Henry: the meaning of affliction

Friday, May 29, 2026
Meditation:
    Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.
    —Job 5:17-18 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.
    ... Matthew Henry (1662-1714), An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments [1828], Job 8, in loc. v. 1-7,II.2 (see the book)
    See also Job 5:17-18; 8:1-7; Matt. 5:11-12; Luke 6:22-23; Rom. 8:18; Jas. 5:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send Your healing to my broken life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newbigin: true history

Thursday, May 28, 2026
    Commemoration of Lanfranc, Prior of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1089
Meditation:
    In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
    —Ephesians 1:7-10 (ESV)
Quotation:
    What is the relation of a secular, this-worldly unification of mankind to the biblical promise of the summing up of all things in Christ? Is it a total contradiction of it? Is it some sort of a reflection of it? or perhaps a devil’s parody of it? Or has it nothing to do with it at all? Perhaps there will be many Christians to whom it would not occur to pose the question whether the process of secularization has anything to do with the biblical understanding of the goal of history. The Bible, for them, belongs to a religious world which is not admitted to belong to the world of secular events—the world in which we are when we read the daily newspaper. But this is to read the Bible wrongly. Whatever else it may be, the Bible is a secular book dealing with the sort of events which a news editor accepts for publication in a daily newspaper; it is concerned with secular events, wars, revolutions, enslavements and liberations, migrants and refugees, famines and epidemics and all the rest. It deals with events which happened and tells a story which can be checked... We miss this because we do not sufficiently treat the Bible as a whole. When we do this, we see at once that the Bible—whatever be the variety of material which it contains: poetry, prayers, legislation, genealogy, and all the rest—is in its main design a universal history. It is an interpretation of human history as a whole, beginning with a saga of creation and ending with a vision of the gathering together of all the nations and the consummation of God’s purpose for mankind. The Bible is an outline of world history.
    ... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), Honest Religion for Secular Man, London: SCM Press, 1966, p. 19-20 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 1:7-10; 2 Sam. 7:15-17; Isa. 11:1-4; Dan. 7:13-14; Zech. 12:8; Luke 1:31-33; Rom. 8:17-18; 1 Cor. 15:22-24; 2 Thess. 1:6-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I believe You, and I know that Your will shall prevail in all things. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bell: human depravity

Wednesday, May 27, 2026
    Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564
Meditation:
    You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
    —1 Corinthians 7:23-24 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Whenever man decides that he is competent to do as he pleases he is soon enjoying Hell on earth, partly because much of what he pleases, except he know he must obey God, is low-down disgusting and partly because, even when he pleases to do something decent, he is mostly too weak-willed and too addle-pated to bring the same to good effect. Man must be redeemed by a power outside himself... I do not regard the overdetermined “optimists” as silly; they seem to me only the victims of a wishful thinking which disregards plain facts.
    ... Bernard Iddings Bell (1886-1958), God is Not Dead, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1945, p. xiv (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 7:23-24; Rom. 6:21; 7:5; 8:1,4-6; Eph. 5:3-5; Col. 3:5-6; Jas. 1:13-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I rely on You for all goodness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gossip: the soundbite world

Tuesday, May 26, 2026
    Feast of Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, 605
    Commemoration of Arthur John Gossip, Spiritual Writer, 1954
Meditation:
    Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
    —1 Corinthians 2:6-8 (ESV)
Quotation:
    If people gathered to a political meeting, and the chief speaker spoke to them only for some quarter of an hour, they would be annoyed, would feel with some resentment that he had not taken them seriously, had dealt much too cavalierly with the question of the hour... But the things of the soul are far more momentous, and to be asked to deal with huge, unfathomable facts like the Cross in a few minutes, means that people are not really interested in these things. This is, of course, a snippety age, with a snippety press, and snippety novels. But must we preachers follow and be snippety, too?
    ... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), In Christ’s Stead, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1925, p. 201-202 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 2:6-8; Ps. 78:1-3; Rom. 16:25-26; 2 Tim. 4:3-5; 1 Pet. 1:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I thank You for brevity when brevity is needed, and for fullness when that is needed. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Be Thou my vision

Monday, May 25, 2026
    Feast of the Venerable Bede, Priest, Monk of Jarrow, Historian, 735
    Commemoration of Aldhelm, Abbot of Mamsbury, Bishop of Sherborne, 709
Meditation:
    But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
    —James 3:17 (ESV)
Quotation:
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save what Thou art:
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son,
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Riches I need not, nor man’s empty praise;
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all!
    ... Anonymous, medieval Irish hymn, Eriu, Journal of the School of Irish Learning, v. 2-3, Kuno Meyer, John Strachan, Dublin: School of Irish Learning, 1905, p.90 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 3:17; Isa. 6:9-10; 9:2; 60:1-2; 61:1-3; John 1:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I see by Your light!

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Phillips: God's Living Spirit

Sunday, May 24, 2026
    Pentecost
    Feast of John and Charles Wesley, Priests, Poets, Teachers, 1791 & 1788
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
    —Acts 1:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Every time we say, ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit,’ we mean that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality, and change it.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Plain Christianity, London: Macmillan, 1954, p. 70 (see the book)
    See also Acts 1:8; Ps. 51:10; Acts 2:4; Rom. 5:5; 8:13-14; 12:2; 1 Cor. 2:12; Col. 3:9-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Spirit of God, conform me to Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newton: preparation for joy

Saturday, May 23, 2026
    Commemoration of Petroc, Abbot of Padstow, 6th century
Meditation:
    So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.
    —2 Corinthians 12:7 (ESV)
Quotation:
    God often takes a course for accomplishing His purposes directly contrary to what our narrow views would prescribe. He ... brings a death upon our feelings, wishes and prospects when He is about to give us the desire of our hearts.
    ... John Newton (1725-1807), in a letter, 1777, The Works of the Rev. John Newton, v. I, New York: Williams and Whiting, 1810, p. 593-594 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 12:7-9; Rom. 8:13-14; Eph. 2:14-16; Col. 3:3-4; 1 Pet. 1:17-19; Rev. 2:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I rest in the hope of joy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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