Meditate

He led them forth by the right way.—PSA. 107:7.

He found [Jacob] in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him.—Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.—For this GOD is our GOD for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death. Who teacheth like him?

Deut. 32:10-12. -Isa. 46:4.Psa. 23:3,4.Isa. 58:11. -Psa. 48:14.Job 36:22.

“I will give thee for a covenant of the people.”

Isaiah 49:8

Jesus Christ is himself the sum and substance of the covenant, and as one of its gifts. He is the property of every believer. Believer, canst thou estimate what thou hast gotten in Christ? “In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Consider that word “God” and its infinity, and then meditate upon “perfect man” and all his beauty; for all that Christ, as God and man, ever had, or can have, is thine—out of pure free favour, passed over to thee to be thine entailed property forever. Our blessed Jesus, as God, is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. Will it not console you to know that all these great and glorious attributes are altogether yours? Has he power? That power is yours to support and strengthen you, to overcome your enemies, and to preserve you even to the end. Has he love? Well, there is not a drop of love in his heart which is not yours; you may dive into the immense ocean of his love, and you may say of it all, “It is mine.” Hath he justice? It may seem a stern attribute, but even that is yours, for he will by his justice see to it that all which is promised to you in the covenant of grace shall be most certainly secured to you. And all that he has as perfect man is yours. As a perfect man the Father’s delight was upon him. He stood accepted by the Most High. O believer, God’s acceptance of Christ is thine acceptance; for knowest thou not that the love which the Father set on a perfect Christ, he sets on thee now? For all that Christ did is thine. That perfect righteousness which Jesus wrought out, when through his stainless life he kept the law and made it honourable, is thine, and is imputed to thee. Christ is in the covenant.

“My God, I am thine—what a comfort divine!

What a blessing to know that the Saviour is mine!

In the heavenly Lamb thrice happy I am,

And my heart it doth dance at the sound of his name.”

Micah 4

4. Mountain of the Lord

Peace and Security through Obedience

4

In days to come

the mountain of the Lord’s house

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be raised up above the hills.

Peoples shall stream to it,

2

and many nations shall come and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob;

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

3

He shall judge between many peoples,

and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;

they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more;

4

but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,

and no one shall make them afraid;

for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

5

For all the peoples walk,

each in the name of its god,

but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God

forever and ever.

Restoration Promised after Exile

6

In that day, says the Lord,

I will assemble the lame

and gather those who have been driven away,

and those whom I have afflicted.

7

The lame I will make the remnant,

and those who were cast off, a strong nation;

and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion

now and forevermore.

8

And you, O tower of the flock,

hill of daughter Zion,

to you it shall come,

the former dominion shall come,

the sovereignty of daughter Jerusalem.

9

Now why do you cry aloud?

Is there no king in you?

Has your counselor perished,

that pangs have seized you like a woman in labor?

10

Writhe and groan, O daughter Zion,

like a woman in labor;

for now you shall go forth from the city

and camp in the open country;

you shall go to Babylon.

There you shall be rescued,

there the Lord will redeem you

from the hands of your enemies.

11

Now many nations

are assembled against you,

saying, “Let her be profaned,

and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”

12

But they do not know

the thoughts of the Lord;

they do not understand his plan,

that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.

13

Arise and thresh,

O daughter Zion,

for I will make your horn iron

and your hoofs bronze;

you shall beat in pieces many peoples,

and shall devote their gain to the Lord,

their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

Acts 24:1-9

24. Trial Before Felix

Paul before Felix at Caesarea

24

Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and an attorney, a certain Tertullus, and they reported their case against Paul to the governor.²When Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying:

“Your Excellency, because of you we have long enjoyed peace, and reforms have been made for this people because of your foresight.³We welcome this in every way and everywhere with utmost gratitude.⁴But, to detain you no further, I beg you to hear us briefly with your customary graciousness.⁵We have, in fact, found this man a pestilent fellow, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.⁶He even tried to profane the temple, and so we seized him.⁸By examining him yourself you will be able to learn from him concerning everything of which we accuse him.”

⁹ The Jews also joined in the charge by asserting that all this was true.

Psalm 136

136. Psalm 136

Psalm 136

God’s Work in Creation and in History

1

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever.

2

O give thanks to the God of gods,

for his steadfast love endures forever.

3

O give thanks to the Lord of lords,