Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Evening Reading
I sought him, but I could not find him: I called him, but he gave me no answer.—SONG 5:6.
O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! and the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, for they have even taken of the accursed thing . . . and they have put it even among their own stuff.
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“The foundation of God standeth sure.”
2 Timothy 2:19
The foundation upon which our faith rests is this, that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” The great fact on which genuine faith relies is, that “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,” and that “Christ also hath suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”; “Who himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree”; “For the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.” In one word, the great pillar of the Christian’s hope is substitution. The vicarious sacrifice of Christ for the guilty, Christ being made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, Christ offering up a true and proper expiatory and substitutionary sacrifice in the room, place, and stead of as many as the Father gave him, who are known to God by name, and are recognized in their own hearts by their trusting in Jesus—this is the cardinal fact of the gospel. If this foundation were removed, what could we do? But it standeth firm as the throne of God. We know it; we rest on it; we rejoice in it; and our delight is to hold it, to meditate upon it, and to proclaim it, while we desire to be actuated and moved by gratitude for it in every part of our life and conversation. In these days a direct attack is made upon the doctrine of the atonement. Men cannot bear substitution. They gnash their teeth at the thought of the Lamb of God bearing the sin of man. But we, who know by experience the preciousness of this truth, will proclaim it in defiance of them confidently and unceasingly. We will neither dilute it nor change it, nor fritter it away in any shape or fashion. It shall still be Christ, a positive substitute, bearing human guilt and suffering in the stead of men. We cannot, dare not, give it up, for it is our life, and despite every controversy we feel that “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure.”
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Jeremiah 6
6. Jerusalem Under Siege
The Imminence and Horror of the Invasion
6
Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem;
for evil looms out of the north,
and great destruction.
2
I have likened daughter Zion
to the loveliest pasture.
3
Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her.
They shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, all in their places.
4
“Prepare war against her;
up, and let us attack at noon!”
“Woe to us, for the day declines,
the shadows of evening lengthen!”
5
“Up, and let us attack by night,
and destroy her palaces!”
6
For thus says the Lord of hosts:
Cut down her trees;
cast up a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be punished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.
7
As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her wickedness;
violence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.
8
Take warning, O Jerusalem,
or I shall turn from you in disgust,
and make you a desolation,
an uninhabited land.
9
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape-gatherer, pass your hand again
over its branches.
10
To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
See, their ears are closed,
they cannot listen.
The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
11
But I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
I am weary of holding it in.
Pour it out on the children in the street,
and on the gatherings of young men as well;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
the old folk and the very aged.
12
Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together;
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,
says the Lord.
13
For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14
They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.
15
They acted shamefully, they committed abomination;
yet they were not ashamed,
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.
16
Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, “We will not walk in it.”
17
Also I raised up sentinels for you:
“Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!”
But they said, “We will not give heed.”
18
Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19
Hear, O earth; I am going to bring disaster on this people,
the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not given heed to my words;
and as for my teaching, they have rejected it.
20
Of what use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba,
or sweet cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.
21
Therefore thus says the Lord:
See, I am laying before this people
stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
parents and children together,
neighbor and friend shall perish.
22
Thus says the Lord:
See, a people is coming from the land of the north,
a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
23
They grasp the bow and the javelin,
they are cruel and have no mercy,
their sound is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses,
equipped like a warrior for battle,
against you, O daughter Zion!
24
“We have heard news of them,
our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
pain as of a woman in labor.
25
Do not go out into the field,
or walk on the road;
for the enemy has a sword,
terror is on every side.”
26
O my poor people, put on sackcloth,
and roll in ashes;
make mourning as for an only child,
most bitter lamentation:
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.
27
I have made you a tester and a refiner among my people
so that you may know and test their ways.
28
They are all stubbornly rebellious,
going about with slanders;
they are bronze and iron,
all of them act corruptly.
29
The bellows blow fiercely,
the lead is consumed by the fire;
in vain the refining goes on,
for the wicked are not removed.
30
They are called “rejected silver,”
for the Lord has rejected them.
New Testament in Four Years - Hebrews 9:16-22
9. Worship in Earthly Tabernacle
16Where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.17For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.18Hence not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.19For when every commandment had been told to all the people by Moses in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people,20saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.”21And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.22Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.Psalm a Day - Psalm 125
125. Psalm 125
Psalm 125
The Security of God’s People
A Song of Ascents.
1
Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
2
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
from this time on and forevermore.
3
For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous might not stretch out
their hands to do wrong.
4
Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
and to those who are upright in their hearts.
5
But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways
the Lord will lead away with evildoers.
Peace be upon Israel!