Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
They shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.—NUM. 6:27.
O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.—We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name.
All people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.—The Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people.
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.—Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God?—The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
Isa. 26:13. -Isa. 63:19.Deut. 28:10. -I Sam. 12:22.Dan. 9:19. -Psa. 79:9,10. -Prov. 18:10.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.”
Psalm 33:13
Perhaps no figure of speech represents God in a more gracious light than when he is spoken of as stooping from his throne, and coming down from heaven to attend to the wants and to behold the woes of mankind. We love him, who, when Sodom and Gomorrah were full of iniquity, would not destroy those cities until he had made a personal visitation of them. We cannot help pouring out our heart in affection for our Lord who inclines his ear from the highest glory, and puts it to the lip of the dying sinner, whose failing heart longs after reconciliation. How can we but love him when we know that he numbers the very hairs of our heads, marks our path, and orders our ways? Specially is this great truth brought near to our heart, when we recollect how attentive he is, not merely to the temporal interests of his creatures, but to their spiritual concerns. Though leagues of distance lie between the finite creature and the infinite Creator, yet there are links uniting both. When a tear is wept by thee, think not that God doth not behold; for, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” Thy sigh is able to move the heart of Jehovah; thy whisper can incline his ear unto thee; thy prayer can stay his hand; thy faith can move his arm. Think not that God sits on high taking no account of thee. Remember that however poor and needy thou art, yet the Lord thinketh upon thee. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him.
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Oh! then repeat the truth that never tires; No God is like the God my soul desires; He at whose voice heaven trembles, even he, Great as he is, knows how to stoop to me. |
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Lamentations 3
3. Judah's Complaint
God’s Steadfast Love Endures
3
I am one who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s wrath;
2
he has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light;
3
against me alone he turns his hand,
again and again, all day long.
4
He has made my flesh and my skin waste away,
and broken my bones;
5
he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;
6
he has made me sit in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
7
He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has put heavy chains on me;
8
though I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
9
he has blocked my ways with hewn stones,
he has made my paths crooked.
10
He is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
11
he led me off my way and tore me to pieces;
he has made me desolate;
12
he bent his bow and set me
as a mark for his arrow.
13
He shot into my vitals
the arrows of his quiver;
14
I have become the laughingstock of all my people,
the object of their taunt-songs all day long.
15
He has filled me with bitterness,
he has sated me with wormwood.
16
He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes;
17
my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is;
18
so I say, “Gone is my glory,
and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.”
19
The thought of my affliction and my homelessness
is wormwood and gall!
20
My soul continually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me.
21
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
23
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
25
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
26
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27
It is good for one to bear
the yoke in youth,
28
to sit alone in silence
when the Lord has imposed it,
29
to put one’s mouth to the dust
(there may yet be hope),
30
to give one’s cheek to the smiter,
and be filled with insults.
31
For the Lord will not
reject forever.
32
Although he causes grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33
for he does not willingly afflict
or grieve anyone.
34
When all the prisoners of the land
are crushed under foot,
35
when human rights are perverted
in the presence of the Most High,
36
when one’s case is subverted
—does the Lord not see it?
37
Who can command and have it done,
if the Lord has not ordained it?
38
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
39
Why should any who draw breath complain
about the punishment of their sins?
40
Let us test and examine our ways,
and return to the Lord.
41
Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands
to God in heaven.
42
We have transgressed and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.
43
You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
killing without pity;
44
you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
45
You have made us filth and rubbish
among the peoples.
46
All our enemies
have opened their mouths against us;
47
panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction.
48
My eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of my people.
49
My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,
50
until the Lord from heaven
looks down and sees.
51
My eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the young women in my city.
52
Those who were my enemies without cause
have hunted me like a bird;
53
they flung me alive into a pit
and hurled stones on me;
54
water closed over my head;
I said, “I am lost.”
55
I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;
56
you heard my plea, “Do not close your ear
to my cry for help, but give me relief!”
57
You came near when I called on you;
you said, “Do not fear!”
58
You have taken up my cause, O Lord,
you have redeemed my life.
59
You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
judge my cause.
60
You have seen all their malice,
all their plots against me.
61
You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
62
The whispers and murmurs of my assailants
are against me all day long.
63
Whether they sit or rise—see,
I am the object of their taunt-songs.
64
Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord,
according to the work of their hands!
65
Give them anguish of heart;
your curse be on them!
66
Pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under the Lord’s heavens.
New Testament in Four Years - Acts 2:22-28
2. Pentecost
22 “You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know—23this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law.24But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.25For David says concerning him,
‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
26
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
moreover my flesh will live in hope.
27
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One experience corruption.
28
You have made known to me the ways of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
Psalm a Day - Psalm 66
66. Psalm 66
Psalm 66
Praise for God’s Goodness to Israel
To the leader. A Song. A Psalm.
1
Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
2
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise.
3
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.
4
All the earth worships you;
they sing praises to you,
sing praises to your name.”Selah
5
Come and see what God has done:
he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
6
He turned the sea into dry land;
they passed through the river on foot.
There we rejoiced in him,
7
who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
let the rebellious not exalt themselves.Selah
8
Bless our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard,
9
who has kept us among the living,
and has not let our feet slip.
10
For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
11
You brought us into the net;
you laid burdens on our backs;
12
you let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
13
I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will pay you my vows,
14
those that my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15
I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats.Selah
16
Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for me.
17
I cried aloud to him,
and he was extolled with my tongue.
18
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
19
But truly God has listened;
he has given heed to the words of my prayer.
20
Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me.