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Daily Light's Evening Reading
Emmanuel, . . . God with us.—MATT. 1:23.
Will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee.—The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.—Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.
God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.
The first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, . . . came Jesus and stood in the midst. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. After eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then saith [Jesus] to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas . . . said, My Lord and my God.—Unto us a Son is given: the mighty God.
II Chr. 6:18. -John 1:14. -I Tim. 3:16.Heb 1:2.John 20:19,20,26-28. -Isa. 9:6.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“He will make her wilderness like Eden.”
Isaiah 51:3
Methinks, I see in vision a howling wilderness, a great and terrible desert, like to the Sahara. I perceive nothing in it to relieve the eye, all around I am wearied with a vision of hot and arid sand, strewn with ten thousand bleaching skeletons of wretched men who have expired in anguish, having lost their way in the pitiless waste. What an appalling sight! How horrible! a sea of sand without a bound, and without an oasis, a cheerless graveyard for a race forlorn! But behold and wonder! Upon a sudden, upspringing from the scorching sand I see a plant of renown; and as it grows it buds, the bud expands—it is a rose, and at its side a lily bows its modest head; and, miracle of miracles! as the fragrance of those flowers is diffused the wilderness is transformed into a fruitful field, and all around it blossoms exceedingly, the glory of Lebanon is given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. Call it not Sahara, call it Paradise. Speak not of it any longer as the valley of deathshade, for where the skeletons lay bleaching in the sun, behold a resurrection is proclaimed, and up spring the dead, a mighty army, full of life immortal. Jesus is that plant of renown, and his presence makes all things new. Nor is the wonder less in each individual’s salvation. Yonder I behold you, dear reader, cast out, an infant, unswathed, unwashed, defiled with your own blood, left to be food for beasts of prey. But lo, a jewel has been thrown into your bosom by a divine hand, and for its sake you have been pitied and tended by divine providence, you are washed and cleansed from your defilement, you are adopted into heaven’s family, the fair seal of love is upon your forehead, and the ring of faithfulness is on your hand—you are now a prince unto God, though once an orphan, cast away. O prize exceedingly the matchless power and grace which changes deserts into gardens, and makes the barren heart to sing for joy.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Judges 6
6. Gideon
The Midianite Oppression
6
The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.2The hand of Midian prevailed over Israel; and because of Midian the Israelites provided for themselves hiding places in the mountains, caves and strongholds.3For whenever the Israelites put in seed, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up against them.4They would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land, as far as the neighborhood of Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep or ox or donkey.5For they and their livestock would come up, and they would even bring their tents, as thick as locusts; neither they nor their camels could be counted; so they wasted the land as they came in.6Thus Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian; and the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.
7 When the Israelites cried to the Lord on account of the Midianites,8the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites; and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of slavery;9and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you, and gave you their land;10and I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not given heed to my voice.”
The Call of Gideon
11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.12The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.”13Gideon answered him, “But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.”14Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.”15He responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”16The Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.”17Then he said to him, “If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me.18Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.”
19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak and presented them.20The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so.21Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.22Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, “Help me, Lord God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.”23But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die.”24Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it, The Lord is peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the sacred pole that is beside it;26and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, in proper order; then take the second bull, and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the sacred pole that you shall cut down.”27So Gideon took ten of his servants, and did as the Lord had told him; but because he was too afraid of his family and the townspeople to do it by day, he did it by night.
Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal
28 When the townspeople rose early in the morning, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the sacred pole beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.29So they said to one another, “Who has done this?” After searching and inquiring, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”30Then the townspeople said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so that he may die, for he has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the sacred pole beside it.”31But Joash said to all who were arrayed against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you defend his cause? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been pulled down.”32Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he pulled down his altar.
33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east came together, and crossing the Jordan they encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.34But the spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon; and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him.35He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.
The Sign of the Fleece
36 Then Gideon said to God, “In order to see whether you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said,37I am going to lay a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said.”38And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.39Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let your anger burn against me, let me speak one more time; let me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.”40And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
New Testament in Four Years - Romans 7:1-3
7. Struggling With Sin
An Analogy from Marriage
7
Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during that person’s lifetime?2Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law concerning the husband.3Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.
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.