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Daily Light's Evening Reading
Thou wilt shew me the path of life.—PSA. 16:11.
Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.—I will teach you the good and the right way.— I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.—Follow me.
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.—Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.—Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Jer. 21:8. -I Sam. 12:23. -John 14:6. -Matt. 14:19.Prov. 4:12. -Matt. 7:13,14.Isa. 35:8. -Hos. 6:3.John 14:2.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“In their affliction they will seek me early.”
Hosea 5:15
Losses and adversities are frequently the means which the great Shepherd uses to fetch home his wandering sheep; like fierce dogs they worry the wanderers back to the fold. There is no making lions tame if they are too well fed; they must be brought down from their great strength, and their stomachs must be lowered, and then they will submit to the tamer’s hand; and often have we seen the Christian rendered obedient to the Lord’s will by straitness of bread and hard labour. When rich and increased in goods many professors carry their heads much too loftily, and speak exceeding boastfully. Like David, they flatter themselves, “My mountain standeth fast; I shall never be moved.” When the Christian groweth wealthy, is in good repute, hath good health, and a happy family, he too often admits Mr. Carnal Security to feast at his table, and then if he be a true child of God there is a rod preparing for him. Wait awhile, and it may be you will see his substance melt away as a dream. There goes a portion of his estate—how soon the acres change hands. That debt, that dishonoured bill—how fast his losses roll in, where will they end? It is a blessed sign of divine life if when these embarrassments occur one after another he begins to be distressed about his backslidings, and betakes himself to his God. Blessed are the waves that wash the mariner upon the rock of salvation! Losses in business are often sanctified to our soul’s enriching. If the chosen soul will not come to the Lord full-handed, it shall come empty. If God, in his grace, findeth no other means of making us honour him among men, he will cast us into the deep; if we fail to honour him on the pinnacle of riches, he will bring us into the valley of poverty. Yet faint not, heir of sorrow, when thou art thus rebuked, rather recognize the loving hand which chastens, and say, “I will arise, and go unto my Father.”
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Deuteronomy 18
18. Offerings for Priests
Privileges of Priests and Levites
18
The levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no allotment or inheritance within Israel. They may eat the sacrifices that are the Lord’s portion2but they shall have no inheritance among the other members of the community; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them.
3 This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two jowls, and the stomach.4The first fruits of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.5For the Lord your God has chosen Levi out of all your tribes, to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.
6 If a Levite leaves any of your towns, from wherever he has been residing in Israel, and comes to the place that the Lord will choose (and he may come whenever he wishes),7then he may minister in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow-Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord.8They shall have equal portions to eat, even though they have income from the sale of family possessions.
Child-Sacrifice, Divination, and Magic Prohibited
9 When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations.10No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer,11or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead.12For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you.13You must remain completely loyal to the Lord your God.14Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the Lord your God does not permit you to do so.
A New Prophet Like Moses
15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.16This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: “If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.”17Then the Lord replied to me: “They are right in what they have said.18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command.19Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable.20But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.”21You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?”22If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.
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.