Daily Bible Notes: August, 8th
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
They weave the spider’s web.
Isaiah 59:5
See the spider’s web, and behold in it a most suggestive picture of the hypocrite’s religion. It is meant to catch his prey : the spider fattens himself on flies, and the Pharisee has his reward. Foolish persons are easily entrapped by the loud professions of pretenders, and even the more judicious cannot always escape. Philip baptized Simon Magus, whose guileful declaration of faith was so soon exploded by the stern rebuke of Peter. Custom, reputation, praise, advancement, and other flies, are the small game which hypocrites take in their nets. A spider’s web is a marvel of skill : look at it and admire the cunning hunter’s wiles. Is not a deceiver’s religion equally wonderful? How does he make so barefaced a lie appear to be a truth? How can he make his tinsel answer so well the purpose of gold? A spider’s web comes all from the creature’s own bowels . The bee gathers her wax from flowers, the spider sucks no flowers, and yet she spins out her material to any length. Even so hypocrites find their trust and hope within themselves; their anchor was forged on their own anvil, and their cable twisted by their own hands. They lay their own foundation, and hew out the pillars of their own house, disdaining to be debtors to the sovereign grace of God. But a spider’s web is very frail . It is curiously wrought, but not enduringly manufactured. It is no match for the servant’s broom, or the traveller’s staff. The hypocrite needs no battery of Armstrongs to blow his hope to pieces, a mere puff of wind will do it.
Hypocritical cobwebs will soon come down when the besom of destruction begins its purifying work. Which reminds us of one more thought, viz., that such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lord’s house :
He will see to it that they and those who spin them shall be destroyed for ever. O my soul, be thou resting on something better than a spider’s web.
Be the Lord Jesus thine eternal hiding-place.
Evening
All things are possible to him that believeth.
Mark 9:23
Many professed Christians are always doubting and fearing, and they forlornly think that this is the necessary state of believers. This is a mistake, for "all things are possible to him that believeth"; and it is possible for us to mount into a state in which a doubt or a fear shall be but as a bird of passage flitting across the soul, but never lingering there. When you read of the high and sweet communions enjoyed by favoured saints, you sigh and murmur in the chamber of your heart, "Alas! these are not for me." O climber, if thou hast but faith, thou shalt yet stand upon the sunny pinnacle of the temple, for "all things are possible to him that believeth."
You hear of exploits which holy men have done for Jesus; what they have enjoyed of Him; how much they have been like Him; how they have been able to endure great persecutions for His sake; and you say, "Ah! as for me, I am but a worm; I can never attain to this." But there is nothing which one saint was, that you may not be. There is no elevation of grace, no attainment of spirituality, no clearness of assurance, no post of duty, which is not open to you if you have but the power to believe. Lay aside your sackcloth and ashes, and rise to the dignity of your true position; you are little in Israel because you will be so, not because there is any necessity for it. It is not meet that thou shouldst grovel in the dust, O child of a King. Ascend! The golden throne of assurance is waiting for you! The crown of communion with Jesus is ready to bedeck your brow. Wrap yourself in scarlet and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day; for if thou believest, thou mayst eat the fat of kidneys of wheat; thy land shall flow with milk and honey, and thy soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. Gather golden sheaves of grace, for they await thee in the fields of faith. "All things are possible to him that believeth."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Isaiah 1:10-20
10 Hear the LORD's word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
11 "What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?", says the LORD. "I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I don't delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats.
12 When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can't stand evil assemblies.
14 My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.
17 Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow."
18 "Come now, and let's reason together," says the LORD: "Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it."
THE SCARLET SIN
How can we deal with glaring sin, with sin that is "scarlet," that is "red like crimson"? And when the red stain has soaked into the very texture of the character, and every fibre is stupefied, what can we do then? Let me listen.
"Wash you." But ordinary washings will not suffice. The ministry of education will fail. Art, and literature, and music will leave the internal stain undisturbed. They may impart a polish, but the polish shall be like the gloss on badly-washed linen. And the ministry of work will fail. Work never yet made a foul soul clean. There is "a fountain opened for all uncleanness." I must wash "in the blood of the Lamb." That red sacrifice can wash out the deep red stain.
"Cease to do evil." Yes, I must turn my back on the roads of defilement. There must be a sharp decision, and an immediate reversal of my ways. "Halt!" "Right about turn!" "Quick march!"
"Learn to do well!" Yes, let me diligently learn, like a child at school, until the deliberative becomes the instructive, and "practice makes perfect."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
August 8th.
Father of life, give me life more abundantly. Save me from the impotence that comes from partial living. May all that is
within me be alive and praise Thy most holy name! May I be alive for evermore!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
The Lord God will help me.
Isaiah 50:7
These are in prophecy the words of Messiah in the day of his obedience unto death, when he gave his back to the smiters, and his checks to them that plucked off the hair. He was confident in divine support, and trusted in Jehovah.
O my soul, thy sorrows are as the small dust of the balance compared with thy Lord's! Canst thou not believe that the Lord God will help thee? Thy Lord was in a peculiar position; for as the representative of sinful men - their substitute and sacrifice - it was needful that the Father should leave him, and cause him to come under desertion of soul. No such necessity is laid upon thee: thou art not bound to cry, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" Did thy Saviour even in such a case still rely upon God, and canst not thou? He died for thee, and thus made it impossible that thou shouldst be left alone; wherefore, be of good cheer.
In this day's labours or trials say, "The Lord God will help me." Go forth boldly. Set your face like a flint, and resolve that no faintness or shame-facedness shall come near you. If God helps, who can hinder? If you are sure of omnipotent aid, what can be too heavy for you? Begin the day joyously, and let no shade of doubt come between thee and the eternal sunshine.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Worship God.
Revelation 22:9
There is a centre, a motive, a reason, a shrine, a deity somewhere - something which man worships. It has been said that when man dethrones God, he deifies and worships himself.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Hereunto we are appointed.
1 Thessalonians 3:3
The "hereunto", refers to "afflictions." These Thessalonian Christians were in circumstances of actual suffering, resulting from persecution by their own country-men. Through these trials they had stood fast. Paul was full of joy because this was so, but was desiring to hearten and strengthen them in their loyalty. This he did, first, by reminding them that the churches in Judaea had suffered in the same way at the hands of their kinsmen. Then he made this declaration; "Hereunto we are appointed." Surveying the whole Christian movement, he saw suffering everywhere as the result of loyalty to the faith; and he did not conceive of it merely as something to be endured. He saw God ruling over all, and knew that this pathway of pain was a Divinely arranged one. Therefore he realized that the sufferings of all Christian souls were not only within His knowledge; they were in His plan for His people. They were appointed to affliction. The word "appointed" here is the emphatic word. In affliction the saints' are where God has put them, and they are there for purposes within the counsel of His will. It is patent that Paul was thinking in the realm of the Cross. As the sufferings of Christ were all by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, and that in order to the accomplishment of His redemptive purpose, so all the affliction of those who followed Christ were of the same fellowship, and those enduring them were workers together with God.
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.