Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.—ISA. 59:1.
In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.—While I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help, leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.—Be not thou far from me, O Lord, O my strength, haste thee to help me.
Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.—Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.—Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.
Psa. 138:3-Dan. 9:21.Psa. 27:9. -Psa. 22:19.Jer. 32:17. -II Cor. 1:10. -Luke 18:7,8.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods.”
Jeremiah 16:20
One great besetting sin of ancient Israel was idolatry, and the spiritual Israel are vexed with a tendency to the same folly. Remphan’s star shines no longer, and the women weep no more for Tammuz, but Mammon still intrudes his golden calf, and the shrines of pride are not forsaken. Self in various forms struggles to subdue the chosen ones under its dominion, and the flesh sets up its altars wherever it can find space for them. Favourite children are often the cause of much sin in believers; the Lord is grieved when he sees us doting upon them above measure; they will live to be as great a curse to us as Absalom was to David, or they will be taken from us to leave our homes desolate. If Christians desire to grow thorns to stuff their sleepless pillows, let them dote on their dear ones.
It is truly said that “they are no gods,” for the objects of our foolish love are very doubtful blessings, the solace which they yield us now is dangerous, and the help which they can give us in the hour of trouble is little indeed. Why, then, are we so bewitched with vanities? We pity the poor heathen who adore a god of stone, and yet worship a god of gold. Where is the vast superiority between a god of flesh and one of wood? The principle, the sin, the folly is the same in either case, only that in ours the crime is more aggravated because we have more light, and sin in the face of it. The heathen bows to a false deity, but the true God he has never known; we commit two evils, inasmuch as we forsake the living God and turn unto idols. May the Lord purge us all from this grievous iniquity!
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“The dearest idol I have known, Whate'er that idol be; Help me to tear it from thy throne, And worship only thee.” |
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Job 17
17. Job Replies
Job Prays for Relief
17
My spirit is broken, my days are extinct,
the grave is ready for me.
2
Surely there are mockers around me,
and my eye dwells on their provocation.
3
“Lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
who is there that will give surety for me?
4
Since you have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5
Those who denounce friends for reward—
the eyes of their children will fail.
6
“He has made me a byword of the peoples,
and I am one before whom people spit.
7
My eye has grown dim from grief,
and all my members are like a shadow.
8
The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.
9
Yet the righteous hold to their way,
and they that have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.
10
But you, come back now, all of you,
and I shall not find a sensible person among you.
11
My days are past, my plans are broken off,
the desires of my heart.
12
They make night into day;
‘The light,’ they say, ”is near to the darkness.’
13
If I look for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in darkness,
14
if I say to the Pit, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ”My sister,’
15
where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?
16
Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?”
New Testament in Four Years - 1 Peter 2:4-8
2. Be Holy
4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and5like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.6For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,”
8 and
“A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 93
93. Psalm 93
Psalm 93
The Majesty of God’s Rule
1
The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength.
He has established the world; it shall never be moved;
2
your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.
3
The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
4
More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
more majestic than the waves of the sea,
majestic on high is the Lord!
5
Your decrees are very sure;
holiness befits your house,
O Lord, forevermore.