Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Evening Reading
Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?—JOB 2:10.
I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.—O Lord, thou art our father, we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.—It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.
Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments.
He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.—Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.—It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.—Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.—These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Psa. 119:75. -Isa. 64:8. -I Sam. 3:18.Jer. 12:1.Mal. 3:3. -Heb. 12:6. -Matt. 10:25. -Heb. 5:8.I Pet. 4:13. -Rev. 7:14.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy upon Jerusalem? ... And the Lord answered the angel ... with good words and comfortable words.”
Zechariah 1:12,13
What a sweet answer to an anxious enquiry! This night let us rejoice in it. O Zion, there are good things in store for thee; thy time of travail shall soon be over; thy children shall be brought forth; thy captivity shall end. Bear patiently the rod for a season, and under the darkness still trust in God, for his love burneth towards thee. God loves the church with a love too deep for human imagination: he loves her with all his infinite heart. Therefore let her sons be of good courage; she cannot be far from prosperity to whom God speaketh “good words and comfortable words.” What these comfortable words are the prophet goes on to tell us: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.” The Lord loves his church so much that he cannot bear that she should go astray to others; and when she has done so, he cannot endure that she should suffer too much or too heavily. He will not have his enemies afflict her: he is displeased with them because they increase her misery. When God seems most to leave his church, his heart is warm towards her. History shows that whenever God uses a rod to chasten his servants, he always breaks it afterwards, as if he loathed the rod which gave his children pain. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” God hath not forgotten us because he smites—his blows are no evidences of want of love. If this is true of his church collectively, it is of necessity true also of each individual member. You may fear that the Lord has passed you by, but it is not so: he who counts the stars, and calls them by their names, is in no danger of forgetting his own children. He knows your case as thoroughly as if you were the only creature he ever made, or the only saint he ever loved. Approach him and be at peace.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Genesis 20
20. Abraham and Abimelech
Abraham and Sarah at Gerar
20
From there Abraham journeyed toward the region of the Negeb, and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While residing in Gerar as an alien,2Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” And King Abimelech of Gerar sent and took Sarah.3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “You are about to die because of the woman whom you have taken; for she is a married woman.”4Now Abimelech had not approached her; so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent people?5Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I did this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”6Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart; furthermore it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.7Now then, return the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that are yours.”
8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants and told them all these things; and the men were very much afraid.9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that ought not to be done.”10And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What were you thinking of, that you did this thing?”11Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.12Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.13And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.’ ”14Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him.15Abimelech said, “My land is before you; settle where it pleases you.”16To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; it is your exoneration before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.”17Then Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.18For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
New Testament in Four Years - Romans 6:11-14
6. Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.12 Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.13No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.14For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 35:1-18
35. Psalm 35
Psalm 35
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
Of David.
1
Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me!
2
Take hold of shield and buckler,
and rise up to help me!
3
Draw the spear and javelin
against my pursuers;
say to my soul,
“I am your salvation.”
4
Let them be put to shame and dishonor
who seek after my life.
Let them be turned back and confounded
who devise evil against me.
5
Let them be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them on.
6
Let their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
7
For without cause they hid their net for me;
without cause they dug a pit for my life.
8
Let ruin come on them unawares.
And let the net that they hid ensnare them;
let them fall in it—to their ruin.
9
Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord,
exulting in his deliverance.
10
All my bones shall say,
“O Lord, who is like you?
You deliver the weak
from those too strong for them,
the weak and needy from those who despoil them.”
11
Malicious witnesses rise up;
they ask me about things I do not know.
12
They repay me evil for good;
my soul is forlorn.
13
But as for me, when they were sick,
I wore sackcloth;
I afflicted myself with fasting.
I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,
14
as though I grieved for a friend or a brother;
I went about as one who laments for a mother,
bowed down and in mourning.
15
But at my stumbling they gathered in glee,
they gathered together against me;
ruffians whom I did not know
tore at me without ceasing;
16
they impiously mocked more and more,
gnashing at me with their teeth.
17
How long, O Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their ravages,
my life from the lions!
18
Then I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.