Houghton: the best

Sunday, September 24, 2023
Meditation:
Who has understood the mind of the LORD,
    or instructed him as his counselor?
Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
    and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge
    or showed him the path of understanding?
    —Isaiah 40:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I shrink from the suggestion that our Father has done anything which needs to be explained. What he has done is the best, because he has done it, and I pray that as a family we may not cast about for explanations of the mystery, but exult in the Holy Spirit and say, “I thank Thee, Father ... Even so, Father.” It suggests a lack of confidence in Him if we find it necessary to try to understand all He does.
    ... Frank Houghton (1894-1972), from a letter quoted in Rose from Brier [1933], Amy Carmichael, London: SPCK, 1950, p. 114 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 40:13-14; Gen. 50:20; Isa. 55:8-9; Job 40:2; Ps. 46:1-2; 66:20; Rom. 8:28,35-39; 11:33-34; 2 Cor. 4:15-17; 5:1-3; Phil. 1:21; Heb. 12:11; Jas. 1:2-4; Rev. 3:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the faith to stop trying to rationalize Your acts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Webster: applying our lives to Scripture

Saturday, September 23, 2023
Meditation:
Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
    who walk according to the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who keep his statutes
    and seek him with all their heart.
    —Psalm 119:1-2
Quotation:
    It was and is no small thing to break from the surrounding unbiblical views of the world and adopt the ways and values taught in God’s Word. Here [in Psalm 119] the psalmist finds nothing more practical than thinking about God’s teachings and examining daily life and motives. Beyond finding applications in God’s word for our lives, the psalmist would have us apply our lives to God’s Word. Therein the psalmist develops purity and righteous character and experiences the benefits of following the Word of the Lord.
    ... Brian L. Webster (b. 1965) & David R. Beach (b. 1956), The Essential Bible Companion to the Psalms, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2010, p. 154 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 119:1-2; Matt. 5:8; Phil. 4:8; Col. 3:16; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 John 3:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You reward those who seek to follow Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fenelon: do we fear happiness?

Friday, September 22, 2023
Meditation:
    In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
    What can mortal man do to me?
    —Psalm 56:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What then are we afraid of? Can we have too much of God? ... Is it a misfortune to be freed from the heavy yoke of the world, and to bear the light burden of Jesus Christ? Do we fear to be too happy, too much delivered from ourselves, from the caprices of our pride, the violence of our passions, and the tyranny of a deceitful world?
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Pious Reflections for Every Day in the Month, London: H. D. Symonds, 1800, p. 78-79 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 56:4; 27:1-3; 118:6; Matt. 11:28-30; Luke 12:4; Rom. 8:15,31; Gal. 5:1; Heb. 13:6; 1 John 4:4,18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my heart cries out for more of You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Calvin: the genuine insignia

Thursday, September 21, 2023
    Feast of Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist
Meditation:
LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
    Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless
    and who does what is righteous,
    who speaks the truth from his heart...
    —Psalm 15:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The fulfillment of the Lord’s mercy does not depend upon believers’ works, but... he fulfills the promise of salvation for those who respond to his call with upright life, because in those who are directed to the good by his Spirit, he recognizes the only genuine insignia of his children.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. II, tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, III.xvii.6, p. 39 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 15:1-2; 143:10; Isa. 33:14-15; Rom. 8:14; Gal. 4:6; 5:16,22-25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit prompts me to goodness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Hauerwas: ethics from creation

Wednesday, September 20, 2023
    Feast of John Coleridge Patteson, First Bishop of Melanesia, & his Companions, Martyrs, 1871
Meditation:
    For this is what the LORD says—he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited—he says: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
    —Isaiah 45:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The narrative of Christian ethics is determined by the fact that Christian convictions take the form of a story, or perhaps better, a set of stories that constitute a tradition, which in turn creates and forms a community. Christian ethics does not begin by emphasizing rules or principles, but by calling our attention to a narrative that tells of God’s dealing with creation.
    ... Stanley Hauerwas (b. 1940), The Peaceable Kingdom, University of Notre Dame Press, 1983, p. 24-25 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 45:18; Deut. 4:1; 6:20-25; 8:1; Ex. 20:2; Ps. 33:9; Amos 4:13; Rom. 1:20; Heb. 1:1-2; Rev. 4:11; 14:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we have no excuse for not acknowledging You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Spurgeon: the highest science

Tuesday, September 19, 2023
    Commemoration of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690
Meditation:
    For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
    —Malachi 3:6 (KJV)
Quotation:
    The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls Father.
    ... Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), Spurgeon’s Sermons Volume 1: 1855, CCEL, Sermon 1 (see the book)
    See also Mal. 3:6; Num. 23:19; Josh. 1:8; Ps. 1:2; 63:6; 77:11-12; 102:25-26; 139:17; 143:5; Phil. 4:8; 1 Tim. 4:13-15; Heb. 13:8; Jas. 1:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, become my sole contemplation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: the time to redeem

Monday, September 18, 2023
    Commemoration of George MacDonald, Spiritual Writer, 1905
Meditation:
    Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
    —Galatians 4:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We are the sons of God the moment we lift up our hearts, seeking to be sons—the moment we begin to cry Father. But as the world must be redeemed in a few men to begin with, so the soul is redeemed in a few of its thoughts and wants and ways, to begin with: it takes a long time to finish the new creation of this redemption. Shall it have taken millions of years to bring the world up to the point where a few of its inhabitants shall desire God, and shall the creature of this new birth be perfected in a day?
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “Abba, Father!”, in Unspoken Sermons, Second Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1886, p. 131 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 4:6; Ps. 51:10; Jer. 3:19; Eze. 36:26; Rom. 8:15-17; 12:2; 1 Cor. 2:12; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 1:5,11-14; 4:22-24; Col. 1:21-23; 3:9-10; Heb. 6:11-12; 12:1; 2 Pet. 1:10-11; 3:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me headed towards You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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