Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Evening Reading
Let your requests be made known unto God.—PHIL. 4:6.
Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.—There was given to me a thorn in the flesh. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities.
I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble.—Hannah . . . was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and . . . wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life. The Lord remembered her.
We know not what we should pray for as we ought.—He shall choose our inheritance for us.
Mark 14:36. -II Cor. 12:7-9.Psa. 142:2. –I Sam.1:9-11,20.Rom. 8:26. -Psa. 47:4.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“Who went about doing good.”
Acts 10:38
Few words, but yet an exquisite miniature of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are not many touches, but they are the strokes of a master’s pencil. Of the Saviour and only of the Saviour is it true in the fullest, broadest, and most unqualified sense. “He went about doing good.” From this description it is evident that he did good personally. The evangelists constantly tell us that he touched the leper with his own finger, that he anointed the eyes of the blind, and that in cases where he was asked to speak the word only at a distance, he did not usually comply, but went himself to the sick bed, and there personally wrought the cure. A lesson to us, if we would do good, to do it ourselves. Give alms with your own hand; a kind look, or word, will enhance the value of the gift. Speak to a friend about his soul; your loving appeal will have more influence than a whole library of tracts. Our Lord’s mode of doing good sets forth his incessant activity! He did not only the good which came close to hand, but he “went about” on his errands of mercy. Throughout the whole land of Judea there was scarcely a village or a hamlet which was not gladdened by the sight of him. How this reproves the creeping, loitering manner, in which many professors serve the Lord. Let us gird up the loins of our mind, and be not weary in well doing. Does not the text imply that Jesus Christ went out of his way to do good? “He went about doing good.” He was never deterred by danger or difficulty. He sought out the objects of his gracious intentions. So must we. If old plans will not answer, we must try new ones, for fresh experiments sometimes achieve more than regular methods. Christ’s perseverance, and the unity of his purpose, are also hinted at, and the practical application of the subject may be summed up in the words, “He hath left us an example that we should follow in his steps.”
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Deuteronomy 21
21. Various Laws
Law concerning Murder by Persons Unknown
21
If, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess, a body is found lying in open country, and it is not known who struck the person down,2then your elders and your judges shall come out to measure the distances to the towns that are near the body.3The elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked, one that has not pulled in the yoke;4the elders of that town shall bring the heifer down to a wadi with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the wadi.5Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord, and by their decision all cases of dispute and assault shall be settled.6All the elders of that town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi,7and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to it.8Absolve, O Lord, your people Israel, whom you redeemed; do not let the guilt of innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel.” Then they will be absolved of bloodguilt.9So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, because you must do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
Female Captives
10 When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take them captive,11suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman whom you desire and want to marry,12and so you bring her home to your house: she shall shave her head, pare her nails,13discard her captive’s garb, and shall remain in your house a full month, mourning for her father and mother; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.14But if you are not satisfied with her, you shall let her go free and not sell her for money. You must not treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.
The Right of the Firstborn
15 If a man has two wives, one of them loved and the other disliked, and if both the loved and the disliked have borne him sons, the firstborn being the son of the one who is disliked,16then on the day when he wills his possessions to his sons, he is not permitted to treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the firstborn.17He must acknowledge as firstborn the son of the one who is disliked, giving him a double portion of all that he has; since he is the first issue of his virility, the right of the firstborn is his.
Rebellious Children
18 If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother, who does not heed them when they discipline him,19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place.20They shall say to the elders of his town, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”21Then all the men of the town shall stone him to death. So you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel will hear, and be afraid.
Miscellaneous Laws
22 When someone is convicted of a crime punishable by death and is executed, and you hang him on a tree,23his corpse must not remain all night upon the tree; you shall bury him that same day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you for possession.
New Testament in Four Years - 2 Corinthians 6:14-16
6. Reconciliation
The Temple of the Living God
14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness?15What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever?16What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
“I will live in them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 10
10. Psalm 10
Psalm 10
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
1
Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2
In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—
let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
3
For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,
those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.
4
In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, “God will not seek it out”;
all their thoughts are, “There is no God.”
5
Their ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of their sight;
as for their foes, they scoff at them.
6
They think in their heart, “We shall not be moved;
throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.”
7
Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.
8
They sit in ambush in the villages;
in hiding places they murder the innocent.
Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9
they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert;
they lurk that they may seize the poor;
they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.
10
They stoop, they crouch,
and the helpless fall by their might.
11
They think in their heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”
12
Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
do not forget the oppressed.
13
Why do the wicked renounce God,
and say in their hearts, “You will not call us to account”?
14
But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief,
that you may take it into your hands;
the helpless commit themselves to you;
you have been the helper of the orphan.
15
Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers;
seek out their wickedness until you find none.
16
The Lord is king forever and ever;
the nations shall perish from his land.
17
O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;
you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
18
to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
so that those from earth may strike terror no more.