Smith: who can be against us?

Saturday, December 16, 2023
Meditation:
    What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
    —Romans 8:31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Nothing can touch us except with His knowledge and by His permission. It may be the sin of man that originates the action, and therefore the thing itself cannot be said to be the will of God; but by the time it reaches us, it has become God’s will for us, and must be accepted as directly from His hands. No man or company of men, no power in earth or heaven, can touch that soul which is abiding in Christ, without first passing through Him, and receiving the seal of His permission. If God be for us, it matters not who may be against us; nothing can disturb or harm us, except He shall see that it is best for us, and shall stand aside to let it pass.
    ... Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911), Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, London: F. E. Longley, 1876, p. 86-87 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:31; Ps. 27:1-3; 46:1-3; 56:11; Luke 21:17-18; John 10:28-30; 1 Cor. 10:13; 1 John 4:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are my constant protector. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Drummond: Run, shepherds, run

Friday, December 15, 2023
Meditation:
    But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
    —Galatians 4:4-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
Run, shepherds, run where Bethlem blest appears,
We bring the best of news, be not dismay’d,
A Saviour there is born, more old than years,
Amidst heaven’s rolling heights this earth who stay’d
In a poor cottage inn’d, a virgin maid
A weakling did him bear, who all upbears;
There is he poorly swaddl’d, in manger laid,
To whom too narrow swaddlings are our spheres:
Run, shepherds, run, and solemnize his birth,
This is that night—no, day, grown great with bliss,
In which the power of Satan broken is;
In heaven be glory, peace unto the earth!
    Thus singing, through the air the angels swam,
    And cope of stars re-echoed the same.
    ... William Drummond (1585-1649), The Poems of William Drummond of Hawthornden, v. II, London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1894, p. 7-8 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 4:4-5; Isa. 7:14; Luke 2:6-16; John 1:14; 2 Cor. 8:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your poverty has made Your people rich indeed. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Phelps: What blessing can I wish you

Thursday, December 14, 2023
    Feast of John of the Cross, Mystic, Poet, Teacher, 1591
Meditation:
    Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
    —2 Peter 1:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
What blessing can I wish you, O my friends,
Save that the joyful calm of Christmas-tide
Should wrap your hearts so close that never jar
Of the world’s care or grief can enter in,
But only love, to keep you pitiful,
And faith, and hope, to keep you strong and true;
“A Merry Christmas” and “A Glad New Year,”
I wish you, and may God’s exceeding love
Enfold you all, until His tender hand
Shall lead you safely Home, to love’s own land!
    ... Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844-1911), included in The Marching Morrows, Women’s Educational and Industrial Union, Boston: Merrymount Press, 1901, p. 178 (see the book)
    See also 2 Pet. 1:2-3; Ps. 23:2-3,6; 52:8; 84:5; Luke 2:10-14; 1 Cor. 13:13; Eph. 3:20-21; Phil. 2:12-13; 4:6-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your embrace is love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: unreformed

Wednesday, December 13, 2023
    Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304
    Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
    —John 5:39-40 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A student may easily exhaust his life in comparing divines and moralists without any practical regard to morals and religion; he may be learning not to live but to reason... while the chief use of his volumes is unthought of, his mind is unaffected, and his life is unreformed.
    ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), The Works of Samuel Johnson, L. L. D., v. V, New York: William Durell, 1811, p. 109 (see the book)
    See also John 5:39-40; Ps. 119:11; Isa. 6:9-10; Jer. 8:9; Matt. 23:37; Mark 12:10-11; John 1:11; 3:19; 5:46; Rom. 3:1-4; 2 Pet. 1:20-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the Living Word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Phillips: smothering Christmas

Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Meditation:
    O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
    —Isaiah 40:9 (KJV)
Quotation:
    The particular danger which faces us as Christmas approaches is unlikely to be contempt for the sacred season, but nevertheless our familiarity with it may easily produce in us a kind of indifference. The true wonder and mystery may leave us unmoved; familiarity may easily blind us to the shining fact that lies at the heart of Christmastide. We are all aware of the commercialisation of Christmas; we can hardly help being involved in the frantic business of buying and sending gifts and cards. We shall without doubt enjoy the carols, the decorations, the feasting and jollification, the presents, the parties, the dancing and the general atmosphere of goodwill which almost magically permeates the days of Christmas. But we may not always see clearly that so much decoration and celebration has been heaped upon the festival that the historic fact upon which all the rejoicing is founded has been almost smothered out of existence.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Good News: Thoughts on God and Man, New York: Macmillan, 1963, p. 161 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 40:9; 9:6; 52:7; 61:1-2; Luke 1:19; 2:10; 8:1; Acts 13:32-33
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep Your advent uppermost in my mind. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Underhill: life indivisible

Monday, December 11, 2023
Meditation:
    For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
    —Colossians 2:9-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Indeed, if God is All and His Word to us is All, that must mean that He is the reality and controlling factor of every situation, religious or secular; and that it is only for His glory and creative purpose that it exists. Therefore our favourite distinction between the spiritual life and the practical life is false. We cannot divide them. One affects the other all the time.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The Spiritual Life, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1937, reprinted, Morehouse Publishing, 1985, p. 35 (see the book)
    See also Col. 2:9-12; Ps. 51:10; Eze. 36:26; Rom. 12:2; 13:14; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 1:21-23; 3:7-10; 1 Thess. 4:3-6; 2 Tim. 2:19; Heb. 2:11; 2 Pet. 1:2-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word integrates my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Merton: to be grateful

Sunday, December 10, 2023
    Advent II
    Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968
Meditation:
    Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.
    —Philippians 1:12-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us—and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful man knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.
    ... Thomas Merton (1915-1968), Thoughts in Solitude [1958], Macmillan, 1999, p. 48 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 1:12-13; Ps. 34:8; 106:1; 145:9; Matt. 10:29; Luke 21:17-18; 22:35; John 6:11; Rom. 8:28; 1 John 4:7-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I have tasted Your goodness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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