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Daily Light's Evening Reading
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.—PSA. 30:5.
No man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation.—In me ye . . . have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.—The night is far spent, the day is at hand.—He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces.—There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.—We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
I Thes. 3:3,4. -John 16:33.Psa. 17:15. -Rom. 13:12. -II Sam. 23:4.Isa. 25:8. -Rev. 21:4. -I Thes. 4:17,18.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?”
Job 7:12
This was a strange question for Job to ask of the Lord. He felt himself to be too insignificant to be so strictly watched and chastened, and he hoped that he was not so unruly as to need to be so restrained. The enquiry was natural from one surrounded with such insupportable miseries, but after all, it is capable of a very humbling answer. It is true man is not the sea, but he is even more troublesome and unruly. The sea obediently respects its boundary, and though it be but a belt of sand, it does not overleap the limit. Mighty as it is, it hears the divine hitherto, and when most raging with tempest it respects the word; but self-willed man defies heaven and oppresses earth, neither is there any end to this rebellious rage. The sea, obedient to the moon, ebbs and flows with ceaseless regularity, and thus renders an active as well as a passive obedience; but man, restless beyond his sphere, sleeps within the lines of duty, indolent where he should be active. He will neither come nor go at the divine command, but sullenly prefers to do what he should not, and to leave undone that which is required of him. Every drop in the ocean, every beaded bubble, and every yeasty foam-flake, every shell and pebble, feel the power of law, and yield or move at once. O that our nature were but one thousandth part as much conformed to the will of God! We call the sea fickle and false, but how constant it is! Since our fathers’ days, and the old time before them, the sea is where it was, beating on the same cliffs to the same tune; we know where to find it, it forsakes not its bed, and changes not in its ceaseless boom; but where is man-vain, fickle man? Can the wise man guess by what folly he will next be seduced from his obedience? We need more watching than the billowy sea, and are far more rebellious. Lord, rule us for thine own glory. Amen.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Judges 13
13. Birth of Samson
The Birth of Samson
13
The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children.3And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are barren, having borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son.4Now be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, or to eat anything unclean,5for you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor is to come on his head, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth. It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”6Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like that of an angel of God, most awe-inspiring; I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name;7but he said to me, ‘You shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.’ ”
8 Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, “O Lord, I pray, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we are to do concerning the boy who will be born.”9God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.10So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.”11Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.”12Then Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the boy’s rule of life; what is he to do?”13The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Let the woman give heed to all that I said to her.14She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine. She is not to drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. She is to observe everything that I commanded her.”
15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Allow us to detain you, and prepare a kid for you.”16The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat your food; but if you want to prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.)17Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?”18But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful.”
19 So Manoah took the kid with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to him who works wonders.20When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.21The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.22And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”23But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”
24 The woman bore a son, and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him.25The spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
New Testament in Four Years - Galatians 5:13-15
5. Freedom in Christ
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.14For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”15If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 54
54. Psalm 54
Psalm 54
Prayer for Vindication
To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “David is in hiding among us.”
1
Save me, O God, by your name,
and vindicate me by your might.
2
Hear my prayer, O God;
give ear to the words of my mouth.
3
For the insolent have risen against me,
the ruthless seek my life;
they do not set God before them.Selah
4
But surely, God is my helper;
the Lord is the upholder of my life.
5
He will repay my enemies for their evil.
In your faithfulness, put an end to them.
6
With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7
For he has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.