithfulness. Dying in faith looks into the future. They fell asleep, affirming that the Messiah would surely come, and that when he would in the last days appear upon the earth, they would rise from their graves to behold him. To them the pains of death were but the birth-pangs of a better state. Take courage, my soul, as thou readest this epitaph. Thy course, through grace, is one of faith, and sight seldom cheers thee; this has also been the pathway of the brightest and the best. Faith was the orbit in which these stars of the first magnitude moved all the time of their shining here; and happy art thou that it is thine. Look anew tonight to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith, and thank Him for giving thee like precious faith with souls now in glory.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Job 15
15. Eliphaz Replies
Eliphaz Speaks: Job Undermines Religion
15
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2
“Should the wise answer with windy knowledge,
and fill themselves with the east wind?
3
Should they argue in unprofitable talk,
or in words with which they can do no good?
4
But you are doing away with the fear of God,
and hindering meditation before God.
5
For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6
Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
your own lips testify against you.
7
“Are you the firstborn of the human race?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8
Have you listened in the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9
What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10
The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
those older than your father.
11
Are the consolations of God too small for you,
or the word that deals gently with you?
12
Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
13
so that you turn your spirit against God,
and let such words go out of your mouth?
14
What are mortals, that they can be clean?
Or those born of woman, that they can be righteous?
15
God puts no trust even in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not clean in his sight;
16
how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
one who drinks iniquity like water!
17
“I will show you; listen to me;
what I have seen I will declare—
18
what sages have told,
and their ancestors have not hidden,
19
to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them.
20
The wicked writhe in pain all their days,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
21
Terrifying sounds are in their ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them.
22
They despair of returning from darkness,
and they are destined for the sword.
23
They wander abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand;
24
distress and anguish terrify them;
they prevail against them, like a king prepared for battle.
25
Because they stretched out their hands against God,
and bid defiance to the Almighty,
26
running stubbornly against him
with a thick-bossed shield;
27
because they have covered their faces with their fat,
and gathered fat upon their loins,
28
they will live in desolate cities,
in houses that no one should inhabit,
houses destined to become heaps of ruins;
29
they will not be rich, and their wealth will not endure,
nor will they strike root in the earth;
30
they will not escape from darkness;
the flame will dry up their shoots,
and their blossom will be swept away by the wind.
31
Let them not trust in emptiness, deceiving themselves;
for emptiness will be their recompense.
32
It will be paid in full before their time,
and their branch will not be green.
33
They will shake off their unripe grape, like the vine,
and cast off their blossoms, like the olive tree.
34
For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35
They conceive mischief and bring forth evil
and their heart prepares deceit.”
New Testament in Four Years - 1 Peter 1:22-25
1. Praise to God for a Living Hope
22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.23You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.24For
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25
but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
That word is the good news that was announced to you.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 91
91. Psalm 91
Psalm 91
Assurance of God’s Protection
1
You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
2
will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”
3
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence;
4
he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5
You will not fear the terror of the night,
or the arrow that flies by day,
6
or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8
You will only look with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9
Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
the Most High your dwelling place,
10
no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.
11
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12
On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13
You will tread on the lion and the adder,
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14
Those who love me, I will deliver;
I will protect those who know my name.
15
When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble,
I will rescue them and honor them.
16
With long life I will satisfy them,
and show them my salvation.