Daily Bible Notes: August, 15th
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
Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide.
Genesis 24:63
Very admirable was his occupation . If those who spend so many hours in idle company, light reading, and useless pastimes, could learn wisdom, they would find more profitable society and more interesting engagements in meditation than in the vanities which now have such charms for them.
We should all know more, live nearer to God, and grow in grace, if we were more alone. Meditation chews the cud and extracts the real nutriment from the mental food gathered elsewhere. When Jesus is the theme, meditation is sweet indeed. Isaac found Rebecca while engaged in private musings; many others have found their best beloved there. Very admirable was the choice of place . In the field we have a study hung round with texts for thought. From the cedar to the hyssop, from the soaring eagle down to the chirping grasshopper, from the blue expanse of heaven to a drop of dew, all things are full of teaching, and when the eye is divinely opened, that teaching flashes upon the mind far more vividly than from written books. Our little rooms are neither so healthy, so suggestive, so agreeable, or so inspiring as the fields. Let us count nothing common or unclean, but feel that all created things point to their Maker, and the field will at once be hallowed. Very admirable was the season . The season of sunset as it draws a veil over the day, befits that repose of the soul when earthborn cares yield to the joys of heavenly communion. The glory of the setting sun excites our wonder, and the solemnity of approaching night awakens our awe. If the business of this day will permit it, it will be well, dear reader, if you can spare an hour to walk in the field at eventide, but if not, the Lord is in the town too, and will meet with thee in thy chamber or in the crowded street.
Let thy heart go forth to meet Him.
Evening
And I will give you an heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26
A heart of flesh is known by its tenderness concerning sin . To have indulged a foul imagination, or to have allowed a wild desire to tarry even for a moment, is quite enough to make a heart of flesh grieve before the Lord. The heart of stone calls a great iniquity nothing, but not so the heart of flesh. "If to the right or left I stray, That moment, Lord, reprove; And let me weep my life away, For having grieved thy love" The heart of flesh is tender of God’s will . My Lord Will-be-will is a great blusterer, and it is hard to subject him to God’s will; but when the heart of flesh is given, the will quivers like an aspen leaf in every breath of heaven, and bows like an osier in every breeze of God’s Spirit. The natural will is cold, hard iron, which is not to be hammered into form, but the renewed will, like molten metal, is soon moulded by the hand of grace. In the fleshy heart there is a tenderness of the affections . The hard heart does not love the Redeemer, but the renewed heart burns with affection towards Him.
The hard heart is selfish and coldly demands, "Why should I weep for sin?
Why should I love the Lord?" But the heart of flesh says; "Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee; help me to love Thee more!" Many are the privileges of this renewed heart; "‘Tis here the Spirit dwells, ‘tis here that Jesus rests." It is fitted to receive every spiritual blessing, and every blessing comes to it. It is prepared to yield every heavenly fruit to the honour and praise of God, and therefore the Lord delights in it. A tender heart is the best defence against sin, and the best preparation for heaven. A renewed heart stands on its watchtower looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus. Have you this heart of flesh?
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Mark 3:1-8
1 He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had his hand withered.
2 They watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him.
3 He said to the man who had his hand withered, "Stand up."
4 He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?" But they were silent.
5 When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other.
6 The Pharisees went out, and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
7 Jesus withdrew to the sea with his disciples, and a great multitude followed him from Galilee, from Judea,
8 from Jerusalem, from Idumaea, beyond the Jordan, and those from around Tyre and Sidon. A great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came to him.
WITHERED LIMBS
There are withered limbs of the spirit as well as of the body. There are faculties and powers which are wasting away, sacred endowments which have lost their vital circulation. In some lives the will is a withered limb. In others it is the conscience. In others, again, it is the affections. These splendid moral and spiritual powers are being dried up, and they hang comparatively limp and useless in the life. They have been withered by sin and sinful negligence.
And the Lord is the healer of withered limbs. He can deal with imprisoned affections as the warm spring deals with the river which has been locked in ice. He can minister to a stricken will, and make it as a benumbed hand when the circulation has been restored. He can give it grip and tenacity. And so with all our powers. He, who is the Life, can vitalize all!
But here again the remnant of our withered endowment must be used in the healing. We must surrender to the Healer. We must obey. If the Lord says: "Stretch forth thy hand," we must attempt the impossible! In this region the impossible becomes possible in sanctified endeavour.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
August 15th.
May I attain unto refinement of spirit to-day through the worship of my God! May the communion of saints lift me into saintship!
Or if I am denied this means of grace, may I enjoy the invisible communion of the just made perfect!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:13
It is not every believer who has yet learned to pray in Christ's name. To ask not only for his sake, but in his name, as authorized by him is a high order of prayer. We would not dare to ask for some things in that blessed name, for it would be a wretched profanation of it; but when the petition is so clearly right that we dare set the name of Jesus to it, then it must be granted.
Prayer is all the more sure to succeed because it is for the Father's glory through the Son. It glorifies his truth, his faithfulness, his power, his grace. The granting of prayer, when offered in the name of Jesus, reveals the Father's love to him, and the honour which he has put upon him. The glory of Jesus and of the Father are so wrapped up together, that the grace which magnifies the one magnifies the other. The channel is made famous through the fulness of the fountain, and the fountain is honoured through the channel by which it flows. If the answering of our prayers would dishonour our Lord, we would not pray; but since in this thing he is glorified, we will pray without ceasing in that dear name in which God and his people have a fellowship of delight.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
I have loved thee with an everlasting love.
Jeremiah 31:3
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
Oh, no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.
- Shakespeare.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away.
Hebrews 2:1
The "therefore" of these words carries us back to the arguments of the previous chapter, and on to those of this chapter. The Hebrew people maintained, and rightly, that their whole religious and national economy had been ministered by angels. The writer agreed, but proceeded to show the superiority of the Son of God to the angels, and the consequently greater authority of the speech of the Son, to that of the word spoken by angels. That superiority being granted, it follows irresistibly that we should give the more earnest heed to what He has to say. The conclusion is so self-evident that we are almost inclined to wonder that there was any need for so solemn a warning. We shall find an answer to that wonder in the writer's description of the peril, and in the contrast which he makes between the word of angels and the message of the Son. Note this contrast first. The word spoken by angels was steadfast, and disobedience brought a just recompense. The word of angels was the word of law, stern, inflexible. The message of the Son is that which can be summarized in one word, "Salvation." It is the word of grace, compassionate, unfailing. That in itself is one reason why the foolish heart of men may fail to give earnest heed to it. Then again the peril is that of drifting. The figure is that of a boat, which caught by unseen currents, may be carried out of its course. This is so easy a thing to do. But it ought not to be. The message of Salvation, spoken by the Son, should make an even stronger appeal than that of law uttered by angels.
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.