Meditate
with a daily devotion
Daily Light's Evening Reading
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him.—PSA. 91:15.
And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.—Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said unto God, . . . Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people.—And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power . . . O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa.
O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
I Chr. 4:10. -II Chr. 1:7,8,10. -I Kgs. 4:29.II Chr. 14:11,12.Psa. 65:2.
Spurgeon's Evening Reading
“And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”
Exodus 17:12
So mighty was the prayer of Moses, that all depended upon it. The petitions of Moses discomfited the enemy more than the fighting of Joshua. Yet both were needed. So, in the soul’s conflict, force and fervour, decision and devotion, valour and vehemence, must join their forces, and all will be well. You must wrestle with your sin, but the major part of the wrestling must be done alone in private with God. Prayer, like Moses’, holds up the token of the covenant before the Lord. The rod was the emblem of God’s working with Moses, the symbol of God’s government in Israel. Learn, O pleading saint, to hold up the promise and the oath of God before him. The Lord cannot deny his own declarations. Hold up the rod of promise, and have what you will.
Moses grew weary, and then his friends assisted him. When at any time your prayer flags, let faith support one hand, and let holy hope uplift the other, and prayer seating itself upon the stone of Israel, the rock of our salvation, will persevere and prevail. Beware of faintness in devotion; if Moses felt it, who can escape? It is far easier to fight with sin in public, than to pray against it in private. It is remarked that Joshua never grew weary in the fighting, but Moses did grow weary in the praying; the more spiritual an exercise, the more difficult it is for flesh and blood to maintain it. Let us cry, then, for special strength, and may the Spirit of God, who helpeth our infirmities, as he allowed help to Moses, enable us like him to continue with our hands steady “until the going down of the sun;” till the evening of life is over; till we shall come to the rising of a better sun in the land where prayer is swallowed up in praise.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Exodus 22
22. Protection of Property
Laws of Restitution
22
When someone steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, the thief shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. The thief shall make restitution, but if unable to do so, shall be sold for the theft.
2 If a thief is found breaking in, and is beaten to death, no bloodguilt is incurred;3but if it happens after sunrise, bloodguilt is incurred.
4When the animal, whether ox or donkey or sheep, is found alive in the thief’s possession, the thief shall pay double.5 When someone causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over, or lets livestock loose to graze in someone else’s field, restitution shall be made from the best in the owner’s field or vineyard.
6 When fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, the one who started the fire shall make full restitution.
7 When someone delivers to a neighbor money or goods for safekeeping, and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, then the thief, if caught, shall pay double.8If the thief is not caught, the owner of the house shall be brought before God, to determine whether or not the owner had laid hands on the neighbor’s goods.
9 In any case of disputed ownership involving ox, donkey, sheep, clothing, or any other loss, of which one party says, “This is mine,” the case of both parties shall come before God; the one whom God condemns shall pay double to the other.
10 When someone delivers to another a donkey, ox, sheep, or any other animal for safekeeping, and it dies or is injured or is carried off, without anyone seeing it,11an oath before the Lord shall decide between the two of them that the one has not laid hands on the property of the other; the owner shall accept the oath, and no restitution shall be made.12But if it was stolen, restitution shall be made to its owner.13If it was mangled by beasts, let it be brought as evidence; restitution shall not be made for the mangled remains.
14 When someone borrows an animal from another and it is injured or dies, the owner not being present, full restitution shall be made.15If the owner was present, there shall be no restitution; if it was hired, only the hiring fee is due.
Social and Religious Laws
16 When a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to be married, and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife.17But if her father refuses to give her to him, he shall pay an amount equal to the bride-price for virgins.
18 You shall not permit a female sorcerer to live.
19 Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death.
20 Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction.
21 You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.22You shall not abuse any widow or orphan.23If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry;24my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans.
25 If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them.26If you take your neighbor’s cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before the sun goes down;27for it may be your neighbor’s only clothing to use as cover; in what else shall that person sleep? And if your neighbor cries out to me, I will listen, for I am compassionate.
28 You shall not revile God, or curse a leader of your people.
29 You shall not delay to make offerings from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses.
The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.30You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall remain with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.
31 You shall be people consecrated to me; therefore you shall not eat any meat that is mangled by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
New Testament in Four Years - Romans 15:5-8
15. Ministry to the Gentiles
5May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,6so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.The Gospel for Jews and Gentiles Alike
7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.8For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
Psalm a Day - Psalm 78:1-72
78. Psalm 78
Psalm 78
God’s Goodness and Israel’s Ingratitude
A Maskil of Asaph.
1
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3
things that we have heard and known,
that our ancestors have told us.
4
We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
5
He established a decree in Jacob,
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach to their children;
6
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and rise up and tell them to their children,
7
so that they should set their hope in God,
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
8
and that they should not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9
The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.
10
They did not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11
They forgot what he had done,
and the miracles that he had shown them.
12
In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13
He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14
In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all night long with a fiery light.
15
He split rocks open in the wilderness,
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16
He made streams come out of the rock,
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17
Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18
They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19
They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20
Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out
and torrents overflowed,
can he also give bread,
or provide meat for his people?”
21
Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of rage;
a fire was kindled against Jacob,
his anger mounted against Israel,
22
because they had no faith in God,
and did not trust his saving power.
23
Yet he commanded the skies above,
and opened the doors of heaven;
24
he rained down on them manna to eat,
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25
Mortals ate of the bread of angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27
he rained flesh upon them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28
he let them fall within their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29
And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
30
But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31
the anger of God rose against them
and he killed the strongest of them,
and laid low the flower of Israel.
32
In spite of all this they still sinned;
they did not believe in his wonders.
33
So he made their days vanish like a breath,
and their years in terror.
34
When he killed them, they sought for him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35
They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their redeemer.
36
But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
37
Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not true to his covenant.
38
Yet he, being compassionate,
forgave their iniquity,
and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39
He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and does not come again.
40
How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert!
41
They tested God again and again,
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42
They did not keep in mind his power,
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;
43
when he displayed his signs in Egypt,
and his miracles in the fields of Zoan.
44
He turned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
45
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
and frogs, which destroyed them.
46
He gave their crops to the caterpillar,
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47
He destroyed their vines with hail,
and their sycamores with frost.
48
He gave over their cattle to the hail,
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49
He let loose on them his fierce anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of destroying angels.
50
He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.
51
He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52
Then he led out his people like sheep,
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53
He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid;
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54
And he brought them to his holy hill,
to the mountain that his right hand had won.
55
He drove out nations before them;
he apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56
Yet they tested the Most High God,
and rebelled against him.
They did not observe his decrees,
57
but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors;
they twisted like a treacherous bow.
58
For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
59
When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
60
He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mortals,
61
and delivered his power to captivity,
his glory to the hand of the foe.
62
He gave his people to the sword,
and vented his wrath on his heritage.
63
Fire devoured their young men,
and their girls had no marriage song.
64
Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lamentation.
65
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a warrior shouting because of wine.
66
He put his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting disgrace.
67
He rejected the tent of Joseph,
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68
but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loves.
69
He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70
He chose his servant David,
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71
from tending the nursing ewes he brought him
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel, his inheritance.
72
With upright heart he tended them,
and guided them with skillful hand.