Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
Now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.—I PET. 1:6.
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.—The exhortation . . . speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.—Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.—For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.—God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.
I Pet. 4:12,13. -Heb. 12:5. -Heb. 12:11.Heb. 4:15. -Heb. 2:18. -I Cor. 10:13.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“For my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9
A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’s work well and triumphantly, is a sense of our own weakness. When God’s warrior marches forth to battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, “I know that I shall conquer, my own right arm and my conquering sword shall get unto me the victory,” defeat is not far distant. God will not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. He who reckoneth on victory thus has reckoned wrongly, for “it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” They who go forth to fight, boasting of their prowess, shall return with their gay banners trailed in the dust, and their armour stained with disgrace. Those who serve God must serve him in his own way, and in his strength, or he will never accept their service. That which man doth, unaided by divine strength, God can never own. The mere fruits of the earth he casteth away; he will only reap that corn, the seed of which was sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of divine love. God will empty out all that thou hast before he will put his own into thee; he will first clean out thy granaries before he will fill them with the finest of the wheat. The river of God is full of water; but not one drop of it flows from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in his battles but the strength which he himself imparts. Are you mourning over your own weakness? Take courage, for there must be a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give thee victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting up.
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“When I am weak then am I strong, Grace is my shield and Christ my song.” |
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Jeremiah 42
42. Flight to Egypt
Jeremiah Advises Survivors Not to Migrate
42
Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan son of Kareah and Azariah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, approached2the prophet Jeremiah and said, “Be good enough to listen to our plea, and pray to the Lord your God for us—for all this remnant. For there are only a few of us left out of many, as your eyes can see.3Let the Lord your God show us where we should go and what we should do.”4The prophet Jeremiah said to them, “Very well: I am going to pray to the Lord your God as you request, and whatever the Lord answers you I will tell you; I will keep nothing back from you.”5They in their turn said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to everything that the Lord your God sends us through you.6Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, in order that it may go well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
7 At the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.8Then he summoned Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest,9and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before him:10If you will only remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I am sorry for the disaster that I have brought upon you.11Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, as you have been; do not be afraid of him, says the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and to rescue you from his hand.12I will grant you mercy, and he will have mercy on you and restore you to your native soil.13But if you continue to say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ thus disobeying the voice of the Lord your God14and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war, or hear the sound of the trumpet, or be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,’15then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you are determined to enter Egypt and go to settle there,16then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there, in the land of Egypt; and the famine that you dread shall follow close after you into Egypt; and there you shall die.17All the people who have determined to go to Egypt to settle there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; they shall have no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I am bringing upon them.
18 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Just as my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an object of execration and horror, of cursing and ridicule. You shall see this place no more.19The Lord has said to you, O remnant of Judah, Do not go to Egypt. Be well aware that I have warned you today20that you have made a fatal mistake. For you yourselves sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and whatever the Lord our God says, tell us and we will do it.’21So I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything that he sent me to tell you.22Be well aware, then, that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go and settle.”
New Testament in Four Years - Matthew 9:1-8
9. Jesus as Healer
1And after getting into a boat he crossed the sea and came to his own town.
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
2 And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”3Then some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.”4But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?5For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’?6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.”7And he stood up and went to his home.8When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 94
94. Psalm 94
Psalm 94
God the Avenger of the Righteous
1
O Lord, you God of vengeance,
you God of vengeance, shine forth!
2
Rise up, O judge of the earth;
give to the proud what they deserve!
3
O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked exult?
4
They pour out their arrogant words;
all the evildoers boast.
5
They crush your people, O Lord,
and afflict your heritage.
6
They kill the widow and the stranger,
they murder the orphan,
7
and they say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
8
Understand, O dullest of the people;
fools, when will you be wise?
9
He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10
He who disciplines the nations,
he who teaches knowledge to humankind,
does he not chastise?
11
The Lord knows our thoughts,
that they are but an empty breath.
12
Happy are those whom you discipline, O Lord,
and whom you teach out of your law,
13
giving them respite from days of trouble,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14
For the Lord will not forsake his people;
he will not abandon his heritage;
15
for justice will return to the righteous,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16
Who rises up for me against the wicked?
Who stands up for me against evildoers?
17
If the Lord had not been my help,
my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
18
When I thought, “My foot is slipping,”
your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
19
When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul.
20
Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
those who contrive mischief by statute?
21
They band together against the life of the righteous,
and condemn the innocent to death.
22
But the Lord has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.
23
He will repay them for their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the Lord our God will wipe them out.