Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.—JOHN 7:37.
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.—O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.—The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.—Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.—My blood is drink indeed.
Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.
Psa. 84:2. -Psa. 63:1,2.Isa. 55:1. -Rev. 22:17. -John 4:14. -John 6:55.Song 5:1.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well, the rain also filleth the pools.”
Psalm 84:6
This teaches us that the comfort obtained by a one may often prove serviceable to another; just as wells would be used by the company who came after. We read some book full of consolation, which is like Jonathan’s rod, dropping with honey. Ah! we think our brother has been here before us, and digged this well for us as well as for himself. Many a “Night of Weeping,” “Midnight Harmonies,” an “Eternal Day,” “A Crook in the Lot,” a “Comfort for Mourners,” has been a well digged by a pilgrim for himself, but has proved quite as useful to others. Specially we notice this in the Psalms, such as that beginning, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” Travellers have been delighted to see the footprint of man on a barren shore, and we love to see the waymarks of pilgrims while passing through the vale of tears.
The pilgrims dig the well, but, strange enough, it fills from the top instead of the bottom. We use the means, but the blessing does not spring from the means. We dig a well, but heaven fills it with rain. The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. The means are connected with the end, but they do not of themselves produce it. See here the rain fills the pools, so that the wells become useful as reservoirs for the water; labour is not lost, but yet it does not supersede divine help.
Grace may well be compared to rain for its purity, for its refreshing and vivifying influence, for its coming alone from above, and for the sovereignty with which it is given or withheld. May our readers have showers of blessing, and may the wells they have digged be filled with water! Oh, what are means and ordinances without the smile of heaven! They are as clouds without rain, and pools without water. O God of love, open the windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing!
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Judges 10
10. Tola, Jair, Jephthah
Tola and Jair
10
After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, who lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim, rose to deliver Israel.2He judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died, and was buried at Shamir.
3 After him came Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years.4He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; and they had thirty towns, which are in the land of Gilead, and are called Havvoth-jair to this day.5Jair died, and was buried in Kamon.
Oppression by the Ammonites
6 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, worshiping the Baals and the Astartes, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. Thus they abandoned the Lord, and did not worship him.7So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites,8and they crushed and oppressed the Israelites that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.9The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was greatly distressed.
10 So the Israelites cried to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you, because we have abandoned our God and have worshiped the Baals.”11And the Lord said to the Israelites, “Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines?12The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.13Yet you have abandoned me and worshiped other gods; therefore I will deliver you no more.14Go and cry to the gods whom you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your distress.”15And the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you; but deliver us this day!”16So they put away the foreign gods from among them and worshiped the Lord; and he could no longer bear to see Israel suffer.
17 Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead; and the Israelites came together, and they encamped at Mizpah.18The commanders of the people of Gilead said to one another, “Who will begin the fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
New Testament in Four Years - Galatians 4:28-31
4. Concern for the Galatians
28 Now you, my friends, are children of the promise, like Isaac.29But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.30But what does the scripture say? “Drive out the slave and her child; for the child of the slave will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman.”31So then, friends, we are children, not of the slave but of the free woman.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 51
51. Psalm 51
Psalm 51
Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon
To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
5
Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6
You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14
Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16
For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18
Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19
then you will delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.