Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Evening Reading
Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not.—JER. 45:5.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.—Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.—Christ . . . suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.
Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Matt. 11:29. -Phi. 2:5-8.Matt. 10:38. -I Pet. 2:21.I Tim. 6:6-8.Phi. 4:11.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“Lift them up forever.”
Psalm 28:9
God’s people need lifting up. They are very heavy by nature. They have no wings, or, if they have, they are like the dove of old which lay among the pots; and they need divine grace to make them mount on wings covered with silver, and with feathers of yellow gold. By nature sparks fly upward, but the sinful souls of men fall downward. O Lord, “lift them up forever!” David himself said, “Unto thee, O God, do I lift up my soul,” and he here feels the necessity that other men’s souls should be lifted up as well as his own. When you ask this blessing for yourself, forget not to seek it for others also. There are three ways in which God’s people require to be lifted up. They require to be elevated in character. Lift them up, O Lord; do not suffer thy people to be like the world’s people! The world lieth in the wicked one; lift them out of it! The world’s people are looking after silver and gold, seeking their own pleasures, and the gratification of their lusts; but, Lord, lift thy people up above all this; keep them from being “muck-rakers,” as John Bunyan calls the man who was always scraping after gold! Set thou their hearts upon their risen Lord and the heavenly heritage! Moreover, believers need to be prospered in conflict. In the battle, if they seem to fall, O Lord, be pleased to give them the victory. If the foot of the foe be upon their necks for a moment, help them to grasp the sword of the Spirit, and eventually to win the battle. Lord, lift up thy children’s spirits in the day of conflict; let them not sit in the dust, mourning forever. Suffer not the adversary to vex them sore, and make them fret; but if they have been, like Hannah, persecuted, let them sing of the mercy of a delivering God.
We may also ask our Lord to lift them up at the last! Lift them up by taking them home, lift their bodies from the tomb, and raise their souls to thine eternal kingdom in glory.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Isaiah 5
5. Song of the Vineyard
The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard
5
Let me sing for my beloved
my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3
And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
4
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5
And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6
I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
but heard a cry!
Social Injustice Denounced
8
Ah, you who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is room for no one but you,
and you are left to live alone
in the midst of the land!
9
The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah.
11
Ah, you who rise early in the morning
in pursuit of strong drink,
who linger in the evening
to be inflamed by wine,
12
whose feasts consist of lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine,
but who do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see the work of his hands!
13
Therefore my people go into exile without knowledge;
their nobles are dying of hunger,
and their multitude is parched with thirst.
14
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
and opened its mouth beyond measure;
the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude go down,
her throng and all who exult in her.
15
People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
16
But the Lord of hosts is exalted by justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.
17
Then the lambs shall graze as in their pasture,
fatlings and kids shall feed among the ruins.
18
Ah, you who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood,
who drag sin along as with cart ropes,
19
who say, “Let him make haste,
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfillment,
that we may know it!”
20
Ah, you who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
21
Ah, you who are wise in your own eyes,
and shrewd in your own sight!
22
Ah, you who are heroes in drinking wine
and valiant at mixing drink,
23
who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of their rights!
Foreign Invasion Predicted
24
Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root will become rotten,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of hosts,
and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25
Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them;
the mountains quaked,
and their corpses were like refuse
in the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
26
He will raise a signal for a nation far away,
and whistle for a people at the ends of the earth;
Here they come, swiftly, speedily!
27
None of them is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a loincloth is loose,
not a sandal-thong broken;
28
their arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels like the whirlwind.
29
Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey,
they carry it off, and no one can rescue.
30
They will roar over it on that day,
like the roaring of the sea.
And if one look to the land—
only darkness and distress;
and the light grows dark with clouds.
New Testament in Four Years - 1 Timothy 3:8-13
3. Overseers and Deacons
Qualifications of Deacons
8 Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money;9they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.10And let them first be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons.11Women likewise must be serious, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things.12Let deacons be married only once, and let them manage their children and their households well;13for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 79
79. Psalm 79
Psalm 79
Plea for Mercy for Jerusalem
A Psalm of Asaph.
1
O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2
They have given the bodies of your servants
to the birds of the air for food,
the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth.
3
They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
4
We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
mocked and derided by those around us.
5
How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?
6
Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
that do not call on your name.
7
For they have devoured Jacob
and laid waste his habitation.
8
Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.
9
Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and forgive our sins,
for your name’s sake.
10
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes.
11
Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
according to your great power preserve those doomed to die.
12
Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors
the taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord!
13
Then we your people, the flock of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.