Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.—REV. 13:8.
Your lamb shall be without blemish, . . . and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it, . . . and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.—The blood of sprinkling.—Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.—Being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.—According to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
Exo. 12:5-7,13. -Heb. 12:24. -I Cor. 5:7. -Acts 2:23. -II Tim. 1:9.Eph. 1:7.I Pet. 4:1,2.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.”
Ephesians 1:11
Our belief in God’s wisdom supposes and necessitates that he has a settled purpose and plan in the work of salvation. What would creation have been without his design? Is there a fish in the sea, or a fowl in the air, which was left to chance for its formation? Nay, in every bone, joint, and muscle, sinew, gland, and blood-vessel, you mark the presence of a God working everything according to the design of infinite wisdom. And shall God be present in creation, ruling over all, and not in grace? Shall the new creation have the fickle genius of free will to preside over it when divine counsel rules the old creation? Look at Providence! Who knoweth not that not a sparrow falleth to the ground without your Father? Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. God weighs the mountains of our grief in scales, and the hills of our tribulation in balances. And shall there be a God in providence and not in grace? Shall the shell be ordained by wisdom and the kernel be left to blind chance? No; he knows the end from the beginning. He sees in its appointed place, not merely the corner-stone which he has laid in fair colours, in the blood of his dear Son, but he beholds in their ordained position each of the chosen stones taken out of the quarry of nature, and polished by his grace; he sees the whole from corner to cornice, from base to roof, from foundation to pinnacle. He hath in his mind a clear knowledge of every stone which shall be laid in its prepared space, and how vast the edifice shall be, and when the top-stone shall be brought forth with shoutings of “Grace! Grace! unto it.” At the last it shall be clearly seen that in every chosen vessel of mercy, Jehovah did as he willed with his own; and that in every part of the work of grace he accomplished his purpose, and glorified his own name.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Isaiah 14
14. Prophecy Against Babylon
Restoration of Judah
14
But the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land; and aliens will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.2And the nations will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess the nations as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land; they will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.
Downfall of the King of Babylon
3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,4you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor has ceased!
How his insolence has ceased!
5
The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
6
that struck down the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
7
The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
they break forth into singing.
8
The cypresses exult over you,
the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Since you were laid low,
no one comes to cut us down.”
9
Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
10
All of them will speak
and say to you:
“You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!”
11
Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
and the sound of your harps;
maggots are the bed beneath you,
and worms are your covering.
12
How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13
You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
on the heights of Zaphon;
14
I will ascend to the tops of the clouds,
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15
But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the depths of the Pit.
16
Those who see you will stare at you,
and ponder over you:
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
17
who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
who would not let his prisoners go home?”
18
All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;
19
but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like loathsome carrion,
clothed with the dead, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the Pit,
like a corpse trampled underfoot.
20
You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have killed your people.
May the descendants of evildoers
nevermore be named!
21
Prepare slaughter for his sons
because of the guilt of their father.
Let them never rise to possess the earth
or cover the face of the world with cities.
22 I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity, says the Lord.23And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of hosts.
An Oracle concerning Assyria
24
The Lord of hosts has sworn:
As I have designed,
so shall it be;
and as I have planned,
so shall it come to pass:
25
I will break the Assyrian in my land,
and on my mountains trample him under foot;
his yoke shall be removed from them,
and his burden from their shoulders.
26
This is the plan that is planned
concerning the whole earth;
and this is the hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.
27
For the Lord of hosts has planned,
and who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?
An Oracle concerning Philistia
28
In the year that King Ahaz died this oracle came:
29
Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken,
for from the root of the snake will come forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.
30
The firstborn of the poor will graze,
and the needy lie down in safety;
but I will make your root die of famine,
and your remnant I will kill.
31
Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in its ranks.
32
What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
“The Lord has founded Zion,
and the needy among his people
will find refuge in her.”
Psalm a Day - Psalm 13
13. Psalm 13
Psalm 13
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
To the leader. A Psalm of David.
1
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4
and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5
But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.