Cowper: I thirst, but not as once I did

Sunday, June 1, 2025
    Feast of Justin, Martyr at Rome, c.165
    Commemoration of Angela de Merici, Founder of the Institute of St. Ursula, 1540
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
    —John 7:38-39 (NIV)
Quotation:
I thirst, but not as once I did,
The vain delights of earth to share;
Thy wounds, Emmanuel, all forbid
That I should seek my pleasures there.

It was the sight of thy dear cross
First wean’d my soul from earthly things;
And taught me to esteem as dross
The mirth of fools and pomp of kings.

I want that grace that springs from thee,
That quickens all things where it flows,
And makes a wretched thorn like me
Bloom as the myrtle or the rose.

Dear fountain of delight unknown!
No longer sink below the brim;
But overflow and pour me down
A living and life-giving stream!

For sure, of all the plants that share
The notice of thy Father’s eye,
None proves less grateful to his care,
Or yields him meaner fruit than I.
    ... William Cowper (1731-1800), The Works of William Cowper: his life, letters, and poems, New York: R. Carter & Brothers, 1851, p. 682 (see the book)
    See also John 7:38-39; Ps. 46:4; Eccl. 2:1; Isa. 5:14; John 4:12-14; 6:27; Rom. 5:20-21; 2 Cor. 1:21-22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You remind me of my smallness.

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Pascal: Incline my heart

Saturday, May 31, 2025
Meditation:
Incline my heart unto thy testimonies,
    and not to covetousness.
    —Psalm 119:36 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Do not wonder to see simple people believe without reasoning. God imparts to them love of Him and hatred of self. He inclines their heart to believe. Men will never believe with a saving and real faith, unless God inclines their heart; and they will believe as soon as He inclines it. And this is what David knew well, when he said: “Incline my heart, O Lord, unto thy testimonies.”
    ... Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées (Thoughts) [1660], P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, #284, p. 100-101 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 119:36; 51:10; 1 Kings 8:58; Pr. 3:5; Eze. 11:19-20; John 6:44-45; 14:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I not lean on my own understanding, but trust in You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ellul: surrender in prayer

Friday, May 30, 2025
    Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906
    Commemoration of Joan of Arc, Visionary, 1431
    Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933
Meditation:
I desire to do your will, O my God;
    your law is within my heart.
    —Psalm 40:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Prayer in the Scriptures is a renunciation of human means. It is not merely the point beyond which I could not go, the limit of my power which dissolves into impotence, but it is indeed a stripping bare, the abandonment of all human apparatus in order to place myself, without arms or equipment, into the hands of the Lord, who decides and fulfills.
    ... Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), Prayer and Modern Man, New York: The Seabury Press, 1973, p. 30 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 40:8; Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 22:42; John 4:34; 5:19,30; 1 Thess. 3:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, all my concerns are in Your hands. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chambers: the open doors to heaven

Thursday, May 29, 2025
    Ascension
Meditation:
    After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
    “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
    —Acts 1:9-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    At his Ascension our Lord entered heaven, and he keeps the door open for humanity to enter.
    ... Oswald Chambers (1874-1917), My Utmost for His Highest, Leicester: F.A. Thorpe, 1927, p. 138 (see the book)
    See also Acts 1:9-12; Matt. 19:24-26; Luke 24:50-53; Phil. 3:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we wait to be reunited with You in the body. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Salmon: a new good or a new evil?

Wednesday, May 28, 2025
    Commemoration of Lanfranc, Prior of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1089
Meditation:
    So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
    —Genesis 1:28-29 (KJV)
Quotation:
    We have still much to learn as to the laws according to which the mind and body act on one another, and according to which one mind acts on another; but it is certain that a great part of this mutual action can be reduced to general laws, and that the more we know of such laws the greater our power to benefit others will be. If, when, through the operation of such laws, surprising events take place, [we may] cry out, ... “Such is the will of God,” instead of setting ourselves to inquire whether it was the will of God to give us power to bring about or prevent such results, then our conduct is not piety but sinful laziness.
    ... George Salmon (1819-1904), “A Sermon on the Work of the Holy Spirit”, Appendix, in The Evidences of the Work of the Holy Spirit, Dublin: Hodges, Smith, 1859, p. 30 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 1:28-29; Pr. 1:7; 3:19-20; 18:15; 24:5; Luke 11:52; Acts 18:24-28; 1 Cor. 13:9-12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You speak to the whole person. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Calvin: wisdom apart from Christ?

Tuesday, May 27, 2025
    Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564
Meditation:
    My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
    —Colossians 2:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Any due progress in the knowledge of Christ brings with it all that can be learned from the Gospel. On the other hand, to search for wisdom apart from Christ means not simply foolhardiness but utter insanity.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), [1539] The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995, p. 15 (see the book)
    See also Col. 2:2-3; Rom. 1:1-4; 11:33; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; 2:6-8; Eph. 1:7-8; 3:10-11; Col. 1:9; 3:16; 2 Tim. 3:16-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I meditate on Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gossip: a feast, not a fast

Monday, May 26, 2025
    Feast of Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, 605
    Commemoration of Arthur John Gossip, Spiritual Writer, 1954
Meditation:
    On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”
    —John 7:37 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is not for nothing that the central rite of Christ’s religion is not a fast but a feast, as if to say that the one indispensable requirement for obtaining a portion in Him is an appetite, some hunger, is to be without what we must have and He can give.
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), The Galilean Accent, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1926, p. 22 (see the book)
    See also John 7:37; Ps. 42:1-2; Matt. 26:26-28; 1 Cor. 5:7-8; 11:23-27; Eph. 1:4-6; Rev. 19:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I thirst for You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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