Meditate
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Daily Light's Morning Reading
Thy thoughts are very deep.—PSA. 92:5.
We . . . do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.—That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!—My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.—Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
Col. 1:9. -Eph. 3:17-19.Rom. 11:33. -Isa. 55:8,9. -Psa. 40:5.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“To whom be glory forever. Amen”
Romans 11:36
“To whom be glory forever.” This should be the single desire of the Christian. All other wishes must be subservient and tributary to this one. The Christian may wish for prosperity in his business, but only so far as it may help him to promote this—“To him be glory forever.” He may desire to attain more gifts and more graces, but it should only be that “To him may be glory forever.” You are not acting as you ought to do when you are moved by any other motive than a single eye to your Lord’s glory. As a Christian, you are “of God, and through God,” then live “to God.” Let nothing ever set your heart beating so mightily as love to him. Let this ambition fire your soul; be this the foundation of every enterprise upon which you enter, and this your sustaining motive whenever your zeal would grow chill; make God your only object. Depend upon it, where self begins sorrow begins; but if God be my supreme delight and only object,
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“To me 'tis equal whether love ordain My life or death—appoint me ease or pain.” |
Let your desire for God’s glory be a growing desire. You blessed him in your youth, do not be content with such praises as you gave him then. Has God prospered you in business? Give him more as he has given you more. Has God given you experience? Praise him by stronger faith than you exercised at first. Does your knowledge grow? Then sing more sweetly. Do you enjoy happier times than you once had? Have you been restored from sickness, and has your sorrow been turned into peace and joy? Then give him more music; put more coals and more sweet frankincense into the censer of your praise. Practically in your life give him honour, putting the “Amen” to this doxology to your great and gracious Lord, by your own individual service and increasing holiness.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Lamentations 3
3. Judah's Complaint
God’s Steadfast Love Endures
3
I am one who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s wrath;
2
he has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light;
3
against me alone he turns his hand,
again and again, all day long.
4
He has made my flesh and my skin waste away,
and broken my bones;
5
he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;
6
he has made me sit in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
7
He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has put heavy chains on me;
8
though I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
9
he has blocked my ways with hewn stones,
he has made my paths crooked.
10
He is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
11
he led me off my way and tore me to pieces;
he has made me desolate;
12
he bent his bow and set me
as a mark for his arrow.
13
He shot into my vitals
the arrows of his quiver;
14
I have become the laughingstock of all my people,
the object of their taunt-songs all day long.
15
He has filled me with bitterness,
he has sated me with wormwood.
16
He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes;
17
my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is;
18
so I say, “Gone is my glory,
and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.”
19
The thought of my affliction and my homelessness
is wormwood and gall!
20
My soul continually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me.
21
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
23
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
25
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
26
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27
It is good for one to bear
the yoke in youth,
28
to sit alone in silence
when the Lord has imposed it,
29
to put one’s mouth to the dust
(there may yet be hope),
30
to give one’s cheek to the smiter,
and be filled with insults.
31
For the Lord will not
reject forever.
32
Although he causes grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33
for he does not willingly afflict
or grieve anyone.
34
When all the prisoners of the land
are crushed under foot,
35
when human rights are perverted
in the presence of the Most High,
36
when one’s case is subverted
—does the Lord not see it?
37
Who can command and have it done,
if the Lord has not ordained it?
38
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
39
Why should any who draw breath complain
about the punishment of their sins?
40
Let us test and examine our ways,
and return to the Lord.
41
Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands
to God in heaven.
42
We have transgressed and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.
43
You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
killing without pity;
44
you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
45
You have made us filth and rubbish
among the peoples.
46
All our enemies
have opened their mouths against us;
47
panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction.
48
My eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of my people.
49
My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,
50
until the Lord from heaven
looks down and sees.
51
My eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the young women in my city.
52
Those who were my enemies without cause
have hunted me like a bird;
53
they flung me alive into a pit
and hurled stones on me;
54
water closed over my head;
I said, “I am lost.”
55
I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;
56
you heard my plea, “Do not close your ear
to my cry for help, but give me relief!”
57
You came near when I called on you;
you said, “Do not fear!”
58
You have taken up my cause, O Lord,
you have redeemed my life.
59
You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
judge my cause.
60
You have seen all their malice,
all their plots against me.
61
You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
62
The whispers and murmurs of my assailants
are against me all day long.
63
Whether they sit or rise—see,
I am the object of their taunt-songs.
64
Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord,
according to the work of their hands!
65
Give them anguish of heart;
your curse be on them!
66
Pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under the Lord’s heavens.
New Testament in Four Years - Matthew 11:1-6
11. Jesus and John the Baptist
11
Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities.
Messengers from John the Baptist
2 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples3and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”4Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see:5the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.6And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
Psalm a Day - Psalm 105:1-15
105. Psalm 105
Psalm 105
God’s Faithfulness to Israel
1
O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
2
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wonderful works.
3
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4
Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually.
5
Remember the wonderful works he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,
6
O offspring of his servant Abraham,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
7
He is the Lord our God;
his judgments are in all the earth.
8
He is mindful of his covenant forever,
of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
9
the covenant that he made with Abraham,
his sworn promise to Isaac,
10
which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11
saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as your portion for an inheritance.”
12
When they were few in number,
of little account, and strangers in it,
13
wandering from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another people,
14
he allowed no one to oppress them;
he rebuked kings on their account,
15
saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm.”