Keble: The deaf may hear the Savior's voice

Sunday, July 14, 2024
    Feast of John Keble, Priest, Poet, Tractarian, 1866
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “He who has ears, let him hear.”
    —Matthew 11:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
The deaf may hear the Saviour’s voice,
    The fettered tongue its chains may break;
But the deaf heart, the dumb by choice,
    The laggard soul that will not wake,
The guilt that scorns to be forgiven—
These baffle e’en the spells of heaven.
    ... John Keble (1792-1866), The Christian Year [1827], G. W. Doane, ed., Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1842, p. 186 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 11:15; Isa. 6:9-10; Jer. 6:10; Zech. 7:11-12; Matt. 11:5; Luke 7:22; Acts 28:25-27
Quiet time reflection:
    Relieve, O Lord, the burden of sloth from the people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Carnell: persuading doubters, not the defiant

Saturday, July 13, 2024
Meditation:
    Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”
    He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.”
    —Matthew 12:38-41 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The heart must be kept tender and pliable; otherwise agnosticism converts to skepticism. In such a case, the value of apologetics is voided, for apologetics is aimed at persuading doubters, not at refuting the defiant. He who demands a kind of proof that the nature of the case renders impossible, is determined that no possible evidence shall convince him.
    ... Edward John Carnell (1919-1967), The Case for Orthodox Theology, Philadelphia: Westminister, 1959, p. 84 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 12:38-41; Mark 8:11-12; Luke 11:16,29-30; John 2:18-19; 4:48; 6:61-63; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; 1 Pet. 2:7-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, warm the hearts of _____ and _____ to Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newton: not idols but incentives

Friday, July 12, 2024
Meditation:
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
    extol him, all you peoples.
For great is his love toward us,
    and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD.
    —Psalm 117:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When everything we receive from him is received and prized as a fruit and pledge of his covenant love, then his bounties, instead of being set up as rivals and idols to draw our heart from him, awaken us to fresh exercises of gratitude, and furnish us with fresh motives of cheerful obedience every hour.
    ... John Newton (1725-1807), in a letter, 1776, The Works of the Rev. John Newton, v. II, New York: Williams and Whiting, 1810, p. 216 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 117:1-2; Matt. 6:1-18; Eph. 5:20; Col. 1:12; 3:15-17; Jas. 1:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, implant a grateful heart within me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: sin in his heart

Thursday, July 11, 2024
    Feast of Benedict of Nursia, Father of Western Monasticism, c.550
Meditation:
    Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!
    —Deuteronomy 5:29 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In all the sins of men, God principally regards the principle, that is, the heart.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. III-V, in Works of John Owen, v. XXI, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1854, p. 88 (see the book)
    See also Deut. 5:29; Ps. 95:10-11; Pr. 23:26; Matt. 5:27-28; Heb. 3:7-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, cleanse and correct my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Peterson: the parable bomb

Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Meditation:
    Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.”
    —Matthew 13:3-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus’ favorite speech form, the parable, was subversive. Parables sound absolutely ordinary: casual stories about soil and seeds, meals and coins and sheep, bandits and victims, farmers and merchants. And they are wholly secular: of his forty or so parables recorded in the Gospels, only one has its setting in church, and only a couple mention the name God. As people heard Jesus tell these stories, they saw at once that they weren’t about God, so there was nothing in them threatening their own sovereignty. They relaxed their defenses. They walked away perplexed, wondering what they meant, the stories lodged in their imagination. And then, like a time bomb, they would explode in their unprotected hearts. An abyss opened up at their very feet. He was talking about God; they had been invaded!
    ... Eugene H. Peterson (1932-2018), The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1993, p. 32 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:3-11; Ps. 25:8-9; Matt. 7:28-29; 11:25-26; Mark 4:1,11-12; Luke 4:15; 8:10; 20:21; 1 Cor. 2:14-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your wisdom surpasses all. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Edersheim: the depth

Tuesday, July 9, 2024
Meditation:
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
    —Psalm 139:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    However low I may sink, there is not a depth but grace goes still deeper.
    ... Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889), The Golden Diary of Heart Converse with Jesus in the Book of Psalms, London: J. Nisbet & Company, 1866, p. 56 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 139:8; Deut. 33:27; Ps. 130:1; Jon. 2:2; Luke 18:1; 19:10; Rom. 8:38-39; Phil. 4:6; Heb. 10:17-24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your grace is inexhaustible. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gordon: the full consequences of atonement

Monday, July 8, 2024
Meditation:
    It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.
    —2 Corinthians 4:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We hold that in its ultimate consequences the atonement affects the body as well as the soul of man. Sanctification is the consummation of Christ’s redemptive work for the soul; and resurrection is the consummation of his redemptive work for the body. And these meet and are fulfilled at the coming and kingdom of Christ.
    ... A. J. Gordon (1836-1895), The Ministry of Healing, Boston: H. Gannett, 1883, p. 18 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 4:13-14; John 5:28-29; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 6:14; 15:20-21; 2 Cor. 5:1; Phil. 3:10-11,21; 1 Thess. 4:14-17; Rev. 20:4-6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your will cannot be changed. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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