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Daily Light's Evening Reading
By strength shall no man prevail.—I SAM. 2:9.
Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone.
There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy.—Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
I Sam. 17:45,49,50.Psa. 33:16,18. -I Chr. 29:12.II Cor. 12:9,10.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“And the Lord shewed me four carpenters.”
Zechariah 1:20
In the vision described in this chapter, the prophet saw four terrible horns. They were pushing this way and that way, dashing down the strongest and the mightiest; and the prophet asked, “What are these?” The answer was, “These are the horns which have scattered Israel.” He saw before him a representation of those powers which had oppressed the church of God. There were four horns; for the church is attacked from all quarters. Well might the prophet have felt dismayed; but on a sudden there appeared before him four carpenters. He asked, “What shall these do?” These are the men whom God hath found to break those horns in pieces. God will always find men for his work, and he will find them at the right time. The prophet did not see the carpenters first, when there was nothing to do, but first the “horns,” and then the “carpenters.” Moreover, the Lord finds enough men. He did not find three carpenters, but four; there were four horns, and there must be four workmen. God finds the right men; not four men with pens to write; not four architects to draw plans; but four carpenters to do rough work. Rest assured, you who tremble for the ark of God, that when the “horns” grow troublesome, the “carpenters” will be found. You need not fret concerning the weakness of the church of God at any moment; there may be growing up in obscurity the valiant reformer who will shake the nations: Chrysostoms may come forth from our Ragged Schools, and Augustines from the thickest darkness of London’s poverty. The Lord knows where to find his servants. He hath in ambush a multitude of mighty men, and at his word they shall start up to the battle; “for the battle is the Lord's,” and he shall get to himself the victory. Let us abide faithful to Christ, and he, in the right time, will raise up for us a defence, whether it be in the day of our personal need, or in the season of peril to his Church.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - 1 Kings 13
13. Man of God from Judah
A Man of God from Judah
13
While Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer incense, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel2and proclaimed against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘A son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’ ”3He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘The altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’ ”4When the king heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” But the hand that he stretched out against him withered so that he could not draw it back to himself.5The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.6The king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated the Lord; and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as it was before.7Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and dine, and I will give you a gift.”8But the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your kingdom, I will not go in with you; nor will I eat food or drink water in this place.9For thus I was commanded by the word of the Lord: You shall not eat food, or drink water, or return by the way that you came.”10So he went another way, and did not return by the way that he had come to Bethel.
11 Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel. One of his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words also that he had spoken to the king, they told to their father.12Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone.13Then he said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey for him, and he mounted it.14He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak tree. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He answered, “I am.”15Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.”16But he said, “I cannot return with you, or go in with you; nor will I eat food or drink water with you in this place;17for it was said to me by the word of the Lord: You shall not eat food or drink water there, or return by the way that you came.”18Then the other said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord: Bring him back with you into your house so that he may eat food and drink water.” But he was deceiving him.19Then the man of God went back with him, and ate food and drank water in his house.
20 As they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back;21and he proclaimed to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord: Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God commanded you,22but have come back and have eaten food and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, ‘Eat no food, and drink no water,’ your body shall not come to your ancestral tomb.”23After the man of God had eaten food and had drunk, they saddled for him a donkey belonging to the prophet who had brought him back.24Then as he went away, a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body.25People passed by and saw the body thrown in the road, with the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the town where the old prophet lived.
26 When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him according to the word that the Lord spoke to him.”27Then he said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled one,28and he went and found the body thrown in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or attacked the donkey.29The prophet took up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to the city, to mourn and to bury him.30He laid the body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”31After he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.32For the saying that he proclaimed by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.”
33 Even after this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people; any who wanted to be priests he consecrated for the high places.34This matter became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.
New Testament in Four Years - 1 Thessalonians 2:1-6
2. Paul's Ministry in Thessalonica
Paul’s Ministry in Thessalonica
2
You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain,2but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition.3For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery,4but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts.5As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed;6nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others,
Psalm a Day - Psalm 118:1-14
118. Psalm 118
Psalm 118
A Song of Victory
1
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures forever!
2
Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
3
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
4
Let those who fear the Lord say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
5
Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
6
With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
What can mortals do to me?
7
The Lord is on my side to help me;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
8
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to put confidence in mortals.
9
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to put confidence in princes.
10
All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
11
They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
12
They surrounded me like bees;
they blazed like a fire of thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
13
I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the Lord helped me.
14
The Lord is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.