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Daily Light's Evening Reading
There is a hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.—JOB 14:7.
A bruised reed shall he not break.—He restoreth my soul.
Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.—No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceful fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.—After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this.
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
Isa. 42:3. -Psa. 23:3.II Cor. 7:10. -Heb. 12:11.Psa. 119:67. -Ezra 9:13.Mic. 7:8,9.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“The power of his resurrection.”
Philippians 3:10
The doctrine of a risen Saviour is exceedingly precious. The resurrection is the corner-stone of the entire building of Christianity. It is the key-stone of the arch of our salvation. It would take a volume to set forth all the streams of living water which flow from this one sacred source, the resurrection of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; but to know that he has risen, and to have fellowship with him as such—communing with the risen Saviour by possessing a risen life—seeing him leave the tomb by leaving the tomb of worldliness ourselves, this is even still more precious. The doctrine is the basis of the experience, but as the flower is more lovely than the root, so is the experience of fellowship with the risen Saviour more lovely than the doctrine itself. I would have you believe that Christ rose from the dead so as to sing of it, and derive all the consolation which it is possible for you to extract from this well-ascertained and well-witnessed fact; but I beseech you, rest not contented even there. Though you cannot, like the disciples, see him visibly, yet I bid you aspire to see Christ Jesus by the eye of faith; and though, like Mary Magdalene, you may not “touch” him, yet may you be privileged to converse with him, and to know that he is risen, you yourselves being risen in him to newness of life. To know a crucified Saviour as having crucified all my sins, is a high degree of knowledge; but to know a risen Saviour as having justified me, and to realize that he has bestowed upon me new life, having given me to be a new creature through his own newness of life, this is a noble style of experience: short of it, none ought to rest satisfied. May you both “know him, and the power of his resurrection.” Why should souls who are quickened with Jesus, wear the grave-clothes of worldliness and unbelief? Rise, for the Lord is risen.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - 2 Samuel 24
24. David Counts Fighting Men
David’s Census of Israel and Judah
24
Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.”2So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army, who were with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and take a census of the people, so that I may know how many there are.”3But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God increase the number of the people a hundredfold, while the eyes of my lord the king can still see it! But why does my lord the king want to do this?”4But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to take a census of the people of Israel.5They crossed the Jordan, and began from Aroer and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer.6Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they went around to Sidon,7and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beer-sheba.8So when they had gone through all the land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.9Joab reported to the king the number of those who had been recorded: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand soldiers able to draw the sword, and those of Judah were five hundred thousand.
Judgment on David’s Sin
10 But afterward, David was stricken to the heart because he had numbered the people. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray you, take away the guilt of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.”11When David rose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,12“Go and say to David: Thus says the Lord: Three things I offer you; choose one of them, and I will do it to you.”13So Gad came to David and told him; he asked him, “Shall three years of famine come to you on your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to the one who sent me.”14Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into human hands.”
15 So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from that morning until the appointed time; and seventy thousand of the people died, from Dan to Beer-sheba.16But when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented concerning the evil, and said to the angel who was bringing destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.17When David saw the angel who was destroying the people, he said to the Lord, “I alone have sinned, and I alone have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”
David’s Altar on the Threshing Floor
18 That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”19Following Gad’s instructions, David went up, as the Lord had commanded.20When Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming toward him; and Araunah went out and prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground.21Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord, so that the plague may be averted from the people.”22Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him; here are the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.23All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God respond favorably to you.”
24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy them from you for a price; I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.25David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being. So the Lord answered his supplication for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.
New Testament in Four Years - Colossians 2:16-19
2. Freedom Through Life in Christ
16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths.17These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.18Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 107:10-32
107. Psalm 107
10
Some sat in darkness and in gloom,
prisoners in misery and in irons,
11
for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
12
Their hearts were bowed down with hard labor;
they fell down, with no one to help.
13
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress;
14
he brought them out of darkness and gloom,
and broke their bonds asunder.
15
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
16
For he shatters the doors of bronze,
and cuts in two the bars of iron.
17
Some were sick through their sinful ways,
and because of their iniquities endured affliction;
18
they loathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.
19
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress;
20
he sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from destruction.
21
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
22
And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.
23
Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the mighty waters;
24
they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
25
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
26
They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their calamity;
27
they reeled and staggered like drunkards,
and were at their wits’ end.
28
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out from their distress;
29
he made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
30
Then they were glad because they had quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
31
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
32
Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.