Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Evening Reading
The man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.—ZECH. 13:7.
In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.—I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.—I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me.
Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.—Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
The brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.—Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.
Let all the angels of God worship him.
Kings of kings, and Lord of lords.
Col. 2:9. -Psa. 89:19. -Isa. 63:3.I Tim. 3:16. -Isa. 9:6.Heb. 1:3. -Heb. 1:8.Heb. 1:6.Rev. 19:16.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“The dove found no rest for the sole of her foot.”
Genesis 8:9
Reader, can you find rest apart from the ark, Christ Jesus? Then be assured that your religion is vain. Are you satisfied with anything short of a conscious knowledge of your union and interest in Christ? Then woe unto you. If you profess to be a Christian, yet find full satisfaction in worldly pleasures and pursuits, your profession is false. If your soul can stretch herself at rest, and find the bed long enough, and the coverlet broad enough to cover her in the chambers of sin, then you are a hypocrite, and far enough from any right thoughts of Christ or perception of his preciousness. But if, on the other hand, you feel that if you could indulge in sin without punishment, yet it would be a punishment of itself; and that if you could have the whole world, and abide in it forever, it would be quite enough misery not to be parted from it; for your God—your God—is what your soul craves after; then be of good courage, thou art a child of God. With all thy sins and imperfections, take this to thy comfort: if thy soul has no rest in sin, thou are not as the sinner is! If thou art still crying after and craving after something better, Christ has not forgotten thee, for thou hast not quite forgotten him. The believer cannot do without his Lord; words are inadequate to express his thoughts of him. We cannot live on the sands of the wilderness, we want the manna which drops from on high; our skin bottles of creature confidence cannot yield us a drop of moisture, but we drink of the rock which follows us, and that rock is Christ. When you feed on him your soul can sing, “He hath satisfied my mouth with good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagle's,” but if you have him not, your bursting wine vat and well-filled barn can give you no sort of satisfaction: rather lament over them in the words of wisdom, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Numbers 24
24. Balaam's Oracles
Balaam’s Third Oracle
24
Now Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, so he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness.2Balaam looked up and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. Then the spirit of God came upon him,3and he uttered his oracle, saying:
“The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is clear,
4
the oracle of one who hears the words of God,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
who falls down, but with eyes uncovered:
5
how fair are your tents, O Jacob,
your encampments, O Israel!
6
Like palm groves that stretch far away,
like gardens beside a river,
like aloes that the Lord has planted,
like cedar trees beside the waters.
7
Water shall flow from his buckets,
and his seed shall have abundant water,
his king shall be higher than Agag,
and his kingdom shall be exalted.
8
God who brings him out of Egypt,
is like the horns of a wild ox for him;
he shall devour the nations that are his foes
and break their bones.
He shall strike with his arrows.
9
He crouched, he lay down like a lion,
and like a lioness; who will rouse him up?
Blessed is everyone who blesses you,
and cursed is everyone who curses you.”
10 Then Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. Balak said to Balaam, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but instead you have blessed them these three times.11Now be off with you! Go home! I said, ‘I will reward you richly,’ but the Lord has denied you any reward.”12And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me,13‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will; what the Lord says, that is what I will say’?14So now, I am going to my people; let me advise you what this people will do to your people in days to come.”
Balaam’s Fourth Oracle
15 So he uttered his oracle, saying:
“The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is clear,
16
the oracle of one who hears the words of God,
and knows the knowledge of the Most High,
who sees the vision of the Almighty,
who falls down, but with his eyes uncovered:
17
I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near—
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the borderlands of Moab,
and the territory of all the Shethites.
18
Edom will become a possession,
Seir a possession of its enemies,
while Israel does valiantly.
19
One out of Jacob shall rule,
and destroy the survivors of Ir.”
20 Then he looked on Amalek, and uttered his oracle, saying:
“First among the nations was Amalek,
but its end is to perish forever.”
21 Then he looked on the Kenite, and uttered his oracle, saying:
“Enduring is your dwelling place,
and your nest is set in the rock;
22
yet Kain is destined for burning.
How long shall Asshur take you away captive?”
23 Again he uttered his oracle, saying:
“Alas, who shall live when God does this?
24
But ships shall come from Kittim
and shall afflict Asshur and Eber;
and he also shall perish forever.”
25 Then Balaam got up and went back to his place, and Balak also went his way.
New Testament in Four Years - 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
15. Resurrection of Christ and the Dead
The Resurrection of Christ
15
Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,2through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.
3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.9For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.11Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 127
127. Psalm 127
Psalm 127
God’s Blessings in the Home
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
1
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain.
2
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives sleep to his beloved.
3
Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
4
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the sons of one’s youth.
5
Happy is the man who has
his quiver full of them.
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.