Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Evening Reading
Ebenezer . . . Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.—I SAM. 7:12.
I was brought low, and he helped me.—Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.—Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.—He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.—There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord hath spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.
When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.—Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
Psa. 116:6. -Psa. 28:6,7.Psa. 118:8,9. -Psa. 146:5, -Psa. 107:7. -Josh. 21:45.Luke 22:35. -Psa. 63:7.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“The voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.”
Genesis 3:8
My soul, now that the cool of the day has come, retire awhile and hearken to the voice of thy God. He is always ready to speak with thee when thou art prepared to hear. If there be any slowness to commune it is not on his part, but altogether on thine own, for he stands at the door and knocks, and if his people will but open he rejoices to enter. But in what state is my heart, which is my Lord’s garden? May I venture to hope that it is well trimmed and watered, and is bringing forth fruit fit for him? If not, he will have much to reprove, but still I pray him to come unto me, for nothing can so certainly bring my heart into a right condition as the presence of the Sun of Righteousness, who brings healing in his wings. Come, therefore, O Lord, my God, my soul invites thee earnestly, and waits for thee eagerly. Come to me, O Jesus, my well-beloved, and plant fresh flowers in my garden, such as I see blooming in such perfection in thy matchless character! Come, O my Father, who art the Husbandman, and deal with me in thy tenderness and prudence! Come, O Holy Spirit, and bedew my whole nature, as the herbs are now moistened with the evening dews. O that God would speak to me. Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth! O that he would walk with me; I am ready to give up my whole heart and mind to him, and every other thought is hushed. I am only asking what he delights to give. I am sure that he will condescend to have fellowship with me, for he has given me his Holy Spirit to abide with me forever. Sweet is the cool twilight, when every star seems like the eye of heaven, and the cool wind is as the breath of celestial love. My Father, my elder Brother, my sweet Comforter, speak now in lovingkindness, for thou hast opened mine ear and I am not rebellious.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Ecclesiastes 2
2. Pleasures and Toils are Meaningless
The Futility of Self-Indulgence
2
I said to myself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But again, this also was vanity.2I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”3I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was good for mortals to do under heaven during the few days of their life.4I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself;5I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.6I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.7I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house; I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.8I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, and many concubines.
9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me.10Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.11Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
Wisdom and Joy Given to One Who Pleases God
12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the one do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done.13Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
14
The wise have eyes in their head,
but fools walk in darkness.
Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls all of them.15Then I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity.16For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools?17So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
18 I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me19—and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.20So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun,21because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.22What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun?23For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
24 There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God;25for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?26For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 131
131. Psalm 131
Psalm 131
Song of Quiet Trust
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
2
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
3
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time on and forevermore.
