MacDonald: the signs of His coming

Friday, April 24, 2026
    Commemoration of Mellitus, First Bishop of London, 624
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
    —Matthew 24:44 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Do those who say, lo here, or lo there, are the signs of His coming, think to be too keen for Him, and spy His approach? When He tells them to watch lest He find them neglecting their work, they stare this way and that, and watch lest He should succeed in coming like a thief!
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Word of Jesus on Prayer”, in Unspoken Sermons, Second Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1886, p. 61-62 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 24:44; 25:13; Mark 13:33-36; Luke 12:35-40; 1 Thess. 5:1-2; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 16:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I should always be prepared to receive you. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Erasmus: where to write the Gospel

Thursday, April 23, 2026
    Feast of George, Martyr, Patron of England, c.304
    Commemoration of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1988
Meditation:
    But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
    —Jeremiah 31:33 (ESV)
Quotation:
    You have... the Gospel written upon vellum; it deserv’d to be set with diamonds, except that the heart of a man were a fitter repository for it.
    ... Desiderius Erasmus (1466?-1536), The Colloquies of Erasmus, v. I, tr. N. Bailey & ed. E. Johnson, London: Reeves & Turner, 1878, p. 197 (see the book)
    See also Jer. 31:33; Deut. 30:6; Ps. 40:8; Eze. 11:19; 36:26; Rom. 2:15; 2 Cor. 3:3; Heb. 8:10; 10:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, there is nothing good in me save what You have placed there. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Chambers: drastic obedience

Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.”
    —John 9:4 (ESV)
Quotation:
    All God’s revelations are sealed until they are opened to us by obedience. You will never get them open by philosophy or thinking. Immediately you obey, a flash of light comes. Let God’s truth work in you by soaking in it, not by worrying into it... Obey God in the thing He shows you, and instantly the next thing is opened up. One reads tomes on the work of the Holy Spirit when... five minutes of drastic obedience would make things clear as a sunbeam. [We say,] “I suppose I shall understand these things some day.” You can understand them now: it is not study that does it, but obedience. The tiniest fragment of obedience, and heaven opens up and the profoundest truths of God are yours straight away. God will never reveal more truth about Himself until you have obeyed what you know already. Beware of being “wise and prudent.”
    ... Oswald Chambers (1874-1917), My Utmost for His Highest, Leicester: F.A. Thorpe, 1927, p. 284 (see the book)
    See also John 9:4; Ps. 119:100; Matt. 7:21-25; 11:25; 12:50; Luke 11:28; John 13:17; Acts 6:7; Jas. 1:22; 1 John 2:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I confess to wasting time on meaningless activities and hesitation. Grant me Your grace to focus my energies on following Your word and to let the rest go. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Nathan: God of pity and love

Tuesday, April 21, 2026
    Feast of Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109
Meditation:
    And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
    —John 1:14 (ESV)
Quotation:
God of pity and love, return to this earth.
Go not so far away, leaving us to evil.
Darkness is loose upon the world, the Devil
Walks in the land, and there is nothing worth.
Death like a dog runs howling from his lair;
His bite has made men mad, they follow after
All howling too, and their demoniac laughter
Drowns like a sea our solitary prayer.
Return, O Lord, return. Come with the day,
Come with the light, that men may see once more
Across this earth’s uncomfortable floor
The kindly paths, the old and loving way.
Let us not die of evil in the night.
Let there be God again. Let there be light.
    ... Robert Nathan (1894-1985), Selected Poems of Robert Nathan, A. A. Knopf, 1935, p. xiii (see the book)
    See also John 1:14; Gen. 1:3; Isa. 9:2; John 1:19; 8:12; 2 Cor. 4:6; 1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 22:20
Quiet time reflection:
    You took me out of darkness, Lord, and into Your light. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Pascal: seeking Him

Monday, April 20, 2026
Meditation:
    [Jesus] told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,
    ”‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
        and ever hearing but never understanding;
    otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
    —Mark 4:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God wanted to redeem men and open the way of salvation to those who seek Him. But men make themselves so unworthy of it that it is only just that God should refuse to some, because of the hardness of heart, what He gives to others from a compassion that they do not deserve. If He had wanted to overcome the obstinacy of the most hardened, He could have done so by revealing Himself to them so obviously that they could not have doubted the truth of His Being—just as He will appear at the last day with such a clap of thunder and such an upheaval of nature that the dead will revive and the blindest will see.
    It is not in this way, however, that He willed to appear at His gentle coming: because so many men had made themselves unworthy of His mercy, He willed to leave them deprived of the good which they did not desire. And so it would not have been fair for Him to have appeared in an obviously divine manner, absolutely capable of convincing all men. But also it would not have been fair for Him to appear in a manner so hidden that even those who were sincerely seeking Him should not be able to recognize Him... So He has tempered His knowledge, by giving marks of Himself which were visible to those who seek Him, and not to those who seek Him not.
    ... Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées (Thoughts) [1660], P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, #430, p. 143-144 (see the book)
    See also Mark 4:11-12; Ex. 33:19; Isa. 6:9-10; Matt. 7:7; 11:25; 13:11-12; Luke 8:10; 10:21; Rom. 9:15-16; Jas. 1:16-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I pray that the blindness be lifted from ____ and ____, that they may see Your truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Maurice: the beam in my own eye

Sunday, April 19, 2026
    Commemoration of Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1012
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
    —Matthew 7:3-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christians in general are far too eager to urge special exceptions when they hear these charges [of corruption in the church] preferred; far too ready to make out a case for themselves while they admit their application to others; far too ready to think that the cause of God is interested in the suppression of facts. The prophets should have taught us a different lesson. They should have led us to feel that it was a solemn duty, not to conceal, but to bring forward all the evidence which proves, not that one country is better than another, or one portion of the church better than another, but that there is a principle of decay, a tendency to apostasy in all, and that no comfort can come from merely balancing symptoms of good here against symptoms of evil there, no comfort from considering whether we are a little less contentious, a little less idolatrous than our neighbours.
    ... Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872), Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament, Cambridge: Macmillan, 1853; Boston: Crosby, Nichols, 1853, p. 461-462 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:3-5; Isa. 65:2-5; Matt. 3:7-10; Luke 6:41-42; 18:11; Jas. 2:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, cleanse the whole church for Your name’s sake. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Shoemaker: God at work in all things

Saturday, April 18, 2026
Meditation:
    For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.
    —1 Timothy 6:10-11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Anybody with any maturity knows that an experienced Christian is more eager to have God use him than he is to use God for his own ends; but this does not mean that God is absent from the processes of business and livelihood, nor unconcerned about them, nor unable to reveal Himself through them. When we begin to look upon work, business, money, as potential sacraments through which God can work, we shall make better use of them.
    ... Samuel M. Shoemaker (1893-1963), The Experiment of Faith, New York: Harper, 1957, p. 29 (see the book)
    See also 1 Tim. 6:10-11; Ps. 2:11; Rom. 12:11; Eph. 4:28; 1 Thess. 4:11-12; 2 Thess. 3:7-12; Tit. 3:14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, sanctify the things in my life, so that they may serve You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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