Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
God is my defence.—PSA. 59:9.
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour.—The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.—We may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.—Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
For thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.
II Sam. 22:2,3. -Psa. 28:7.Isa. 59:19. -Heb. 13:6.Psa. 27:1.Psa. 125:2. -Psa. 63:7.Psa. 31:3.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“But who may abide the day of his coming?”
Malachi 3:2
His first coming was without external pomp or show of power, and yet in truth there were few who could abide its testing might. Herod and all Jerusalem with him were stirred at the news of the wondrous birth. Those who supposed themselves to be waiting for him, showed the fallacy of their professions by rejecting him when he came. His life on earth was a winnowing fan, which tried the great heap of religious profession, and few enough could abide the process. But what will his second advent be? What sinner can endure to think of it? “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” When in his humiliation he did but say to the soldiers, “I am he,” they fell backward; what will be the terror of his enemies when he shall more fully reveal himself as the “I am?” His death shook earth and darkened heaven, what shall be the dreadful splendour of that day in which as the living Saviour, he shall summon the quick and dead before him? O that the terrors of the Lord would persuade men to forsake their sins and kiss the Son lest he be angry! Though a lamb, he is yet the lion of the tribe of Judah, rending the prey in pieces; and though he breaks not the bruised reed, yet will he break his enemies with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. None of his foes shall bear up before the tempest of his wrath, or hide themselves from the sweeping hail of his indignation; but his beloved blood washed people look for his appearing with joy, and hope to abide it without fear: to them he sits as a refiner even now, and when he has tried them they shall come forth as gold. Let us search ourselves this morning and make our calling and election sure, so that the coming of the Lord may cause no dark forebodings in our mind. O for grace to cast away all hypocrisy, and to be found of him sincere and without rebuke in the day of his appearing.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Jeremiah 22
22. Judgment Against Evil Kings
Exhortation to Repent
22
Thus says the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,2and say: Hear the word of the Lord, O King of Judah sitting on the throne of David—you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates.3Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place.4For if you will indeed obey this word, then through the gates of this house shall enter kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their servants, and their people.5But if you will not heed these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.6For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:
You are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of Lebanon;
but I swear that I will make you a desert,
an uninhabited city.
7
I will prepare destroyers against you,
all with their weapons;
they shall cut down your choicest cedars
and cast them into the fire.
8 And many nations will pass by this city, and all of them will say one to another, “Why has the Lord dealt in this way with that great city?”9And they will answer, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.”
10
Do not weep for him who is dead,
nor bemoan him;
weep rather for him who goes away,
for he shall return no more
to see his native land.
Message to the Sons of Josiah
11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum son of King Josiah of Judah, who succeeded his father Josiah, and who went away from this place: He shall return here no more,12but in the place where they have carried him captive he shall die, and he shall never see this land again.
13
Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
and his upper rooms by injustice;
who makes his neighbors work for nothing,
and does not give them their wages;
14
who says, “I will build myself a spacious house
with large upper rooms,”
and who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar,
and painting it with vermilion.
15
Are you a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
16
He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
says the Lord.
17
But your eyes and heart
are only on your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.
18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:
They shall not lament for him, saying,
“Alas, my brother!” or “Alas, sister!”
They shall not lament for him, saying,
“Alas, lord!” or “Alas, his majesty!”
19
With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried—
dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20
Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from Abarim,
for all your lovers are crushed.
21
I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, “I will not listen.”
This has been your way from your youth,
for you have not obeyed my voice.
22
The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
and your lovers shall go into captivity;
then you will be ashamed and dismayed
because of all your wickedness.
23
O inhabitant of Lebanon,
nested among the cedars,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you,
pain as of a woman in labor!
Judgment on Coniah (Jehoiachin)
24 As I live, says the Lord, even if King Coniah son of Jehoiakim of Judah were the signet ring on my right hand, even from there I would tear you off25and give you into the hands of those who seek your life, into the hands of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hands of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and into the hands of the Chaldeans.26I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die.27But they shall not return to the land to which they long to return.
28
Is this man Coniah a despised broken pot,
a vessel no one wants?
Why are he and his offspring hurled out
and cast away in a land that they do not know?
29
O land, land, land,
hear the word of the Lord!
30
Thus says the Lord:
Record this man as childless,
a man who shall not succeed in his days;
for none of his offspring shall succeed
in sitting on the throne of David,
and ruling again in Judah.
New Testament in Four Years - Matthew 6:10
6. Sermon on the Mount
10
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 78:17-39
78. Psalm 78
17
Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18
They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19
They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20
Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out
and torrents overflowed,
can he also give bread,
or provide meat for his people?”
21
Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of rage;
a fire was kindled against Jacob,
his anger mounted against Israel,
22
because they had no faith in God,
and did not trust his saving power.
23
Yet he commanded the skies above,
and opened the doors of heaven;
24
he rained down on them manna to eat,
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25
Mortals ate of the bread of angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27
he rained flesh upon them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28
he let them fall within their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29
And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
30
But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31
the anger of God rose against them
and he killed the strongest of them,
and laid low the flower of Israel.
32
In spite of all this they still sinned;
they did not believe in his wonders.
33
So he made their days vanish like a breath,
and their years in terror.
34
When he killed them, they sought for him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35
They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their redeemer.
36
But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
37
Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not true to his covenant.
38
Yet he, being compassionate,
forgave their iniquity,
and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39
He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and does not come again.