Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Evening Reading
He feedeth among the lilies.—SONG 2:16.
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.—If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.—I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey.—The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.—Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.—Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Matt. 18:20. -John 14:23.John 15:10.Song 4:16. -Song 5:1.Gal. 5:22,23.John 15:8. -John 15:2. -Phi. 1:11.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“Man ... is of few days, and full of trouble.”
Job 14:1
It may be of great service to us, before we fall asleep, to remember this mournful fact, for it may lead us to set loose by earthly things. There is nothing very pleasant in the recollection that we are not above the shafts of adversity, but it may humble us and prevent our boasting like the Psalmist in our morning’s portion. “My mountain standeth firm: I shall never be moved.” It may stay us from taking too deep root in this soil from which we are so soon to be transplanted into the heavenly garden. Let us recollect the frail tenure upon which we hold our temporal mercies. If we would remember that all the trees of earth are marked for the woodman’s axe, we should not be so ready to build our nests in them. We should love, but we should love with the love which expects death, and which reckons upon separations. Our dear relations are but loaned to us, and the hour when we must return them to the lender’s hand may be even at the door. The like is certainly true of our worldly goods. Do not riches take to themselves wings and fly away? Our health is equally precarious. Frail flowers of the field, we must not reckon upon blooming forever. There is a time appointed for weakness and sickness, when we shall have to glorify God by suffering, and not by earnest activity. There is no single point in which we can hope to escape from the sharp arrows of affliction; out of our few days there is not one secure from sorrow. Man’s life is a cask full of bitter wine; he who looks for joy in it had better seek for honey in an ocean of brine. Beloved reader, set not your affections upon things of earth: but seek those things which are above, for here the moth devoureth, and the thief breaketh through, but there all joys are perpetual and eternal. The path of trouble is the way home. Lord, make this thought a pillow for many a weary head!
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Genesis 35
35. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac
Jacob Returns to Bethel
35
God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”2So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your clothes;3then come, let us go up to Bethel, that I may make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”4So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak that was near Shechem.
5 As they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities all around them, so that no one pursued them.6Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him,7and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.8And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So it was called Allon-bacuth.
9 God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him.10God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall you be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he was called Israel.11God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you.12The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”13Then God went up from him at the place where he had spoken with him.14Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it.15So Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
The Birth of Benjamin and the Death of Rachel
16 Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth, and she had hard labor.17When she was in her hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid; for now you will have another son.”18As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.19So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem),20and Jacob set up a pillar at her grave; it is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day.21Israel journeyed on, and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard of it.
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.23The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.24The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.25The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali.26The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
The Death of Isaac
27 Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had resided as aliens.28Now the days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years.29And Isaac breathed his last; he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
New Testament in Four Years - Romans 8:28-30
8. Life Through the Spirit
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.30And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 47
47. Psalm 47
Psalm 47
God’s Rule over the Nations
To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.
1
Clap your hands, all you peoples;
shout to God with loud songs of joy.
2
For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome,
a great king over all the earth.
3
He subdued peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
4
He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves.Selah
5
God has gone up with a shout,
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7
For God is the king of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm.
8
God is king over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
9
The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted.