Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
They that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.—PSA. 9:10.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.—I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.—For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints, they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.—The Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people.—Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.
Be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Prov. 18:10. -Isa. 12:2.Psa. 37:25. -Psa. 37:28. -I Sam. 12:22. -II Cor. 1:10.Heb. 13:5,6.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“The iniquity of the holy things.”
Exodus 28:38
What a veil is lifted up by these words, and what a disclosure is made! It will be humbling and profitable for us to pause awhile and see this sad sight. The iniquities of our public worship, its hypocrisy, formality, lukewarmness, irreverence, wandering of heart and forgetfulness of God, what a full measure have we there! Our work for the Lord, its emulation, selfishness, carelessness, slackness, unbelief, what a mass of defilement is there! Our private devotions, their laxity, coldness, neglect, sleepiness, and vanity, what a mountain of dead earth is there! If we looked more carefully we should find this iniquity to be far greater than appears at first sight. Dr. Payson, writing to his brother, says, “My parish, as well as my heart, very much resembles the garden of the sluggard; and what is worse, I find that very many of my desires for the melioration of both, proceed either from pride or vanity or indolence. I look at the weeds which overspread my garden, and breathe out an earnest wish that they were eradicated. But why? What prompts the wish? It may be that I may walk out and say to myself, ‘In what fine order is my garden kept!’ This is pride. Or, it may be that my neighbours may look over the wall and say, ‘How finely your garden flourishes!’ This is vanity. Or I may wish for the destruction of the weeds, because I am weary of pulling them up. This is indolence.” So that even our desires after holiness may be polluted by ill motives. Under the greenest sods worms hide themselves; we need not look long to discover them. How cheering is the thought, that when the High Priest bore the iniquity of the holy things he wore upon his brow the words, “Holiness to the Lord:” and even so while Jesus bears our sin, he presents before his Father’s face not our unholiness, but his own holiness. O for grace to view our great High Priest by the eye of faith!
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Nahum 2
2. Nineveh to Fall
The Destruction of the Wicked City
2
A shatterer has come up against you.
Guard the ramparts;
watch the road;
gird your loins;
collect all your strength.
2
(For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob,
as well as the majesty of Israel,
though ravagers have ravaged them
and ruined their branches.)
3
The shields of his warriors are red;
his soldiers are clothed in crimson.
The metal on the chariots flashes
on the day when he musters them;
the chargers prance.
4
The chariots race madly through the streets,
they rush to and fro through the squares;
their appearance is like torches,
they dart like lightning.
5
He calls his officers;
they stumble as they come forward;
they hasten to the wall,
and the mantelet is set up.
6
The river gates are opened,
the palace trembles.
7
It is decreed that the city be exiled,
its slave women led away,
moaning like doves
and beating their breasts.
8
Nineveh is like a pool
whose waters run away.
“Halt! Halt!”—
but no one turns back.
9
“Plunder the silver,
plunder the gold!
There is no end of treasure!
An abundance of every precious thing!”
10
Devastation, desolation, and destruction!
Hearts faint and knees tremble,
all loins quake,
all faces grow pale!
11
What became of the lions’ den,
the cave of the young lions,
where the lion goes,
and the lion’s cubs, with no one to disturb them?
12
The lion has torn enough for his whelps
and strangled prey for his lionesses;
he has filled his caves with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.
13 See, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.
New Testament in Four Years - Acts 25:13-22
25. Trial Before Festus
Festus Consults King Agrippa
13 After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to welcome Festus.14Since they were staying there several days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man here who was left in prison by Felix.15When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him and asked for a sentence against him.16I told them that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone before the accused had met the accusers face to face and had been given an opportunity to make a defense against the charge.17So when they met here, I lost no time, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought.18When the accusers stood up, they did not charge him with any of the crimes that I was expecting.19Instead they had certain points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.20Since I was at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether he wished to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges.21But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of his Imperial Majesty, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to the emperor.”22Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you will hear him.”
Psalm a Day - Psalm 141
141. Psalm 141
Psalm 141
Prayer for Preservation from Evil
A Psalm of David.
1
I call upon you, O Lord; come quickly to me;
give ear to my voice when I call to you.
2
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.
3
Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
4
Do not turn my heart to any evil,
to busy myself with wicked deeds
in company with those who work iniquity;
do not let me eat of their delicacies.
5
Let the righteous strike me;
let the faithful correct me.
Never let the oil of the wicked anoint my head,
for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds.
6
When they are given over to those who shall condemn them,
then they shall learn that my words were pleasant.
7
Like a rock that one breaks apart and shatters on the land,
so shall their bones be strewn at the mouth of Sheol.
8
But my eyes are turned toward you, O God, my Lord;
in you I seek refuge; do not leave me defenseless.
9
Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me,
and from the snares of evildoers.
10
Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I alone escape.