DAY 100    Read 1 Samuel 4 through 7.

Today's reading:  The ark of God, irreverently taken out to battle as a sort of good-luck token, is captured by the enemy.  God's judgments of the captors cause them to return it by unusual means.

Memory gem:  "The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods"  (Psalm 95:3).

Thought for today:
The people of Beth-shemesh were glad when the ark of God returned.  They stopped their harvest work and offered a sacrifice.  But they did something else--they looked into the ark, against the plain teachings of the Word of God.  Even the heathen Philistines had not dared to remove its coverings.  The irreverent daring of the people of Beth-shemesh was speedily punished and many were smitten with sudden death.

The survivors, however, were not led by this judgment to repent of their sin, but only to regard the ark with superstitious fear.  They wanted to be rid of its presence.  So they sent a message to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim and asked the people to come and take the ark away.  It remained there in the house of Abinadab about seventy years.

The ark was the symbol of the presence of God.  Is God in your home today?  Is your home blessed with the presence of the ark of God?  Is it like the home of Obed-edom, with all the children gathered around the Word of God for morning and evening worship?  Do they love Jesus?  Is Christ the head of your house?  Is He your best friend, loved by all.

If you wish your home to be a place where angels love to dwell, a little sanctuary, a harbor in the storm of life, then believe in Christ.  By God's grace your home will be a place blessed with the presence of God.

----------------
Difficult or obscure words:
1 Samuel 6:19.  "Fifty thousand and threescore and ten men"--The Hebrew of this verse is difficult to translate.  Literally, "seventy men, fifty thousand men;" or perhaps, "seventy men, fifty families."  Beth-shemesh was a small town, with a total population of not much more than fifty families.  Some Hebrew manuscripts omit the words "fifty thousand."  Most commentators believe that only seventy men died.

DAY 99    Read 1 Samuel 1 through 3.

Today's reading introduces us to one of the remarkable mothers of the Bible and her dedicated son--Hannah and Samuel.

Memory gem:  "The child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men"  (1 Samuel 2:26).

Thought for today:
Samuel's mother so impressed him with the thought that he was God's child that he grew up from a beautiful boyhood to be a holy prophet and an upright ruler.  Each year the mother took him a "little coat"--surely it was simple and modest.  She had too much sense to treat her boy like a doll or a plaything.

But the mother does more than clothe the body of her child.  She forms his habits--clothes the soul for glory and immortality, or for degradation and death.

The coat of character is never worn out.  She forms it, like Samuel's, thread by thread, stitch by stitch.

But, Mother, a stream can rise no higher than its source, and the source of life is in the mother--just as truly spiritually as physically.  What you are trains and influences your child far more than what you command.  What you are is largely what he will be.

Mother, give yourself to Christ.  Then you can lead your child to Him.  It is never too late to start.  Even yet much can be done.  He who knows a mother's desire to train her child aright says: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and...will give you an heart of flesh.  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them"  (Ezekiel 36:26, 27).

Here is a power within the reach of every mother--and it may be had only by asking--and believing--that "he is faithful that promised"  (Hebrews 10:23).

Boys and girls (we are all boys and girls in our own hearts), we are fortunate, we are blessed, if we have a praying mother.  If your mother is living, tell her you love her and prove it to her by your life.  If she is far away, write her, not only on Mother's Day, but often!  Every day is Mother's Day. Her love and prayers are worth everything to you and me!

DAY 98    Read Judges 14 through 16.

Today's reading:  The story of Samson continues--his remarkable feats of strength, his utter failure to subdue his own sinful nature, and his inglorious death.

Memory gem:  "Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's"  (1 Corinthians 6:20).

Thought for today:
There is an important lesson for us in Samson's death.  No matter how you have failed God, no matter how you have broken your vows, no matter how far you have drifted from Him, no matter how low you have descended into sin, God, the Almighty One, through the merits of the Lord Jesus can lift you into victory and triumph, regardless of your past failures.

If anyone reading this has lived a life of defeat, God wants you to feel around for the pillars.  Even now in your blindness when you can see no light, take hold of the pillars upon which evil men are standing and trusting for their strength, and God will give you supernatural power to bring those pillars down in your own life and in that of others.

When your life is fully surrendered to God and empowered by Him, you can do more for Him in the few remaining years or months or days than you did in your whole life before.  God wants us to reach out and seize our opportunities to work for Him.  So I want to encourage every one of you.  You may have felt that there is nothing more that you can do, that you have failed God, that there is no hope for you.  Go on praying, go on reaching out.

Remember Samson!  Ask God to forgive you.  Lay hold on His strength and power by faith, and He will turn your defeat into victory.  If you will turn to Him, God will take the remnant of a lost life, which seems so small to you, and make it powerful in His service.  Remember Samson, and feel for the pillars!

-----------------
Difficult or obscure words:
Judges 15:8.  "Hip and thigh"--a figure of speech of unknown origin meaning "completely" or "entirely."
Judges 15:19.  "Hollow place...in the jaw"--rather, "in Lehi," as in the last part of the verse.  The name of the place, "Lehi," means "jawbone," and the same Hebrew word occurs in both parts of the verse.

DAY 97    Read Judges 11 through 13.

Today's reading:  The exploits of Jephthah are recounted, as well as the results of his rash vow; then, after brief mention of three other judges, we come to the birth of one of the most remarkable of all--Samson.

Memory gem:  "Teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born"  (Judges 13:8).

Thought for today:
Let us go back, back to that day when a child was born in a land under terrible foreign oppression.  It is the land of Israel.  The oppressors are the Philistines.  An angel appears to the childless wife of Manoah, who is a worshiper of the true God.  The angel brings a message that a child is to be born who will begin to deliver Israel.  In view of this, instruction is given as to the treatment of this child: "Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing"  (Judges 13:4).

This same prohibition was imposed upon the child, with the addition that his hair should not be cut, for from his birth he was to be consecrated to God as a Nazarite.  And, by the way, if more mothers were careful regarding their physical and spiritual habits, more children would be strong and healthy, wise and true.  A mother cannot be uncontrolled and intemperate and expect the children to whom she gives birth to be any different.  And fathers, as well as mothers, are involved in this responsibility.

The instructions given to these parents so long ago show the importance of home influence.  Lessons of temperance, self-denial, and self-control should be taught children even from babyhood.  The angel's prohibition included not merely strong drink, but every unclean thing.  Right sanitary principles were involved.  "True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful, and to use judiciously that which is healthful."--Temperance, p. 138.

----------------
Difficult or obscure words:
Judges 11:2.  "Gilead"--In this verse the term is the name of a man, Jephthah's father.  Everywhere else in the story, Gilead is the name of the region east of Jordan in the territory of the tribe of Manasseh.

DAY 96    Read the book of Ruth.

Today's reading gives us a charming story of old-fashioned love.  These ancient loyalties and customs have solid value for our sophisticated society.  The exact date for this story is unknown, but it probably occurred about halfway through the time of the judges.

Memory gem:  "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord"  (Proverbs 18:22).

Thought for today:
Young people should have an ideal, and it should be a high ideal.  An ideal concerning the man whom she would like to have as her husband or sweetheart should be set up in the heart of every young woman.  Boys, in your mind's eye, you should have an ideal of the girl who is to be the woman of your choice, who is to have your supreme affection, and who, someday, is to carry your name.  And you should see that that ideal is kept before you.

You say: "I want to meet that true ideal."  She may not be in your school or in your life right now, but if you will be faithful, just as surely as God is love, He will certainly bring it to pass.

But, you say: "I have made my decision, but sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice for my ideal?"  Well listen, friend, here is a great and comforting thing: God can give you a new heart and can give the one you have chosen a new heart.  God can make a previous union ideal--by His creative power.

There are six marks of love, and you can surely know whether you have found your true love or not.  It is sometimes very difficult to distinguish, but here are some sure marks:

First--an intense longing to do something for the one loved, and to give something without thought of return.
Second--love is utterly forgetful of self.
Third--a willingness to sacrifice without any return--real sacrifice.  (This is the highest stage of the second.)
Fourth--love plays the part of the surgeon.  Real love will take the knife and cut in deep to help the one it loves.
Fifth--real love longs for fellowship--spiritual as well as physical--with the object of its love.
Sixth--true love makes us want to be near the one loved.  And this love will not vary with circumstances--not if God is in it.

-----------------
Difficult or obscure words:
Ruth 2:2.  "Corn"--grain, in this case, barley.
Ruth 2:8.  "Daughter"--a respectful term used by an older person for a young woman--not necessarily  a literal daughter.
Ruth 2:14.  "Left"--that is, she had some left over after she had eaten.
Ruth 3:7.  "Merry"--better: had a happy sense of well-being.  There is no inference of intoxication.
Ruth 3:8.  "Afraid"--startled.
Ruth 3:9.  The Jewish Talmud explains Ruth's action as a proper proposal for marriage, a custom retained by some Arab tribes until modern times.
Ruth 4:3.  "Brother"--better kinsman.
Ruth 4:8.  "Drew off his shoes"--The other kinsman took off his own shoe and handed it to Boaz as a legal release of all right to Elimelech's property--including Ruth.

DAY 95    Read Judges 9 and 10.

Today's reading:  Shakespare has Mark Antony say of Julius Caesar, "The evil that men do lives after them."  This was certainly true of Gideon.  The evil he introduced into Israel bore fruit in the foul deeds of Abimelech and the men of Shechem.

Memory gem:  "Evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth"  (Psalm 37:9).

Thought for today:
If we reject, ignore, or forget the divine law, we must receive the consequences.  As men sow, they shall reap--always.  It is the law of life.

An old but true story is told about the influence a teacher has over a child.  One day a Sunday School meeting was in progress.  A ragged man was noticed sitting in a pew in the rear.  Finally, at the testimony meeting, he rose and said:

"Look at me; I am a lost man.  If the officers of the law knew where I was, they would be after me.  I was one of five boys who attended Sunday School here, and our teacher, to make it more interesting for us in Sunday School, taught us to play cards.  After a while, with us, it was more cards and less Bible, and finally, all cards and no Bible; and soon we had a system of our own, and went to gambling.  We went from that to worse and at last committed crimes to make money.  Two of the boys are in prison now, one was executed, and two of us are fugitives from justice.  The police would be here for me if they knew I was here!"

He paused a moment, overcome by deep emotion, and added: "My father was the minister in this church, and our family sat in this very pew."

He left the church and was gone.  As he left the building, a tall woman dressed in black arose in the front row and cried, "I was that boy's teacher!"  And she fell to the floor unconscious.  What an influence a sheep has on the lambs!

DAY 94    Read Judges 7 and 8.

Today's reading:  We follow Gideon through a marvelous victory to an unexplainable lapse into idolatry.  He failed to keep the light shining.

Memory gem:  "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles"  (Psalm 43:3).

Thought for today:
Friends, what we need today is the glittering blade of God's divine truth, which is mightier than all the powers of darkness.  And what a victorious and blessed day it will be for God's people when everywhere that unmistakable cry is given: "The sword of the Lord and of His church!"

Gideon and his men blew the trumpets; they broke the pitchers; they held the lamps; and they shouted--those four things.  Every man had a trumpet, a pitcher, and a lamp.  Every man's faith was in the sword of the Lord.  Every man sounded his trumpet as his own individual testimony, yet they all worked together.  It was a united cry.  The great battle was quickly won, and not one of the 300 struck a blow.

Oh, friends, lips telling the gospel of Christ in clear trumpet tones; the light and knowledge of God shining forth from broken hearts; Christ, the Word of God, uplifted--that's what will stir the world.

What was the source of Gideon's great triumph?  The men were united.  They had not only unity, but unison.  They were obedient, and they were faithful.  Every man stood his place.  But it was God who gave them the victory.

The world needs light.  It has always needed light, but the need is greater now than ever before.  The Word of God is light.  "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path," we read in Psalm 119:105.  And so every Christian should be a lamplighter, a lamp holder.

As in the case of Gideon, it is the responsibility of all God's people to turn on the light.  The apostle Paul says in Philippians 2:15, 16:  "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life."

DAY 93    Judges 4 through 6.

Today's reading:  A dynamic woman encourages a timid soldier to lead his people into battle; then they sing a song of victory.  Later, an angel enlists a reluctant soldier into the Lord's service.

Memory gem:  "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!"  (Psalm 107:8).

Thought for today:
Friends, before we can do any great work for the Lord, we must overthrow the idols in our lives and be ready to worship God in sincerity.  Gideon had to declare war upon idolatry before going out to battle with the enemies of his people.

What followed after this is what will always follow when one obeys God in this way.

First, it made trouble.  The men of the  city changed their attitude toward him.  They were ready to kill him.

Second, he received a changed name.  His name was changed from Gideon to Jerubbaal, Baal's antagonist.  You know, it is a blessed thing to be called a hater of false gods, an enemy of ignorance and superstition.

Third, Gideon was encouraged.  The Scripture says, "The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet"  (Judges 6:36).  His fitness for the service of God was found only in the Spirit of God.

Convincing proof that the Spirit of God, and not the blind working of chance, was leading Gideon, is found in the three miracles that were performed in connection with his call from God.  First, the miracle of fire: When he brought the covenant angel an offering and placed it upon a stone, the angel touched it and fire broke forth from the stone and consumed the sacrifice.  Then, the two miracles of the fleece: In answer to Gideon's prayer, the fleece which he had put out overnight was wet with dew, while the earth abound was dry.  Then the next night the fleece was dry, while the earth was wet with dew.

Every servant of God may have this threefold witness.  The fire of God will burn.  He will see the evidence of God's power working in hearts about him.  Then, in his own heart, in his own life, he will see a twofold witness--God's Spirit within, and the special tokens of God's workings without.

DAY 92    Read Judges 20 and 21.

Today's reading:  The sad chronicle of Israel's "ups and downs" under the judges ends on a "down," with the repeated alibi that "every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

Memory gem:  "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death"  (Proverbs 14:12).

Thought for today:
The night was very dark.  The road was unfamiliar.  In fact, it was a wild, lonely road which became rougher and rougher as we proceeded.  We were in the far, wild, mountainous interior of New Mexico.  We  had left the main highway, making a detour of forty or fifty miles, to enjoy some very fine scenery and interesting wonders of nature, intending to get back onto the main highway farther west.  But we were disappointed.  The road wound around hills and forests and lava flows for many weary miles--in some places deep in mud; in others, rugged with stones.

Now it was late at night, and suddenly, as we approached a dry arroyo, the road simply ended.  A flash flood had washed out the bridge and cut a deep canyon, which yawned in front of us not twenty feet beyond the car in which we were riding.  This was the end of our journey for that day.  Here we had to spend the night and pick our way out of trouble the next morning in the light of day.  The highway, though longer, would have been better.  It was safer, faster, more certain.  The obvious lesson of this experience is, If you want to arrive at your destination, keep on the highway.

Every one of us is a traveler.  We are all going somewhere, fast.  Every human being is on the highway traveling from yesterday toward tomorrow.  Unfortunately, many are not on God's highway.  Millions are wandering on byways, twisting and turning through the darkness toward Destination Unknown.

Let us open the Holy Scriptures and read a highway text found in Proverbs 16:17:  "The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul."

DAY 91    Read Judges 17 through 19.

Today's reading:  The two episodes recorded in Judges 17 through 21 occurred at some unknown time earlier in the period of the judges, probably even before Othniel became the first judge.

Memory gem:  "Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten Gods: I am the Lord"  (Leviticus 19:4).

Thought for today:
It is easy for us to study the history of days gone by and to forget that the problem of idolatry is one that confronts us in this modern age.  I have seen various kinds of paganism in different countries of the world.  I have seen idolatry in its rankest forms.  But, friends, let me say this: Idolatry is found in every country, not only in so-called uncivilized portions of the world.

We may not worship at a shrine in some pagan temple filled with graven images, but there may be false gods in the temple of our souls--yes, idols of the heart.

The worship of false gods in Bible times was repugnant to God.  Just so, in the days in which we live, there are modern gods worshiped in the temple of man's heart, which are just as repulsive to God.

We sometimes forget that there are many kinds of idols and many forms of idolatry.  Whatever or whoever we love and serve more than the Creator God is an idol.  This is worshiping the "creature more than the Creator"  (Romans 1:25).

Self-love always leads to self-worship and on to other sins.  Self is the creature that is worshiped above all others, and this leads to the exaltation of other false deities.  Many worship at the shrine of pleasure.  This is a very dominant sin of the last days and is another species of idolatry.

We could go on with a long list of modern gods that are receiving obeisance from their followers.  We must admit that the gods of self, appetite, pleasure, fashion--even the god of the cash register--are evident in this modern age in which we live.

Let us abolish the idols and images in our hearts and worship the true and living God, our Creator.

----------------
Difficult or obscure words:
Judges 18:30.  "Manasseh"--Strong evidence exists that this name should be "Moses": in Hebrew the only difference in the two is the letter "n" in the longer name.  It has been suggested that the letter may have been added by copyists in order to remove from Moses the stigma of admitting that this grandson was a renegade priest.