Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.—ISA. 26:3.
Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee; he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.—I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?—Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.—In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.
The effect of righteousness [shall be] quietness and assurance for ever.—Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.—Peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come.
Psa. 55:22. -Isa. 12:2.Matt. 8:26. -Phi. 4:6-7. -Isa. 30:15.Isa. 32:17. -John 14:27. -Rev. 1:4.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber”
1 Kings 22:48
Solomon’s ships had returned in safety, but Jehoshaphat’s vessels never reached the land of gold. Providence prospers one, and frustrates the desires of another, in the same business and at the same spot, yet the Great Ruler is as good and wise at one time as another. May we have grace today, in the remembrance of this text, to bless the Lord for ships broken at Ezion-geber, as well as for vessels freighted with temporal blessings; let us not envy the more successful, nor murmur at our losses as though we were singularly and specially tried. Like Jehoshaphat, we may be precious in the Lord’s sight, although our schemes end in disappointment.
The secret cause of Jehoshaphat’s loss is well worthy of notice, for it is the root of very much of the suffering of the Lord’s people; it was his alliance with a sinful family, his fellowship with sinners. In 2 Ch. 20:37, we are told that the Lord sent a prophet to declare, “Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works.” This was a fatherly chastisement, which appears to have been blest to him; for in the verse which succeeds our morning’s text we find him refusing to allow his servants to sail in the same vessels with those of the wicked king. Would to God that Jehoshaphat’s experience might be a warning to the rest of the Lord’s people, to avoid being unequally yoked together with unbelievers! A life of misery is usually the lot of those who are united in marriage, or in any other way of their own choosing, with the men of the world. O for such love to Jesus that, like him, we may be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; for if it be not so with us, we may expect to hear it often said, “The Lord hath broken thy works.”
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Zephaniah 1
1. Warning of Coming Destruction
1
The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah, in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah.
The Coming Judgment on Judah
2
I will utterly sweep away everything
from the face of the earth, says the Lord.
3
I will sweep away humans and animals;
I will sweep away the birds of the air
and the fish of the sea.
I will make the wicked stumble.
I will cut off humanity
from the face of the earth, says the Lord.
4
I will stretch out my hand against Judah,
and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal
and the name of the idolatrous priests;
5
those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens;
those who bow down and swear to the Lord,
but also swear by Milcom;
6
those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who have not sought the Lord or inquired of him.
7
Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is at hand;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice,
he has consecrated his guests.
8
And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice
I will punish the officials and the king’s sons
and all who dress themselves in foreign attire.
9
On that day I will punish
all who leap over the threshold,
who fill their master’s house
with violence and fraud.
10
On that day, says the Lord,
a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,
a wail from the Second Quarter,
a loud crash from the hills.
11
The inhabitants of the Mortar wail,
for all the traders have perished;
all who weigh out silver are cut off.
12
At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the people
who rest complacently on their dregs,
those who say in their hearts,
“The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do harm.”
13
Their wealth shall be plundered,
and their houses laid waste.
Though they build houses,
they shall not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards,
they shall not drink wine from them.
The Great Day of the Lord
14
The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter,
the warrior cries aloud there.
15
That day will be a day of wrath,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16
a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.
17
I will bring such distress upon people
that they shall walk like the blind;
because they have sinned against the Lord,
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
18
Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the Lord’s wrath;
in the fire of his passion
the whole earth shall be consumed;
for a full, a terrible end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
New Testament in Four Years - Acts 27:1-12
27. Paul Sails For Rome
Paul Sails for Rome
27
When it was decided that we were to sail for Italy, they transferred Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort, named Julius.2Embarking on a ship of Adramyttium that was about to set sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.3The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul kindly, and allowed him to go to his friends to be cared for.4Putting out to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us.5After we had sailed across the sea that is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia.6There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy and put us on board.7We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind was against us, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone.8Sailing past it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.
9 Since much time had been lost and sailing was now dangerous, because even the Fast had already gone by, Paul advised them,10saying, “Sirs, I can see that the voyage will be with danger and much heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”11But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.12Since the harbor was not suitable for spending the winter, the majority was in favor of putting to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, where they could spend the winter. It was a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and northwest.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 146
146. Psalm 146
Psalm 146
Praise for God’s Help
1
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
3
Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
4
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
5
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
6
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
7
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9
The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10
The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!