Daily Bible Notes: August, 4th
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
The people that do know their God shall be strong.
Daniel 11:32
Every believer understands that to know God is the highest and best form of knowledge; and this spiritual knowledge is a source of strength to the Christian. It strengthens his faith . Believers are constantly spoken of in the Scriptures as being persons who are enlightened and taught of the Lord; they are said to "have an unction from the Holy One," and it is the Spirit’s peculiar office to lead them into all truth, and all this for the increase and the fostering of their faith. Knowledge strengthens love , as well as faith.
Knowledge opens the door, and then through that door we see our Saviour.
Or, to use another similitude, knowledge paints the portrait of Jesus, and when we see that portrait then we love Him, we cannot love a Christ whom we do not know, at least, in some degree. If we know but little of the excellences of Jesus, what He has done for us, and what He is doing now, we cannot love Him much; but the more we know Him, the more we shall love Him. Knowledge also strengthens hope . How can we hope for a thing if we do not know of its existence? Hope may be the telescope, but till we receive instruction, our ignorance stands in the front of the glass, and we can see nothing whatever; knowledge removes the interposing object, and when we look through the bright optic glass we discern the glory to be revealed, and anticipate it with joyous confidence. Knowledge supplies us reasons for patience . How shall we have patience unless we know something of the sympathy of Christ, and understand the good which is to come out of the correction which our heavenly Father sends us? Nor is there one single grace of the Christian which, under God, will not be fostered and brought to perfection by holy knowledge. How important, then, is it that we should grow not only in grace, but in the "knowledge" of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Evening
I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands.
Haggai 2:17
How destructive is the hail to the standing crops, beating out the precious grain upon the ground! How grateful ought we to be when the corn is spared so terrible a ruin! Let us offer unto the Lord thanksgiving. Even more to be dreaded are those mysterious destroyers - smut, bunt, rust, and mildew. These turn the ear into a mass of soot, or render it putrid, or dry up the grain, and all in a manner so beyond all human control that the farmer is compelled to cry, "This is the finger of God." Innumerable minute fungi cause the mischief, and were it not for the goodness of God, the rider on the black horse would soon scatter famine over the land.
Infinite mercy spares the food of men, but in view of the active agents which are ready to destroy the harvest, right wisely are we taught to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." The curse is abroad; we have constant need of the blessing. When blight and mildew come they are chastisements from heaven, and men must learn to hear the rod, and Him that hath appointed it.
Spiritually, mildew is no uncommon evil. When our work is most promising this blight appears. We hoped for many conversions, and lo! a general apathy, an abounding worldliness, or a cruel hardness of heart!
There may be no open sin in those for whom we are labouring, but there is a deficiency of sincerity and decision sadly disappointing our desires. We learn from this our dependence upon the Lord, and the need of prayer that no blight may fall upon our work. Spiritual pride or sloth will soon bring upon us the dreadful evil, and only the Lord of the harvest can remove it.
Mildew may even attack our own hearts, and shrivel our prayers and religious exercises. May it please the great Husbandman to avert so serious a calamity. Shine, blessed Sun of Righteousness, and drive the blights away.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 4:31-42
31 In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you don't know about."
33 The disciples therefore said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?"
34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
35 Don't you say, 'There are yet four months until the harvest?' Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.
36 He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
37 For in this the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.'
38 I sent you to reap that for which you haven't laboured. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour."
39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, "He told me everything that I did."
40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days.
41 Many more believed because of his word.
42 They said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world."
HIDDEN MANNA
"I have meat to eat that ye know not of."
And what sort of meat is this? The Lord found secret refreshment in feeding other people. In vitalizing the woman of Samaria He restored His own soul. The disciples were amazed when they returned to find that the weariness had gone out of His face, and that He looked like one who had been at a feast!
And that is the law of life. "My meat is to do the will." There is a secret nutriment in the bread we give away. The Lord gives us to eat of the "hidden manna" whenever we are seeking the refreshment of our fellows. Distributed bread has a sacramental efficacy for our own souls. The man who feeds the hungry shall himself be "satisfied as with marrow."
And these ways of service are open on every side. There are millions of weary people waiting, like the woman at the well. "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields: for they are white already to harvest!" Be it mine to be a minister in the mighty service, and in the ways of obedience let me find delights and delicacies for my own soul.
- "Bread of Heaven,
Feed me till I want no more!"
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
August 4th.
My Father, may Thy kingdom come to-day, and may I help in the coming! May I be kept from everything that will check the
progress of the truth! May I so live as to be the minister of Christ!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee.
Numbers 6:24
This first clause of the high-priest's benediction is substantially a promise. That blessing which our great High Priest pronounces upon us is sure to come, for he speaks the mind of God.
What a joy to abide under the divine blessing! This puts a gracious flavour into all things. If we are blessed, then all our possessions and enjoyments are blessed; yea, our losses and crosses, and even our disappointments are blessed. God's blessing is deep, emphatic, effectual. A man's blessing may begin and end in words; but the blessing of the Lord makes rich and sanctifies. The best wish we can have for our dearest friend is not "May prosperity attend thee," but "The Lord bless thee."
It is equally a delightful thing to be kept of God; kept by him, kept near him, kept in him. They are kept indeed whom God keeps; they are preserved from evil, they are reserved unto boundless happiness. God's keeping goes with his blessing, to establish it and cause it to endure.
The author of this little book desires that the rich blessing and sure keeping here pronounced may come upon every reader who may at this moment be looking at these lines. Should the author be living, please breathe the text to God as a prayer for his servant.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Behold thy servants are ready to do whatsoever ... the king shall choose.
2 Samuel 15:15, R.V.
What is my relation to the government of God? First, I should always be ready; and, second, I should move the instant the word comes. That marks the line of wisdom.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word ...
Galatians 5:14
The Law is the revelation of God's way of life for men. In it are many words. Its statutes and judgments and commandments are multiplied. They deal with every phase of human life - personal, social, religious. They condition all its attitudes and activities - of food, of raiment, of dwelling-places, of health, of sanitation. They cover all its relationships - political, economic, family. They arrange its worship, make its calendar, define its responsibilities. In short, there is nothing in the whole course of life, from cradle to coffin, that is not dealt with in some of its many words. Behind all these words there are ten; the words of the Decalogue, gathering up within themselves the whole of the others, in broad and general statements, so perfectly that if men will live according to their revelation, personally and socially, they will live in the ideal kingdom. All this Paul knew, none better than he. And yet he declared that "the whole law is fulfilled in one word." There is one word, which includes the ten, as the ten include the many. And that word is LOVE! In saying this, Paul was only saying what his Lord had said before him. The only difference is that here he took for granted the first activity of love, which is Godward, and named only the resultant one, which is man-ward. Who will challenge the truth of this saying? It is impossible that any man who obeys only the law of love in his thought and speech and deed should break either of the ten words, or come short in obedience to the many.
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.