DAY 132    Read Psalm 41; 44; 45; 49.

Today's reading:  Many of the psalms express the truth that the Lord expects His people to be merciful, even as He is merciful.

Memory gem:  "Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble"  (Psalm 41:1).

Thought for today:
"The merciful are 'partakers of the divine nature,' and in them the compassionate love of God finds expression.  All whose hearts are in sympathy with the heart of Infinite Love will seek to reclaim and not to condemn.  Christ dwelling in the soul is a spring that never runs dry.  Where He abides, there will be an overflowing of beneficence.

"To the appeal of the erring, the tempted, the wretched victims of want and sin, the Christian does not ask, Are they worthy? but, How can I benefit them?  In the most wretched, the most debased, he sees souls whom Christ died to save and for whom God has given to His children the ministry of reconciliation.

"The merciful are those who manifest compassion to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed....

"....There is sweet peace for the compassionate spirit, a blessed satisfaction in the life of self-forgetful service for the good of others.  The Holy Spirit that abides in the soul and is manifested in the life will soften hard hearts and awaken sympathy and tenderness.  You will reap that which you sow....

"He who has given his life to God in ministry to His children is linked with Him who has all the resources of the universe at His command.  His life is bound up by the golden chain of the immutable promises with the life of God.  The Lord will not fail him in the hour of suffering and need.  'My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.'  Philippians 4:19.  And in the hour of final need the merciful shall find refuge in the mercy of the compassionate Saviour and shall be received into everlasting habitation."--Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, pp. 22-24.

DAY 131    Read Psalm 35 through 40.

Today's reading:  In this group of familiar psalms we find the trustful reassurance of Psalm 37.

Memory gem:  "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass"  (Psalm 37:5).

Thought for today:
As boys, my brother and I were taught the Word of God.  Our father, a minister, was away from home a great deal in evangelistic work.  So in his absence the burden of training us in the things of God fell largely upon our mother.  She was very faithful and did all she could to teach us a love for and an understanding of the Word of God.

One thing she consistently did was to train us in memorizing great chapters of the Bible.  One of those was the thirty-seventh psalm.  I remember how difficult it was to learn, because its verses are all separate statements of truth.  They do not seem to be connected one with the other as in most Bible passages; yet each one is a jewel.

I am so glad that she continued her efforts until we actually memorized every verse of that tremendous chapter.  The thirty-seventh psalm contains prophecies of the restoration of this planet.  As we see the power of wicked men and their influence in the world, we may be tempted to conclude that it never can be broken.  The prophet said, "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree"  (Psalm 37:35).

We, too, can say that we have seen it in our day.  Sin seems to march on to victory.  We know that the end of it is ruin and death for men and for the world, but still on it goes.  However, God has decreed that sin shall cease to exist.  He has prophesied that it will, and His prophecy will come true.  The time will come when there will be no more sin, and therefore no more death, no more pain, no more war, no more evil in this world.  Although a man may seem to prosper in his evil doings, the psalmist-prophet continues: "Yet he passed away and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found" (verse 36).

It is good for us to remember the first verses of this psalm.  "Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.  For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb."

DAY 130    Read Psalm 22; 25; 26; 28; 30.

Today's reading:  The first psalm in this group contains some of the most remarkable of the Messianic predictions.

Memory gem:  "Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou my helper"  (Psalm 30:10).

Thought for today:
Psalm 22:16:  Remember, this was written a thousand years before our Saviour's crucifixion:  "The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet."

This chapter is so filled with the very words and expressions that our Saviour used upon the cross that it is called the Psalm of Sobs.  And His hands and feet were pierced by nails as we read of the crucifixion in Luke 23:33.

Psalm 22:8:  The people ridiculed Him and said:  "He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him."

We read the fulfillment of this in Matthew 27:41-43.

In Psalm 22:17 we read that the people were astonished:  "I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me."

The crowd stood about and gazed, as upon a great spectacle.  Luke 23:23:  "The people stood beholding."

Psalm 22:18:  His garments were parted and lots cast.  John 19:23, 24 describes this.  The four soldier guards divided His garments, but when they came to His seamless robe, they cast lots for it rather than tear it, so what seemed to be antagonistic prophecies were fulfilled literally.

In Psalm 22:1 Christ's cry upon the cross is foretold:  "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

In Matthew 27:46 we have the record of the fulfillment.

Psalm 22:14 declares that Jesus died of a broken heart.  Also Psalm 69:20:  "Reproach hath broken my heart."

There are many other prophecies about Jesus that were literally fulfilled in His life and ministry on earth, His resurrection and ascension to heaven.

These prophecies with their fulfillment are enough to show that Jesus was the right Man.  He was the Son of God; He came at the right time; He did the very things predicted.  At least twenty-four prophecies were fulfilled in twenty-four hours on the day of His death.

DAY 129    Read Psalm 1, 2; 9; 10; 12 through 15; 18.

Today's reading:  We break into the historical sequence to read some of the psalms that cannot be positively related to specific incidents.

Memory gem:  "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful"  (Psalm 1:1).

Thought for today:
One day in Glasgow Green in Scotland a man stood up after hearing a preacher give a gospel message at an open-air meeting, and said: "I don't believe what this man has said.  I don't believe in hell or heaven--I don't believe in the judgment or in the devil or in God, because I have never seen one of them."

Just then another member of the crowd stood forth and said: "Friends, you say there is a river running not far from this place, the River Clyde.  There is no such thing.  It's not true.  It's all a delusion.  You tell me there are trees and grass growing near where I stand, and that there are people standing near me--but it can't be true.  There are no such things.  I have never seen one of them.  I was born blind.  No one but a blind man can talk as I have."  Then, turning toward the unbeliever, he said, "The more you talk, the more you expose your ignorance, because you are spiritually blind and cannot see."

When a man does not love God supremely, he is really saying that God is not supreme.  He is giving aid and comfort to the unbeliever, blind to God's works, the evidence of His existence.  The breaking of the greatest command by professed followers of the Lord is one of the saddest sights on earth and brings reproach on the cause of Christ among out-and-out unbelievers.

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Difficult or obscure words:
Psalm 2:12.  "Kiss the Son"--do homage to the Son.
Psalm 18:26.  "Froward ''--crooked or perverse.

DAY 128    Read 1 Chronicles 29; 1 Kings 2; Psalm 89.

Today's reading:  David's long and eventful career comes to an end.  Before the old king dies, he gives Solomon the task of executing judgment on various offenders.

Memory gem:  "Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face"  (Psalm 89:14).

Thought for today:
A young minister was confronted, just as his congregation expected, by the village skeptic, Burt Olney.  At the close of the first service, Olney said to him: "You did well, but you know, I don't believe in the infallibility of the Bible."

"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment," was the young minister's calm assertion.

"I can prove that there's no such thing as judgment after death," declared the skeptic.

"But men do die," the young minister said.  "For  'it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.' "

"That's no argument," the skeptic protested.  "Let's get down to business.  Let's discuss this matter in regular forum."

The young minister shook his head.  "I'm not here to argue.  I'm here to preach the Word of God, not to argue over it."

Olney was annoyed and turned away with the remark, "I don't believe you know enough about the Bible to argue about it."

"Perhaps you're right," said the young preacher, "but remember this: 'It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.' "

As Olney walked away through the darkness, the very tree toads seemed to be singing that verse.  As he crossed a little stream, the frogs seemed to croak, "Judgment, judgment, judgment!"

The next morning he called on the young pastor.  "I have come to see you about that verse of scripture you gave me last night," he said.  "I have spent a terrible night.  Those words just burn in my heart.  I can't get rid of them.  Tell me what I must do to be saved.  How may I meet the judgment?"

When he left the minister, he was a child of God through faith in the finished sacrifice of Christ upon the cross.

DAY 127    Read 1 Kings 1; 1 Chronicles 28; Psalm 72.

Today's reading:  As all mortals do, David became old and approached the end of the road.  He personally chose his successor and gave solemn instructions to the young man.

Memory gem:  "David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee"  (1 Chronicles 28:20).

Thought for today:
Think about John Wesley and his "unparalleled apostolate," as Augustine Birrell beautifully described it.  With eighty-eight years of life behind him and over sixty of ceaseless activity in the cause of Christ, he was not sighing for the good old days of wanting things to be changed for the future.  Great as his active years had been, those last hours there in his room on City Road were just as good as any.  To him, the best time in the service of God was "right here and now."  As the young ministers stood around his bed, he opened his eyes a moment before they closed in his last sleep and said, "The best of all is, God is with us."

And when Dean Stanley put up the tablet to the memory of the Wesleys in Westminster Abbey, he summed up all of Wesley's life in those wonderful words of his, "The best of all is, God with us."

DAY 126    Read 1 Chronicles 23 through 27.

Today's reading concerns mostly the plans David made for the organization of priests and Levites for service in the temple Solomon would build.

Memory gem:  "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness"  (Psalm 84:10).

Thought for today:
"In planning for the administration of the affairs of the kingdom, after David abdicated in favor of Solomon, the aged king and his son and their counselors regarded it as essential that everything be done with regularity, propriety, fidelity, and dispatch.  So far as possible, they followed the system of organization given Israel soon after the deliverance from Egypt.  The Levites were assigned the work connected with the temple service, including the ministry of song and instrumental music, and the keeping of the treasures....

"The thoroughness and completeness of the organization perfected at the beginning of Solomon's reign; the comprehensiveness of the plans for bringing the largest number possible of all the people into active service; the wide distribution of responsibility, so that the service of God and of the king should not be unduly burdensome to any individual or class,--these are lessons which all may study with profit, and which the leaders of the Christian church should understand and follow.

"This picture of a great and mighty nation living in simplicity and comfort in rural homes, every person rendering willing and unsalaried service to God and the king for a portion of each year, is one from which we may gather many helpful suggestions."--Ellen G. White Comments, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 3, p. 1128.

DAY 125    Read 2 Samuel 23 and 24; 1 Chronicles 21 and 22.

Today's reading:  David, in a display of vanity, brings another calamity upon his kingdom; but as a result he acquires the site for the great temple.  He begins to assemble material.

Memory gem:  "Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God"  (1 Chronicles 22:19).

Thought for today:
We are visiting the place of the temple in Jerusalem.  We follow our guide through the massive stone gates into this holy place.  Here is a great platform, partly paved with stone, approximately 1,500 feet long and 900 feet wide.  It is the top of the ancient Mount Moriah, the place where Abraham offered Isaac.

In the time of David, this hill was the property of the Jebusite name Ornan (or Araunah), who had a threshing floor on its summit.  David, through vanity, gave orders for the numbering of the people of Israel, and God punished his vanity by pestilence.  One day the king saw in the heavens over this threshing floor the destroying angel with a sword drawn and pointed toward Jerusalem.  David repented of his fault, went to Ornan, and purchased the hill.  There he erected an altar to God, where he offered sacrifice.  He promised to build a temple, but he was not allowed to do this because he was a man of blood.

As we enter the present-day building (the Mosque of Omar of Dome of the Rock), we see the irregular surface of the naked rock itself x feet above the floor.  It is in strange contrast to the gorgeous decorations .  This was the threshing floor of Ornan (Araunah), the Jebusite.

Under the rock is a grotto which must have served Ornan as a storehouse for his grain.

NOTE:  The totals given for David's census differ in 2 Samuel 24:9 and 1 Chronicles 21:5.  Various explanations are offered, the most likely having to do with the inclusion or exclusion of the standing army of 288,000 (see 1 Chronicles 27:1-15).  Differences in handling round numbers may account for the rest of the variance.

"Seven years" of 2 Samuel 24:13 is called "three years" in 1 Chronicles 21:12.  The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) has "three years" in both verses.

DAY 124    Read 2 Samuel 20 through 22.

Today's reading:  A period of turmoil follows the collapse of Absalom's rebellion as David tries to reinstate himself.  One touching episode concerns a mother's undying love.

Memory gem:  "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"  (Romans 5:8).

Thought for today:
Norman MacLeod has told a wonderful story of what even human love will do for others.  Years and years ago, a Scottish Highland widow was ordered evicted from her home because she was unable to pay the rent.  With her only child--a little boy--she started to walk ten miles over the mountains to the home of a relative.  Before she could get to the house a terrible snowstorm came down upon the hills.  The poor woman did not reach her destination, and the next day a searching party set out.  There on the high pass, where the blizzard had been the fiercest, they found her in the snow, dead and almost naked.  But in a sheltered nook, they found the child, safe and well, wrapped in his mother's clothes.

Years afterward, the son of the minister who had conducted this woman's funeral went to Glasgow to preach a sermon.  It was a stormy night, and the audience was small.  The falling snow reminded him of the story he had often heard his father tell, and so he left his prepared sermon and told this story.

A few days later he was called to the bedside of a dying man who was a stranger to him.  When he went into the room, the man seized his hand and said: "You don't know me, but I know you, and I knew your father before you.  Although I have lived in this city for many years, I have never gone to church.  But the other night I happened to pass your door and, hearing the singing, I stepped inside and took a back seat.  There I heard the story of the widow and her son."  His voice choked up, and then trembling, he continued: "I am that son!  Never did I forget my mother's love, but I never saw God's love in giving Himself for me until now.  It was God who made you tell that story.  My mother's prayer is answered now.  She did not die in vain."

Look now to Christ, our Lord, who "while we were yet sinners" loved us and gave Himself for us--dying alone on dark Calvary, for our redemption.  He was forsaken, but He did not forsake us.  Will you not call upon Him now?

DAY 123    Read 2 Samuel 18 and 19.

Today's reading:  Absalom's poorly trained host is no match for David's seasoned troops.  The young rebel dies a tragic death, and David mourns.

Memory gem:  "Be not deceived; God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap"  (Galatians 6:7).

Thought for today:
Many years ago the New England newspapers carried the story of a lighthouse keeper and the tragic loss of his son.  The boy was on a whaling expedition, and the father expected him home on a certain night.

Strange to say, on that very night the father fell asleep at his task.  While he slept a terrible gale arose and swept up the coast but there was no light in the lighthouse.  On that stormy night, of all nights, the father fell asleep on duty.

When he awoke the next morning, he looked toward the shore and saw a vessel which had been wrecked by the storm.  He rushed to the beach and was horrified to see the body of his own son washed ashore by the raging waters.  He had been waiting for him for months yet when the boy was in sight of home he was lost, and lost because his father had carelessly permitted his light to go out.

The light of a Christian life shines only in consecration, and consecration comes through submission and surrender to the Holy Spirit.  So, let us make sure that our light is shining.