Daily Bible Notes: April, 26th
The following daily bible notes for every day of the year, are taken from six public domain sources:
- "Morning and Evening" by Charles H.Spurgeon
- "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by John H.Jowett
- "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
- "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by Charles H.Spurgeon
- "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan
- An Evening Meditation from "Searchlights from the Word" by G. Campbell Morgan
1. "Morning and Evening" by C.H.Spurgeon
Morning
This do in remembrance of Me.
1 Corinthians 11:24
It seems then, that Christians may forget Christ! There could be no need for this loving exhortation, if there were not a fearful supposition that our memories might prove treacherous. Nor is this a bare supposition: it is, alas! too well confirmed in our experience, not as a possibility, but as a lamentable fact. It appears almost impossible that those who have been redeemed by the blood of the dying Lamb, and loved with an everlasting love by the eternal Son of God, should forget that gracious Saviour; but, if startling to the ear, it is, alas! too apparent to the eye to allow us to deny the crime. Forget Him who never forgot us! Forget Him who poured His blood forth for our sins! Forget Him who loved us even to the death! Can it be possible? Yes, it is not only possible, but conscience confesses that it is too sadly a fault with all of us, that we suffer Him to be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night. He whom we should make the abiding tenant of our memories is but a visitor therein. The cross where one would think that memory would linger, and unmindfulness would be an unknown intruder, is desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness. Does not your conscience say that this is true? Do you not find yourselves forgetful of Jesus? Some creature steals away your heart, and you are unmindful of Him upon whom your affection ought to be set. Some earthly business engrosses your attention when you should fix your eye steadily upon the cross. It is the incessant turmoil of the world, the constant attraction of earthly things which takes away the soul from Christ. While memory too well preserves a poisonous weed, it suffereth the rose of Sharon to wither.
Let us charge ourselves to bind a heavenly forget-me-not about our hearts for Jesus our Beloved, and, whatever else we let slip, let us hold fast to Him.
Evening
Blessed is he that watcheth.
Revelation 16:15
"We die daily," said the apostle. This was the life of the early Christians; they went everywhere with their lives in their hands. We are not in this day called to pass through the same fearful persecutions: if we were, the Lord would give us grace to bear the test; but the tests of Christian life, at the present moment, though outwardly not so terrible, are yet more likely to overcome us than even those of the fiery age. We have to bear the sneer of the world - that is little; its blandishments, its soft words, its oily speeches, its fawning, its hypocrisy, are far worse. Our danger is lest we grow rich and become proud, lest we give ourselves up to the fashions of this present evil world, and lose our faith. Or if wealth be not the trial, worldly care is quite as mischievous. If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, if we may be hugged to death by the bear, the devil little cares which it is, so long as he destroys our love to Christ, and our confidence in Him. I fear me that the Christian church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and silken days than in those rougher times. We must be awake now, for we traverse the enchanted ground, and are most likely to fall asleep to our own undoing, unless our faith in Jesus be a reality, and our love to Jesus a vehement flame. Many in these days of easy profession are likely to prove tares, and not wheat; hypocrites with fair masks on their faces, but not the true-born children of the living God.
Christian, do not think that these are times in which you can dispense with watchfulness or with holy ardour; you need these things more than ever, and may God the eternal Spirit display His omnipotence in you, that you may be able to say, in all these softer things, as well as in the rougher, "We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
1 Samuel 17:1-11
1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.
2 Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.
3 The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.
4 A champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span went out.
5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he wore a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.
6 He had bronze shin armour on his legs, and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.
7 The staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. His shield bearer went before him.
8 He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, "Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.
9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us."
10 The Philistine said, "I defy the armies of Israel today! Give me a man, that we may fight together!"
11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.
GOLIATH VERSUS GOD!
Goliath seemed to have everything on his side except God. And the things in which he boasted were just the things in which men are prone to boast to-day.
He had physical strength. "His height was six cubits and a span." Athletics had done all they could for him, and he was a fine type of animal perfection.
He had splendid military equipment. "A helmet of brass," and "a coat of mail," and "a spear like a weaver's beam!" Surely, if fine material equipment determines combats, the shepherd-lad from the hills of Bethlehem will be annihilated.
And he enjoyed the enthusiastic confidence of the Philistines. He was his nation's pride and glory! He strode out amid their shouts, and the cheers were like iron in his blood.
But all this counted for nothing, because God was against him. Men and nations may attain to a fine animalism, their warlike equipment may satisfy the most exacting standard, and yet, with God against them, they shall be as structures woven out of mists, and they shall collapse at the touch of apparent weakness. The issue was not Goliath versus David, but Goliath versus God!
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
April 26th.
Gracious Spirit, wilt Thou refine my soul to-day? I would be more perceptive of the highest things. May I be able to discern
Thy faintest breathings! I would hear the still small voice.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.
Deuteronomy 15:18
An Israelitish master was to give his bond-servant liberty in due time, and when he left his service he was to start him in life with a liberal portion. This was to be done heartily and cheerfully, and then the Lord promised to bless the generous act. The spirit of this precept, and, indeed, the whole law of Christ, binds us to treat work-people well. We ought to remember how the Lord has dealt with us, and that this renders it absolutely needful that we should deal graciously with others. It becomes those to be generous who are the children of a gracious God. How can we expect our great Master to bless us in our business if we oppress those who serve us?
What a benediction is here set before the liberal mind! To be blessed in all that we do is to be blessed indeed. The Lord will send us this partly in prosperity, partly in content of mind, and partly in a sense of his favour, which is the best of all blessings. He can make us feel that we are under his special care, and are surrounded by his peculiar love. This makes this earthly life a joyous prelude to the life to come. God's blessing is more than a fortune. It maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow therewith.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.
1 Peter 2:24, R.V.
The inevitable issue of sin is death. Sin committed cannot be undone by sorrow, or by promise of amendment. Sowing demands the harvest. It cannot possibly be avoided. Before man can be delivered from the slavery of sin, the penalty of sin must be borne.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Except these bonds.
Acts 26:29
In this little phrase we have a revelation of the central victory of grace in Paul. He had been talking to Agrippa and without any question, striving to win him for his Master. When the libertine sneered at him, saying: "With but little persuasion thou wouldst fain make me a Christian," Paul had declared that his one most ardent desire for Agrippa and all who heard him was that they should be as he was, except for his bonds. He would give them his freedom but not his chain; his joy, but not his pain. Contrast that with the man as he was when first we met him. He was then "breathing threatening and slaughter," and all his fierceness then was the outcome of his honest devotion to what he believed to be the truth. Before Agrippa he was none the less honest, intense, devoted; but he was a new man in Christ Jesus, and therefore his desire for those opposing was, not that they should be imprisoned, but that they should be free; not that they should be put to death, but that they should find life. This is always the result of fellowship with Christ. It is the mystery of the Cross, the deep compassion in which the supremacy of holiness is never lost sight of, but which will take responsibility and bear suffering, in order that holiness may be realized in others, and those the most unworthy.
Note: To the best of our knowledge we are of the understanding that the above material, all published before 1926 and freely available elsewhere on the internet in various formats, is in the public domain.