Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.—II COR. 5:19.
It pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself.—Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil.—Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity?
Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.—Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.—Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
Col. 1:19,20. -Psa. 85:10.Jer. 29:11. -Isa. 1:18.Mic. 7:18.Job 22:21. -Phi. 2:12,13. -Isa. 26:12.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“I will meditate in thy precepts.”
Psalm 119:15
There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on his Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. Truth is something like the cluster of the vine: if we would have wine from it, we must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times. The bruiser’s feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else the juice will not flow; and they must well tread the grapes, or else much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So we must, by meditation, tread the clusters of truth, if we would get the wine of consolation therefrom. Our bodies are not supported by merely taking food into the mouth, but the process which really supplies the muscle, and the nerve, and the sinew, and the bone, is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not nourished merely by listening awhile to this, and then to that, and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing, reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies for the most part in meditating upon it. Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God’s Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord, and be this our resolve this morning, “I will meditate in thy precepts.”
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Jeremiah 19
19. At the Potter's House
The Broken Earthenware Jug
19
Thus said the Lord: Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jug. Take with you some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests,2and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.3You shall say: Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.4Because the people have forsaken me, and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent,5and gone on building the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it enter my mind;6therefore the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter.7And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth.8And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters.9And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and all shall eat the flesh of their neighbors in the siege, and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.
10 Then you shall break the jug in the sight of those who go with you,11and shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended. In Topheth they shall bury until there is no more room to bury.12Thus will I do to this place, says the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth.13And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Topheth—all the houses upon whose roofs offerings have been made to the whole host of heaven, and libations have been poured out to other gods.
14 When Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, he stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people:15Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am now bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks, refusing to hear my words.
New Testament in Four Years - Matthew 6:1-4
6. Sermon on the Mount
Concerning Almsgiving
6
“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.3But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,4so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 76
76. Psalm 76
Psalm 76
Israel’s God—Judge of All the Earth
To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.
1
In Judah God is known,
his name is great in Israel.
2
His abode has been established in Salem,
his dwelling place in Zion.
3
There he broke the flashing arrows,
the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.Selah
4
Glorious are you, more majestic
than the everlasting mountains.
5
The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;
they sank into sleep;
none of the troops
was able to lift a hand.
6
At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both rider and horse lay stunned.
7
But you indeed are awesome!
Who can stand before you
when once your anger is roused?
8
From the heavens you uttered judgment;
the earth feared and was still
9
when God rose up to establish judgment,
to save all the oppressed of the earth.Selah
10
Human wrath serves only to praise you,
when you bind the last bit of your wrath around you.
11
Make vows to the Lord your God, and perform them;
let all who are around him bring gifts
to the one who is awesome,
12
who cuts off the spirit of princes,
who inspires fear in the kings of the earth.