For Saturday, July 11, 2026.

Week Twenty-seven.

Saturday.

Morning.

     Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken. 

     Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. 

     But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive.  

     Woe unto thee, Jerusalem!  wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?

Jer. xiii. 15, 16, 17, 27. 

Evening. 

     There is no saviour beside me. 

     I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. 

     According to their pasture, so were they filled: they have filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me. 

     O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.

     I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction; repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. 

Hos. xiii. 4, 5, 6, 9, 14. 

July 11.

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols."

—  1 John v. 21.

Let us pray, "Lord, keep us from idols !"  Teach us not to love less those whom thou hast given us, but to love Thee more! Suffer us not to worship the gifts rather than the Giver! Above all, keep us from making an idol of self, the most tyrannical of all idols, hateful alike to God and to man!

How prone is the heart to idolatry! much as we blame the Israelites, and marvel at their repeated returns to the worship of one base idol after another, we are in no condition ourselves to throw the first stone at them — we whose hearts have so often turned aside after false gods. The Lord our God is a jealous God; He will not suffer us to worship any idol while professing to serve Him alone. He chastened His people of old as often as they went thus astray, and in very faithfulness He chastens His people now! How many a mother can point to little graves, and say, "There lie my idols!" and how many a saint in heaven is now blessing God, that even by sorrows like these, He led them to worship Himself alone !

"The dearest idol I have known, 

Whate'er that idol be, 

Help me to tear it from Thy throne, 

And worship only Thee!

"Then shall my walk be close with God;

Calm and serene my frame,

Then clearer light shall mark the road

That leads me to the Lamb.

July Eleventh.

"I thank God, Whom I serve."  

--2 Tim. 1:3. 

     O GOD, Whose paternal goodness is unfailingly tender and constant, we unite as a family to yield Thee glad and earnest praise and to invoke upon our home and all its interests Thy gracious and heavenly blessing. Cause us so to realize our utter dependence upon Thee and our profound obligation toward Thee, that we may submit ourselves anew to Thy sovereign sway, live our lives henceforth as in Thine all-searching sight, and consistently show ourselves Thine. We bring to Thee at this time all who are in any wise related to our home, and any who may be attempting to live their lives apart from Thee. Suffer none of us to be enticed from the path of simplicity, purity, or honor. Keep us from every form of secularity and avarice, defend us from the seductive snares of vanity and pride, and enable us to serve Thee with such undivided fidelity in this life that in the life to come we may all receive Thine exceeding great reward. And with this prayer for ourselves, we beseech of Thee in behalf of those without our neighbors, our friends, and all classes and conditions of men -- that it may please Thee to give them likewise of Thy fatherly favor, to further them in all their undertakings and relationships, and to bring them with us at length into Thine Heavenly household, where we may praise Thee ever, world without end. Amen.