Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Morning Reading
He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him.—ISA. 59:16.
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire: mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.—I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
There is no God else beside me: a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.—There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
Psa. 40:6-8. -John 10:17,18.Isa. 45:21,22. -Acts 4:12.II Cor. 8:9.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“I have chosen you out of the world.”
John 15:19
Here is distinguishing grace and discriminating regard; for some are made the special objects of divine affection. Do not be afraid to dwell upon this high doctrine of election. When your mind is most heavy and depressed, you will find it to be a bottle of richest cordial. Those who doubt the doctrines of grace, or who cast them into the shade, miss the richest clusters of Eshcol; they lose the wines on the lees well refined, the fat things full of marrow. There is no balm in Gilead comparable to it. If the honey in Jonathan’s wood when but touched enlightened the eyes, this is honey which will enlighten your heart to love and learn the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Eat, and fear not a surfeit; live upon this choice dainty, and fear not that it will be too delicate a diet. Meat from the King’s table will hurt none of his courtiers. Desire to have your mind enlarged, that you may comprehend more and more the eternal, everlasting, discriminating love of God. When you have mounted as high as election, tarry on its sister mount, the covenant of grace. Covenant engagements are the munitions of stupendous rock behind which we lie entrenched; covenant engagements with the surety, Christ Jesus, are the quiet resting-places of trembling spirits.
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“His oath, his covenant, his blood, Support me in the raging flood; When every earthly prop gives way, This still is all my strength and stay.” |
If Jesus undertook to bring me to glory, and if the Father promised that he would give me to the Son to be a part of the infinite reward of the travail of his soul; then, my soul, till God himself shall be unfaithful, till Jesus shall cease to be the truth, thou art safe. When David danced before the ark, he told Michal that election made him do so. Come, my soul, exult before the God of grace and leap for joy of heart.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - 1 Samuel 30
30. David Destroys Amalekites
David Avenges the Destruction of Ziklag
30
Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negeb and on Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag, burned it down,2and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great; they killed none of them, but carried them off, and went their way.3When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.4Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept, until they had no more strength to weep.5David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.6David was in great danger; for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in spirit for their sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
7 David said to the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.8David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue; for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.”9So David set out, he and the six hundred men who were with him. They came to the Wadi Besor, where those stayed who were left behind.10But David went on with the pursuit, he and four hundred men; two hundred stayed behind, too exhausted to cross the Wadi Besor.
11 In the open country they found an Egyptian, and brought him to David. They gave him bread and he ate; they gave him water to drink;12they also gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit revived; for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.13Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. My master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago.14We had made a raid on the Negeb of the Cherethites and on that which belongs to Judah and on the Negeb of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag down.”15David said to him, “Will you take me down to this raiding party?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me, or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.”
16 When he had taken him down, they were spread out all over the ground, eating and drinking and dancing, because of the great amount of spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.17David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not one of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled.18David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives.19Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken; David brought back everything.20David also captured all the flocks and herds, which were driven ahead of the other cattle; people said, “This is David’s spoil.”
21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. When David drew near to the people he saluted them.22Then all the corrupt and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may take his wife and children, and leave.”23But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us; he has preserved us and handed over to us the raiding party that attacked us.24Who would listen to you in this matter? For the share of the one who goes down into the battle shall be the same as the share of the one who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike.”25From that day forward he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel; it continues to the present day.
26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord”;27it was for those in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negeb, in Jattir,28in Aroer, in Siphmoth, in Eshtemoa,29in Racal, in the towns of the Jerahmeelites, in the towns of the Kenites,30in Hormah, in Bor-ashan, in Athach,31in Hebron, all the places where David and his men had roamed.
New Testament in Four Years - Philippians 2:5-8
2. Imitating Christ's Humility
5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,6
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
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.