Meditate
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Daily Light's Evening Reading
Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.—ISA. 45:11.
A new heart . . . will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.
If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Have faith in God. Verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.”
Psalm 31:4
Our spiritual foes are of the serpent’s brood, and seek to ensnare us by subtlety. The prayer before us supposes the possibility of the believer being caught like a bird. So deftly does the fowler do his work, that simple ones are soon surrounded by the net. The text asks that even out of Satan’s meshes the captive one may be delivered; this is a proper petition, and one which can be granted: from between the jaws of the lion, and out of the belly of hell, can eternal love rescue the saint. It may need a sharp pull to save a soul from the net of temptations, and a mighty pull to extricate a man from the snares of malicious cunning, but the Lord is equal to every emergency, and the most skilfully placed nets of the hunter shall never be able to hold his chosen ones. Woe unto those who are so clever at net laying; they who tempt others shall be destroyed themselves.
“For thou art my strength.” What an inexpressible sweetness is to be found in these few words! How joyfully may we encounter toils, and how cheerfully may we endure sufferings, when we can lay hold upon celestial strength. Divine power will rend asunder all the toils of our enemies, confound their politics, and frustrate their knavish tricks; he is a happy man who has such matchless might engaged upon his side. Our own strength would be of little service when embarrassed in the nets of base cunning, but the Lord’s strength is ever available; we have but to invoke it, and we shall find it near at hand. If by faith we are depending alone upon the strength of the mighty God of Israel, we may use our holy reliance as a plea in supplication.
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“Lord, evermore thy face we seek: Tempted we are, and poor, and weak; Keep us with lowly hearts, and meek. Let us not fall. Let us not fall.” |
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Joshua 9
9. Gibeonite Deception
The Gibeonites Save Themselves by Trickery
9
Now when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country and in the lowland all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—heard of this,2they gathered together with one accord to fight Joshua and Israel.
3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,4they on their part acted with cunning: they went and prepared provisions, and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended,5with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes; and all their provisions were dry and moldy.6They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the Israelites, “We have come from a far country; so now make a treaty with us.”7But the Israelites said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a treaty with you?”8They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you? And where do you come from?”9They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country, because of the name of the Lord your God; for we have heard a report of him, of all that he did in Egypt,10and of all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, King Sihon of Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan who lived in Ashtaroth.11So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey; go to meet them, and say to them, “We are your servants; come now, make a treaty with us.” ’12Here is our bread; it was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey, on the day we set out to come to you, but now, see, it is dry and moldy;13these wineskins were new when we filled them, and see, they are burst; and these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.”14So the leaders partook of their provisions, and did not ask direction from the Lord.15And Joshua made peace with them, guaranteeing their lives by a treaty; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.
16 But when three days had passed after they had made a treaty with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and were living among them.17So the Israelites set out and reached their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.18But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders.19But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we must not touch them.20This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that wrath may not come upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.”21The leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the leaders had decided concerning them.
22 Joshua summoned them, and said to them, “Why did you deceive us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ while in fact you are living among us?23Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall always be slaves, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”24They answered Joshua, “Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you; so we were in great fear for our lives because of you, and did this thing.25And now we are in your hand: do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.”26This is what he did for them: he saved them from the Israelites; and they did not kill them.27But on that day Joshua made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to continue to this day, in the place that he should choose.
New Testament in Four Years - 2 Corinthians 13:1-4
13. Final Warnings
Further Warning
13
This is the third time I am coming to you. “Any charge must be sustained by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”2I warned those who sinned previously and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again, I will not be lenient—3since you desire proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful in you.4For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 29
29. Psalm 29
Psalm 29
The Voice of God in a Great Storm
A Psalm of David.
1
Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2
Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;
worship the Lord in holy splendor.
3
The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over mighty waters.
4
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7
The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9
The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl,
and strips the forest bare;
and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
10
The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
11
May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless his people with peace!