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Daily Light's Morning Reading
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.—LAM. 3:26.
Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?—I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.
Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.—Wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee.—Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord.
Let us not be weary in well doing: . . . in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.—Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
Psa. 77:9. –Psa.31:22.Luke 18:7,8. -Prov. 20:22. -Psa. 37:7.II Chr. 20:17.Gal. 6:9. -Jas. 5:7.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“I will praise thee, O Lord.”
Psalm 9:1
Praise should always follow answered prayer; as the mist of earth’s gratitude rises when the sun of heaven’s love warms the ground. Hath the Lord been gracious to thee, and inclined his ear to the voice of thy supplication? Then praise him as long as thou livest. Let the ripe fruit drop upon the fertile soil from which it drew its life. Deny not a song to him who hath answered thy prayer and given thee the desire of thy heart. To be silent over God’s mercies is to incur the guilt of ingratitude; it is to act as basely as the nine lepers, who after they had been cured of their leprosy, returned not to give thanks unto the healing Lord. To forget to praise God is to refuse to benefit ourselves; for praise, like prayer, is one great means of promoting the growth of the spiritual life. It helps to remove our burdens, to excite our hope, to increase our faith. It is a healthful and invigorating exercise which quickens the pulse of the believer, and nerves him for fresh enterprises in his Master’s service. To bless God for mercies received is also the way to benefit our fellow-men; “the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.” Others who have been in like circumstances shall take comfort if we can say, “Oh! magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together; this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him.” Weak hearts will be strengthened, and drooping saints will be revived as they listen to our “songs of deliverance.” Their doubts and fears will be rebuked, as we teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. They too shall “sing in the ways of the Lord,” when they hear us magnify his holy name. Praise is the most heavenly of Christian duties. The angels pray not, but they cease not to praise both day and night; and the redeemed, clothed in white robes, with palm-branches in their hands, are never weary of singing the new song, “Worthy is the Lamb.”
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Jeremiah 37
37. Jeremiah in Prison
Zedekiah’s Vain Hope
37
Zedekiah son of Josiah, whom King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, succeeded Coniah son of Jehoiakim.2But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.
3 King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah saying, “Please pray for us to the Lord our God.”4Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison.5Meanwhile, the army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah:7Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: This is what the two of you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: Pharaoh’s army, which set out to help you, is going to return to its own land, to Egypt.8And the Chaldeans shall return and fight against this city; they shall take it and burn it with fire.9Thus says the Lord: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away.10Even if you defeated the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men in their tents, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.
Jeremiah Is Imprisoned
11 Now when the Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh’s army,12Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive his share of property among the people there.13When he reached the Benjamin Gate, a sentinel there named Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah arrested the prophet Jeremiah saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans.”14And Jeremiah said, “That is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah would not listen to him, and arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.15The officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him and imprisoned him in the house of the secretary Jonathan, for it had been made a prison.16Thus Jeremiah was put in the cistern house, in the cells, and remained there many days.
17 Then King Zedekiah sent for him, and received him. The king questioned him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah said, “There is!” Then he said, “You shall be handed over to the king of Babylon.”18Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you or your servants or this people, that you have put me in prison?19Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land’?20Now please hear me, my lord king: be good enough to listen to my plea, and do not send me back to the house of the secretary Jonathan to die there.”21So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard; and a loaf of bread was given him daily from the bakers’ street, until all the bread of the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
New Testament in Four Years - Matthew 8:5-13
8. Jesus as Healer
Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant
5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him6and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.”7And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.”8The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed.9For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”10When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.11I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,12while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”13And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.” And the servant was healed in that hour.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 89:30-52
89. Psalm 89
30
If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my ordinances,
31
if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
32
then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with scourges;
33
but I will not remove from him my steadfast love,
or be false to my faithfulness.
34
I will not violate my covenant,
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
35
Once and for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
36
His line shall continue forever,
and his throne endure before me like the sun.
37
It shall be established forever like the moon,
an enduring witness in the skies.”Selah
38
But now you have spurned and rejected him;
you are full of wrath against your anointed.
39
You have renounced the covenant with your servant;
you have defiled his crown in the dust.
40
You have broken through all his walls;
you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
41
All who pass by plunder him;
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
42
You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43
Moreover, you have turned back the edge of his sword,
and you have not supported him in battle.
44
You have removed the scepter from his hand,
and hurled his throne to the ground.
45
You have cut short the days of his youth;
you have covered him with shame.Selah
46
How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
47
Remember how short my time is—
for what vanity you have created all mortals!
48
Who can live and never see death?
Who can escape the power of Sheol?Selah
49
Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,
which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
50
Remember, O Lord, how your servant is taunted;
how I bear in my bosom the insults of the peoples,
51
with which your enemies taunt, O Lord,
with which they taunted the footsteps of your anointed.
52
Blessed be the Lord forever.
Amen and Amen.