Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
The Lord is at hand.—PHI. 4:5.
The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.—He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly; Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.—Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
I Thes. 4:16-18. -Rev. 22:20.II Pet. 3:14.I Thes. 5:22-24.Jas. 5:8.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler.”
Psalm 91:3
God delivers his people from the snare of the fowler in two senses. From, and out of. First, he delivers them from the snare—does not let them enter it; and secondly, if they should be caught therein, he delivers them out of it. The first promise is the most precious to some; the second is the best to others.
“He shall deliver thee from the snare.” How? Trouble is often the means whereby God delivers us. God knows that our backsliding will soon end in our destruction, and he in mercy sends the rod. We say, “Lord, why is this?” not knowing that our trouble has been the means of delivering us from far greater evil. Many have been thus saved from ruin by their sorrows and their crosses; these have frightened the birds from the net. At other times, God keeps his people from the snare of the fowler by giving them great spiritual strength, so that when they are tempted to do evil they say, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” But what a blessed thing it is that if the believer shall, in an evil hour, come into the net, yet God will bring him out of it! O backslider, be cast down, but do not despair. Wanderer though thou hast been, hear what thy Redeemer saith—“Return, O backsliding children; I will have mercy upon you.” But you say you cannot return, for you are a captive. Then listen to the promise—“Surely he shall deliver thee out of the snare of the fowler.” Thou shalt yet be brought out of all evil into which thou hast fallen, and though thou shalt never cease to repent of thy ways, yet he that hath loved thee will not cast thee away; he will receive thee, and give thee joy and gladness, that the bones which he has broken may rejoice. No bird of paradise shall die in the fowler’s net.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Zechariah 7
7. Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting
Hypocritical Fasting Condemned
7
In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.2Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men, to entreat the favor of the Lord,3and to ask the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, “Should I mourn and practice abstinence in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”4Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me:5Say to all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?6And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink only for yourselves?7Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, along with the towns around it, and when the Negeb and the Shephelah were inhabited?
Punishment for Rejecting God’s Demands
8 The word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying:9Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another;10do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.11But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears in order not to hear.12They made their hearts adamant in order not to hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.13Just as, when I called, they would not hear, so, when they called, I would not hear, says the Lord of hosts,14and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and a pleasant land was made desolate.
New Testament in Four Years - Romans 1:14-17
1. God's Wrath Against Mankind
14I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish15—hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.The Power of the Gospel
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”
Psalm a Day - Psalm 7
7. Psalm 7
Psalm 7
Plea for Help against Persecutors
A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.
1
O Lord my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,
2
or like a lion they will tear me apart;
they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.
3
O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
4
if I have repaid my ally with harm
or plundered my foe without cause,
5
then let the enemy pursue and overtake me,
trample my life to the ground,
and lay my soul in the dust.Selah
6
Rise up, O Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake, O my God; you have appointed a judgment.
7
Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you,
and over it take your seat on high.
8
The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
9
O let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous,
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God.
10
God is my shield,
who saves the upright in heart.
11
God is a righteous judge,
and a God who has indignation every day.
12
If one does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and strung his bow;
13
he has prepared his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.
14
See how they conceive evil,
and are pregnant with mischief,
and bring forth lies.
15
They make a pit, digging it out,
and fall into the hole that they have made.
16
Their mischief returns upon their own heads,
and on their own heads their violence descends.
17
I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.